Summer Sports - Cricket


“


Each year,


something needs to be sacrificed to make up for the deficit, and this year it’s going to be renovation of the square, by the looks of it


renovation of the square, by the looks of it.” Jamie works with the captains of the two cricket XIs, being handed the fixture list at the beginning of the season to help him plan the year around his work.


“They can then ask me about how they’d like the pitch to be handled for the year. For example, the 1st XI captain might say he wants an extra two pitches to be included, and I’ll do that for him.”


“That can sometimes knacker me up a bit as well. When we only have eight wickets to use on the square, and I’ve got to prepare to use one of them at any given time, it can be a pain towards the end of the season when you’re suddenly running out of wickets.” The club also uses the pitch for


international matches, recently including the Welsh National Cricket for People with Disabilities squad, perhaps up to eight times last season, and the Welsh National Under‐ 11s, who played against Yorkshire’s Under‐ 11s.


Jamie took over from the previous volunteer groundsman when he was struggling to keep up with the necessary workload.


“It’s quite a commitment, you know? After you finish work at 5.00‐5:30pm, you head down to the club and spend more hours out


of the house. You might only be home for 8‐ or‐9 o’clock.”


“I noticed he was struggling and offered to help him out, and he then started working more to help pay for his daughter’s wedding. So, about four years ago, it just transitioned to being me basically.”


“I get help now and then, but it’s very rare. That was the first time I’d done this work. There’s a fellow called Chris Wood. He is the ECB Pitches Consultant. He posted online about how to treat a square, how to mark out a pitch, how to repair foot‐holes, the height of the cuts… and, basically, I had to watch a lot of YouTube videos to learn how to do the job.”


“After that, it was a case of trying to get the machinery. We had a contractor for two years, who would come and do the outfield. Because his mower was a school mower, it was set for nearly two inches. So, it was never quick in the outfield.”


“We got a new outfield mower two years ago, and it cuts to length nicely. Everything’s running like a dream out there now.” Jamie said he wouldn’t call the job one of the priorities in his life, but that it is a very nice feeling to look down over a striped field with a short wicket at the end of a week of hard work.


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