Technical
Cricket club groundsmen face the same challenge as all turfcare managers; how to eliminate compaction, improve drainage, encourage healthy deep-rooted grass growth and provide players with optimum ball conditions. All this in a playing season which is short and intense at a time when weather can range from drought to heavy thunderstorms. Penny Comerford reports on one of the most consistently successful tools in the cricket armoury - deep drill aeration
W
hat do the cricket clubs at Moulton Harrox, Todmorden, Saffron Walden, Bath, South Woodford, Colchester,
Northampton and Cleethorpes have in common? They all have squares with healthy grass growth and excellent bounce; and they all have incorporated the Deep Drill aerator into their maintenance programme. Graham Sneath at Saffron Walden CC has twice won ‘Best Wicket in the East Anglian Premier League’. “In four years, and since using Deep Drill, I’ve had the two wins and two runners up,” he told Pitchcare. “That’s been enough to attract the Unicorns back here, and some good county cricket tournaments.” He looked at the process on the advice of
Laurence Edwards, an ECB Pitch adviser for the east, who said it was the best way to
aerate and drain cricket squares. “I saw it demonstrated at High Roding Cricket Club. They took out a core and I saw the duct eleven inches deep with the grass root right at the bottom, fantastic! That said everything to me.” He enlisted the aerator’s help after the end of season koroing of the square in 2011 and, since then, grass growth has been good enough to deep drill alone. “I am really happy with the Ecosol Turfcare contract operation and players have told me that the consistent bounce and good carry of our square rival the best grounds in the country.”
The Deep Drill differs from conventional
aeration equipment because it drills out holes, unlike the punch action spikers that force tines into the square to create the ducts. The drills are used to break through horizontal soil pans/breaks, marl layers and areas of weak cohesion between different loams or soils, extracting and aerating in one process without surface damage. Water movement can then be accelerated away from the square’s surface faster, but the primary effect is that the grasses develop much deeper rooting. The ECB report on aeration for cricket
squares looked at all forms of machinery that might be deployed. The four year study identified situations where each trilled machine was most appropriate and the circumstances in which you would use them. Punch action spikers, the report said, had
been used for many years, but mainly at a shallow depth of around only 2-3in. Whilst deeper penetration may have been desired, it was commonly unachievable due to the risk of surface lifting or surface “chipping” occurring upon extraction of the tine, when weakly and poorly bound upper soil separates from the loam or soil beneath it. In more recent years, Wiedenmann and
Charterhouse solid tine aerators have been used with success to depths well beyond that 2-3in level. However, that had only
really been possible where deep drill aeration had been done in preceding years, providing the root extension and sufficient soil/loam binding to enable tractor mounted solid tining. “I am a great enthusiast of using drilling
techniques,” said Chris Wood, the ECB’s Pitches Consultant. He instigated its inclusion in the TS4 document some years ago and recommended it in 2005 to Steve Birks at Trent Bridge when his square was suffering. Ecosol’s Bretton King added, “Modern
cricket square maintenance has seen a trend towards using stronger loams and, if these aren’t keyed into the old loam beneath properly, soil and root breaks follow, with shallow aeration in ensuing years only exacerbating the problem. The phrase ‘low and slow’ is one we hear often regarding bounce and is a symptom of poor soil density that adversely affects it. Insufficient root penetration is also common, but can be overcome with the correct identification of its cause. In either case, Deep Drill is a tool perfectly suited to help rectify these issues.” Graham Sneath’s comments were echoed by Norman Reynolds at South Woodford who also took up the process some years ago on the recommendation of the ECB. “I am very pleased with the improved grass growth and bounce. When we had a soil analysis done on the square in September 2013, you could still see the influence of drill ducts - they last really well and keep providing improved drainage.” Laurence had become a real fan of the Deep Drill since he first saw it at Colchester Cricket Club. “It’s one of the most important things to have happened in cricket square maintenance. Nothing does such a good job in terms of aerating, encouraging a good depth of rooting and relieving the compaction we want in summer, but not in winter. I often advise it to bolt the layers together, allowing the root to go through to the bottom.”
PC JUNE/JULY 2017 I 135
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