Summer Sports - Cricket “
I reckon the choice of qualifications to be had now helps fast-track young groundsmen to where they want to be. Not so when I was starting out, though I did do a City and Guilds course when I worked for the local authority
Dominating the ground’s north end, the newly completed Hilton Hotel
Hampshire’s Twenty20 games, under lights against Kent. They would be back in June for England’s ODI against New Zealand. “At county, and of course international
level, it’s mainly about producing the best possible playing surface, but it’s also about knowing how the match runs, knowing the laws of the game that affect what you do, and knowing people in the game who are here working during a match, the players and umpires especially. You need to be part of match chemistry, especially how to contribute to conversations about how to keep the game on.” “In a four-day championship game, if you
can produce a pitch that yields an average of 350 runs and ten wickets a day, then you have the perfect scenario for good entertainment.” “It took us thirteen or fourteen seasons to
achieve it but, last year, we took the ECB’s four-day Pitch of the Year Award. It was very satisfying for all of us.”
Best advancements in cricket pitch care?
“The quality of grass, definitely,” he says thoughtfully. “The improvement in seed to help make surfaces for the professional game of the highest quality on a regular basis is notable. The new cultivars that have come through have helped immeasurably in making pitches more resilient.” “I suppose you could argue that this might
give rise to a degree of uniformity in pitches, but with the different types of game one after another on the menu, it’s good to have a raw material you can rely on to help you deliver and work well for you.” Nigel has been relying of the ryegrasses of Johnson’s J Premier Wicket Mix for the square at the Ageas Bowl and very prosperous it looked too early season, as did the outfield, which he describes as a ‘a decent blend of ryes and fescues and no shortage of meadow grass’. “Also, outfields like ours here and at many other county grounds that allow water to
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drain through quickly have been a massive step forward,” he goes on. “Very rarely nowadays is a waterlogged outfield the reason for a delay in play. When there’s a weather-related hold-up in play, it’s either actually raining or you’re mopping up puddles on the sheets on the square.” “It takes us as long these days to get the
square ready as it does the outfield. When we first came here in 2001, we’d sometimes spend hours mopping up wet patches on the original outfield just to get a few overs of play at the end of the day. We did have problems initially with unpredictable pitches too, although these are now ironed out.” “Thanks to an ECB grant, a drainage
system for the outfield and the re-laying of nine pitches over the last seven years, things have greatly improved.”
Cricket groundsmanship as a career these days?
“I reckon the choice of qualifications to be had now helps fast-track young groundsmen to where they want to be. Not so when I was starting out, though I did do a City and Guilds course when I worked for the local authority on schools pitches. With all the science and research that’s going on now, getting the mass of knowledge now available very much goes along with on-the-job experience.” “There is definitely a more scientific
approach to groundsmanship and getting up to date with all the seed cultivar developments and the value of soil analysis, for instance, is an integral part of managing sports turf. I can remember when football pitches in December and January were like muddy fields.” “I don't quite remember uncovered
pitches. They were a bit before my time.” Cricket pitches were often aptly called
‘stickies’ when the rain had got on them. Not any more, of course. “The regulations regarding first class cricket pitches have both changed and
tightened up considerably since I set out, and being duty bound to use covers to keep pitches dry and ready for play whenever conditions allow is the biggest single change. The downside to this is that pitches don’t get natural rain on them, so we have to do much more watering.”
The status of the county groundsman?
“It is slowly improving, but we still don’t get much prominence, do we? I think it would certainly help encourage more into the niche of cricket groundsmanship as a career if the profile was higher. The negatives of the job are the obvious ones to those of us in turf care - hard work and long hours.” “The big plusses are days like these when the sun’s shining and on match days when you’re very much part of the sports entertainment business.” “There are only eighteen of us county
head groundsmen. It’s a very small club, but we are integral to what goes on in cricket, so yes, a bit more recognition would be good. Here, with all the rest that’s going on - the new hotel, the concerts - it’s still cricket that is central to everything from my perspective.”
Cricketers and cricket crowds?
“Oh yes, I get on with them very well. They’ve changed a lot in my time. Players used to turn up on the 1st April and play their first game a couple of weeks later. They’re all year round professionals now with fitness and diet programmes, and a scientific approach to their performances. The game itself has changed so much.” “I think grounds like ours also show how the game has developed. You’ve only got to look around the boundary and see how much commercial support there is with all the advertisements. I suppose it indicates the advances cricket has made commercially.” “I like nothing better than to see the ground bursting at the seams with cricket
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