Summer Sports - Cricket


Peter Driver heads to Colchester and East Essex Cricket Club to meet their Head Groundsman, Jez Sadler, and find out how he engineered his career in groundsmanship


Colchester Castle is the largest Norman Keep in Britain Colchester Castle Park


Saddled with the best job in Essex


J


ez Sadler is the Head Groundsman at the Colchester and East Essex cricket ground, situated in the picturesque Colchester Castle Park and, by far and away, the most attractive of the out-


grounds used by Essex County Cricket Club. Lying to the north of the High Street, and below the level of the town and castle itself, the nine hectare park is bordered by the remains of an ancient Roman perimeter wall and the old Colchester by-pass. During Colchester Cricket Week, the park


is transformed by the arrival of tiered seating, the blue and white marquees and, of course, the mobile scoreboard. The


62 I PC JUNE/JULY 2017


pavilion is quite an elegant building, backed by trees through which the tower of the Victorian town hall and the Jumbo water tower, two Colchester landmarks, are visible in the distance. To the south of the ground, the willow-lined River Colne meanders through the park. The Castle Park ground is steeped in


history; it staged the first game in 1908 and Essex played their first fixture in 1914, returning after the Great War and remaining through to 1966 when they transferred to the nearby Garrison Cricket Ground because of consistently poor drainage - in 1958, one festival match was abandoned as deckchairs


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