EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW


This season’s grounds team


preference. That’s my ritual seven days a week, then I’m straight into the working day, which is ten to twelve hours on match days, and occasionally fourteen for major matches and T20.


Whoever takes up the reins here - and we now know that it will be the Ageas Bowl’s Karl McDermott - what single nugget of advice would you give to embrace and make the most of the Lord’s experience? “Above all make sure you enjoy what you’re doing. If you can’t get motivated for Lord’s, what else would do it for you for goodness sake?” he answered straight away.


“There have been days when I did wonder why I do what I do. I see a postman delivering letters and think to myself I wish I had your job - no worries, nobody badgering you, but I really have truly loved being at Lord’s.


“The pressure all round has grown and grown, especially media attention, pitch inspections, and fixture turnaround. In the


It’s a matter of great pride. You know you can’t control the


”


weather, or the way batsmen or bowlers perform, but you’ve just given them the best platform possible for a five-day Test. Nothing is more pleasing


44 PC October/November 2018


MCC President Lord MacLaurin (right) and the ECB’s Phil Neale presenting Mick with honorary MCC life membership


last three weeks, we’ve had three 4-day county matches and four one-day games. That’s a lot of pressure on any grounds team and it’s down to you as the Lord’s head groundsman to keep getting it right.” The tense and exciting Test series against India this summer is still fresh in the minds of cricket lovers. Does Mick think Test cricket is the pinnacle of the game it was when he took over in the mid 80s? What’s his take on Twenty20 and its effects? “I still get a terrific buzz from Test matches


here. The work is stressful, but very satisfying. It’s a great feeling the night before a Test Match when you look across the ground and it’s immaculate, ready for action. It’s a matter of great pride. You know you can’t control the weather, or the way batsmen or bowlers perform, but you’ve just given them the best platform possible for a five-day Test. Nothing is more pleasing.” “I must be honest, when Twenty20 first came on to the scene I really didn’t think it would take off, and I have been surprised by


its popularity. I never imagined that 20,000 plus would come to Lord’s to watch it, but they do.”


“The razamataz of the short game is all good fun and I do enjoy it. It doesn’t have the same kind of intensity that draws people in to watch Shane Warne bowl or Viv Richards bat in a Test though. This summer, I wasn’t surprised by the criticism of the batsmen getting out to Twenty20 shots in the Test match here against Pakistan. Champagne shots, I call them.” Whether it’s a Test Match, ODI, or a Middlesex game, MCC is Mick’s employer and its Head of Cricket, John Stephenson, his boss. Presently working for him are three full-time groundsmen, plus three others during the playing season. What is he going to miss? What will he be glad to see the back of? “I love the banter, even when you’re working your socks off to keep on top of things,” he said with typical Mick Hunt enthusiasm.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148