Summer Sports - Cricket
“
Richard has been around the club for years and is a vital cog in our make-up; a real utility guy, whether helping me, junior coaching or assisting the committee
The outfield is mown by a contractor - and not to the previous standard ...
hosting Warwickshire junior fixtures. I just need to get some first team runs and a little more help on the square - and maybe a few beers along the way - and I might not be quite as grumpy this season!” “Playing for the cricket club in my teenage
years, I’d always appreciated the work of our old groundsman, Ken Kniveton. He’d often been able to prepare some belters at our place, and I was fortunate enough to be playing junior cricket on some good grass wickets. As a teen playing 2nd XI cricket, I’d often get back to the club to find our first XI had posted a big score and us struggling to get past numbers 7 and 8. Only now do I realise the work that had to go into those pitches!” “The outfield was in a better condition back then as Ken would mow a couple of times a week. The triple mower he used I understand is beyond repair and has never been out of the container in my time. The colliery welfare brings in a contractor now.” Jack sets his own budget and says that the
Richard Stonehouse - non-strikers end!
Chetty was moving bags of loam at the back end of last season with far more ease than our gym addict 2nd XI skipper, and he is only five foot nothing! I do my best to look after him
” 78 I PC APRIL/MAY 2016
business background of his degree allows him to work closely with the treasurer to make the club’s cash go as far as it can. Resources are extremely tight with rent payments to the welfare and no major sponsorship. “The playing surface is our biggest expense as a club, so I feel a responsibility to use any money wisely, and I feel the committee trust me to do that. The way it should be.” he states. Additional and consistent help comes from John Chetwyd. “My first season in men’s cricket was ‘Chetty’s’ last in our old 3rd XI. Seven years on, not only is he vital in preparing our pitches, but he even played a couple of games last year when we were struggling for numbers - at the age of seventy-six - so there’s only the fifty-four year age gap between us. He was moving bags of loam at the back end of last season with far more ease than our gym addict 2nd XI skipper, and Chetty is only five foot nothing! I do my best to look after him though, with him putting a lot of time in on the roller. If he couldn’t get out of bed one
day we’d be in a mess, for certain.” “A couple of members tend to chip in on
an ad-hoc basis around their work. The club has certainly benefitted enormously this past winter from Richard Stonehouse being able to commit a great deal of time. He’s someone I can call on whenever I need another pair of hands. He’s been around the club for years and is a vital cog in our make- up; a real utility guy, whether helping me, junior coaching or assisting the committee.” Agronomic help comes from Joe Vary at
Pro-Organic who has assisted in setting up a fertiliser programme on, what is, a tight budget following some soil testing over the winter. “We have also brainstormed some granular products for lawn care that he has blended to my needs. I’m looking forward to giving his concoctions a go in the very near future.” “Our square is made up of Kaloam that
we’ve had no problems with, to a depth of three and a half to four inches. There are no root break issues and there’s a reasonable root depth; something I want to improve further though. The outfield is also very clay based. This leads to a sloppy mess during and after the football season; there are four pitches surrounding the square, one of them being full sized. Being clay based, it takes a good while to dry out, so getting machinery to the square is somewhat difficult in the winter months. Finding a sledge big enough for my Hayter Pro 48 over the winter, to get it to the square, has crossed my mind!” “The site is on a hill and very exposed to the south-west, so high winds, with spring feeling like the depths of winter, is not uncommon. The drying process on the square can be rapid at times. I sometimes have to flash pitches only three or four days out from a fixture dependent on conditions. As soon as our pitches are dry, they take some serious soaking before any renovation can be carried out. In perfect conditions, or if I’m able to get up to the club more than normal, we can produce some really good cricket wickets that are batsman friendly, but offer pace and bounce. Having a surface with
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