Summer Sports - Cricket “
I briefly looked after the square whilst being captain of the firsts at this time. I had little idea of the detailed requirements regarding track preparation; equally, there were no other volunteers
The Rugby CC grounds team l-r: Bill Coxon, Colin Watson and Stewart Pearman
Who we provide cricket for Senior 1st Xl - Warwickshire Premier League 2nd Xl - Warwickshire Premier League 3rd Xl - Warwickshire Single Teams Div 6 2 teams play in local midweek league Junior
Kwik cricket on Sunday mornings for age groups from 4 to 11 U11 - Local Junior League U13 - Local Junior League U15 - Local Junior League
The last two years we have staged Warwickshire U11 county fixtures and, in 2015, we play our bi-annual day game against the MCC
Clubmark status since 2011 ECB Focus club in 2012
Awarded Warwickshire Club of the Year in 2012 at Edgbaston
We hire our artificial out to local midweek teams. We also allow local schools to use grass pitches occasionally for house matches
We have an annual community 6-a-side cricket day, with teams from outside the club taking part
Stewart did, however, go rather pale when we shaved the first wicket to match day height - a golf green it is not!
74 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2015 ”
volunteer help. Time was not on our side. We agree expenditure through committee and, in this situation, we had little choice but to empty our bank account to be able to finance the up and coming season. We were fortunate enough to be able to negotiate the purchase of some key equipment from the previous contractor on generous payment terms. Apart from general running costs, we
identify any special project needs annually and, if available, allocate funds as appropriate - I guess we deemed existence a special project. I am perhaps fortunate, as Chairman, to be able to present the importance of investing in the ground facility from a hands-on perspective. As a committee though, we do agree that our financial investment should be in the surface we play on, rather than the person who plays on it. As a groundsman, I will always lobby for ground and equipment investment; as a Chairman, I will always promote its approval. There are three of us currently who look
after the ground, and I am lucky to have Stewart Pearman and Bill Coxon devote so much of their spare time. Stewart works within the turf care industry as a greenkeeper, so brings good experience from a golf course background. Having someone with turfcare knowledge, even though not cricket based, and very good equipment knowledge was extremely advantageous, considering not only our limited timescales but also longer term plans. Stewart did, however, go rather pale when we shaved the first wicket to match day height - a golf green it is not. Equally, we are fortunate to have Bill
volunteer towards ground maintenance. It’s priceless that he can dedicate time during the working day, especially regards irrigation and pitch rolling. Without this, our square schedule would prove problematic with so much junior and senior cricket played in the evenings. However, we need to be flexible with our time and I can now, with confidence, change working responsibilities at short notice. Our time is limited, so how that is managed is critical. It is very important that, when individuals give up
their time, it is utilised effectively. My learning has been through discussion with those in the industry and mostly through reading. I also attended Pitchcare’s Lantra accredited cricket preparation course, which was presented by Bob Stretton. I would strongly recommend any volunteer groundsman to attend these courses. I have the utmost respect for those working in and managing different sporting facilities. The course provided me with the opportunity to not only learn a great deal, but also enabled me to then take that learning away and compare it against how things had been done at our club over many years. The Pitchcare forum is also a fantastic site
to listen to what industry professionals have to say about a wide range of turfcare requirements. The fact that you can get immediate access to professional opinion via the forum is invaluable for the volunteer. Although it was going to be a long term challenge, the thought that I could now manage the ground preparations from what I had learnt was exciting, if not a little daunting. How we now prepare, allocate and use tracks is quite different to what was being applied for many years. Where our preparation regimes were
concerned, and post the Lantra course, I adopted the ten day cycle for pitch preparation. In the past, this was probably only five days max, if that. In addition, each prepared pitch was only used once and then a new pitch prepared afterwards. We now always have two pitches being prepared at any one time and the same pitch is used for 200 overs (two games) rather than the 100 overs previously. This gives us the opportunity for the ends to recover before re-use. We purchased a sarel roller to help with this, together with germination sheeting. With so much cricket played though, it is difficult finding opportunity to get on.
During the season, we maintain the square
at 12-14mm using an Allett Buffalo 27”. Our pitch preparation gets the first weeks scarification and cut at 7mm with the Hayter 20” Greensmaster 56, followed by a final scarification and cut at 4mm using an Allett
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