Being at a new club means that I get a chance to explore the inner workings of yet another committee!
her!). Whether this is done will be very dependent on weather conditions and whether I’ve got the square into a state where it could take that sort of weight. My pre-season rolling is pretty much straight out of the text book. I do a simple union jack pattern with the various rollers. Normally though, I’ve already been cutting with the cylinder mowers prior to starting, so I probably won’t bother rolling with the wicket mower.
This year I have both the hand roller and outfield roller to consider as well and I’m not sure exactly where they will fit into the equation. I think it is likely that I’ll start with the outfield roller, then the hand roller, then the Autoroller. I’ll be aiming to have at least some ballast in the Autoroller prior to starting track preparations for the first match. Quite how much will, again, depend on the weather and surface conditions.
What else needs planning? Outdoor net
area renovations. Fancy stretching the carpet on your own? I don’t. So, I need to plan to get other people there to give me a hand.
Being at a new club means that I get a chance to explore the inner workings of yet another committee. I’ll have my 2008 end of season renovations planned out (including the outfield) and they’ll be outlined to the committee before the start of the season. It could be that they’ll let me do everything (or perhaps they won’t) but I won’t know until I ask! I’m looking forward to the forthcoming season. It’ll be interesting working with a brand new square which has practically no history. So far I’ve had the pleasure of people telling me that the old square was better, because it drained so well. My comment was “I bet it didn’t bounce much then?”- answer “the square has always played low, but it was still better ’cos it drained”. Who was it better for then, because it certainly wasn’t for the players? Cricket squares don’t drain (or at least very little) they rely on surface run off – if I tell them often enough they’ll get the idea eventually. There’ll be challenges aplenty this coming season, of that I’ve no doubt, and I have high expectations for the surface. Now it’s time for me to stand up and live up to the expectations I’ve built for myself. Also now, I’m preparing tracks in the same league as Gordon (Bath) Gill, so everyone will get to hear far too quickly if I cock things up!
One final thought: “Please can I have better weather than last summer”.
72
Gordon Gill, ECB Pitch Advisor for Wiltshire, gives his views on when, how, why, and even if you should start rolling your cricket square.
A ROLLI PROGRAM
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