Summer Sports - Cricket
“
All us groundsmen are indebted to the extensive research that is carried out by the seed industry. What seed you actually use is just a personal preference
Tony Field, one of Jon’s assistants, pruning back a stretch of the rhododendrons
He estimated an outlay of £70,000 plus would be necessary for this. He had recommended a complete in-house refurbishment of the outfield though. This meant the ground’s other tenants, Tunbridge Wells Hockey Club, playing their home fixtures this season at nearby Hawkenbury’s all-weather pitch. “The previous spec for the contract was to
maintain the outfield in generally good condition, and boxing-off cuttings was not part of that. I’ve changed that, but my plan is to remove unwanted vegetation with a couple of passes of a scarifier and collector, then verti-drain, slit tine and sarrel roll, followed by brush-in seeding, fertilising and topdressing with 350 tonnes of sportsfield sand.” Jon’s initiative was on a frustrating mid-
winter hold because of the wet conditions. “Weather permitting, I shall now try to
On the steps of the Nevill pavilion (top to bottom) Dan Dibdin, Sodexo Contracts Manager; Tony Reed, Sodexo Sports and Amenity Supervisor; Mark William, Chairman Tunbridge Wells Cricket Club; and Jon Buddington
renovate at the end of February, reducing the level of sand though.” There is more than sixty days of cricket on the square over a season and there are twenty-one strips all told on Ongar loam to accommodate all Tunbridge Wells and Kent games. Jon recalls how his mentor Bert at
What’s in the shed? Ransomes Auto Certes x 2 Ransomes Marquis 30 x 2 Sisis Auto Rotorake Mk5 x 2 Sisis Dart Aerator Scotts Fertiliser Spreader Redexim Spreader Jacobsen Tri-King Hayter Harrier 56 Honda HRS 536 Rotary Ransomes Mastiff 36 Stihl Strimmer Weidenmann Terraspike Aerator Charterhouse Variseeder
90 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016
Sunderland Cricket Club used to get valuable tips on preparation from the then Edgbaston head groundsman, Steve Rouse. Likewise, he tells me, he was looking forward to going up to Lord’s in the coming weeks to pick Mick Hunt’s brains on pre-season rolling. If you want to achieve quality, consult the best. An R9 seed mix was used in the autumn to
reseed the square. He’d used it during the second half of last season for repairs at the ends. It looks wonderfully verdant and fully covered on this raw January day. All of the horizontal growth, crowns and grass stars Jon noticed when he first arrived had been eradicated.
Jon is quick to point out that it is grass management that makes the telling difference, not merely the seed. “The top half dozen grass seed breeders
each have pretty decent mixtures that would do the job. All us groundsmen are indebted to the extensive research that is carried out by the seed industry. What seed you actually use is just a personal preference. If you get your management system in place, the grass of your choice will perform.” The Nevill Ground is self-sufficient in
equipment courtesy of Sodexo. The only exception is the Waterhog sponge roller for
The square thickly grassed after its autumn re-seed
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148