Summer Sports - Cricket


The pavilion in 1933. A fire in the early 1960s resulted in extended facilities and viewing gallery ...


acted as summer assistant to the then groundsman. He hadn’t then thought about a career but, because he enjoyed the pitch work so much, decided to get a place at Sparsholt College to study turf care seriously. After achieving Level 2, he took a job as a greenkeeper at Basingstoke Golf Club, where he stayed for nearly seven years. A couple of years ago, when the previous


groundsman retired, the club offered him the full-time job at the ground. His affinity was so strong with cricket - and May’s Bounty - that he couldn’t refuse. He’s now in his third season in charge. Assisting Craig this season is David


Griffiths, former Kent paceman. He is the club’s current professional and its bowling coach. He is still quite involved with Hampshire too, as one of its former players, and gives Craig a lot of useful knowledge of pitches on the county circuit.


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... but the whole building is due to be demolished ahead of an ambitious redevelopment plan


“Having a professional player at your side


three days a week is pretty useful,” says Craig. There’s a continuing cricket pedigree here


too. Over the years, many a top player has played here. Among the current big names that once played for the club are Hampshire all-rounder Chris Wood, and Kent wicketkeeper Adam Rouse. Hampshire used to have the May’s Bounty


as a regular outground and there have been many first class matches here over the years. It is still used each season for some Second XI and Colts games and it continues to have a firm link with the county club. When there is a Hampshire Seconds or Colts game at the ground, Craig gets valuable advice from Karl McDermott, who’s in charge at the county’s HQ, the Ageas Bowl. The ground’s cricket table has as many as twenty-one strips for play and practice. One


useful idea Craig has picked up from David Griffiths is to reduce the outer strips to a six feet width, giving more available rotation for practice and a bit less wear and tear. The ground has quite a chalky base and, in


the winter especially, it can struggle with drainage. In the summer, it dries quickly and the square does need a lot of watering. The Basingstoke and North Hants Cricket Club, as it is known these days, plays in the Southern Premier League, so it’s a pretty high standard. He also tells me that a telling sign of really


dry conditions in summer is when traces of a cycling track around the perimeter of the outfield, not used for over fifty years, become visible. It is, and always will be, cricket that is the


focal point of the May’s Bounty. The cricket club is the hub of the whole sports club, and it is best known for its cricket heritage. In


One useful idea Craig has picked up from David Griffiths is to reduce the outer strips to a six feet width, giving more available rotation for practice and a bit less wear and tear


Club professional David Griffiths has three days a week assisting Craig 62 I PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017


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