SUMMER SPORTS


Obviously, there are some people out there who are


happy to be directed in their groundwork, but I think it’s important to know the reasoning behind what we do


brave enough.”


“This season, I had to sacrifice some areas of the square but generally it was on both sides in order to focus the watering effort into the middle. We experienced some cracking (between 5mm and 10mm), but this was nothing compared to other places which had gaps you could fit your fist into. It was far from ideal, but we still managed to get a good amount of moisture in the ground before we rolled.”


The outfield of the site used to be a rubbish tip, so there’s an ash base all the way around. Gary had experienced quite a lot of surface retention but that was caused by compaction. The sand treatment applied last year and regular aeration has improved that greatly and means they don’t generally get any issues. Gary commented: “If we lose games to the weather it’s more likely to be because the square doesn’t drain as quickly as the outfield. This tends to happen later in the season when we have bare ends to worry about. With all the best efforts, we can keep the strip we’re playing on dry and maybe two or three either side, depending on how far you want to sheet, but we also


have a slope running from one side of the ground to the other, and corner to corner, so this can increase problems.”


“If we’re playing on the strip in the middle of the square, keeping that strip itself dry isn’t an issue because we’ve got the roll on covers and I’ve got sheets that cover three strips either way but, once you take out of the equation the absorbency that the ground gives you, every drop of water that falls on those sheets is going somewhere. When you’ve got a slope to contend with, all you’re doing is moving the rain that falls on the sheet (above the strip you’re trying to keep dry) into the danger areas, so you could end up flooding the bowlers run ups. Which ultimately means we have to be really careful how the water runs down the square when it rains; if we can keep the water off it, the outfield should do the rest.”


When irrigation is required, it’s usually done from the mains; ¾ inch pipe running to a stand tap using hoses and sprinklers although there is the scope to draw water from the adjacent river. “I slept over here a couple of nights in the summer just so that I could make sure we lost as little


Future ambitions at the Club are for promotion into the Premier League, but Gary


recognises that won’t come down to the quality of the


square, that will be down the quality of the cricketers


102 PC October/November 2018


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