CRICKET


I enjoyed playing at The Mote and began


”


volunteering for them the same year I joined - I passionately wanted to make the ground as good as I possibly could


County 2nd XI match in progress


March to October, preparing the strips for a crammed calendar of fixtures for the Kent League club and local school sides. This is Howard’s second season employed by the club, after seventeen years assisting as a volunteer. “I enjoyed playing at The Mote and began volunteering for them the same year I joined - I passionately wanted to make the ground as good as I possibly could,” Howard explains. “The Kent CCC county week was in full swing in those days - a championship match then a one-day game was the usual format - so I had the chance to see some quality players.”


End of an era William ‘helping’ dad Australian batsman


Andrew Simons scored 100 off 34 balls in 2004; the then fastest ton. All the more impressive given our long boundaries


” A Scag 48 zero turn is used for bank and rough work 84 PC June/July 2019


Four seasons ago, the venue hosted its final Kent second XI game, marking the end of an era. It had lost first class county cricket here in 2005, following an umpire’s unfavourable report about the condition of the pitches. “The Mote invested £12,000 for county standard wickets,” Howard explains “but they were relaid to no avail. In any case, the main pavilion is in a state of disrepair and would cost around £1m for a replacement of


a similar size.” The Mote’s glory days - when cricket legend Cowdray notched up his 100th century in its 1973 cricket week, or when son Graham and Sri Lankan Aravinda de Silva recorded Kent’s highest-ever partnership, 368, in 1995 – may be behind it, but Howard is as keen as ever to maintain quality, whatever the sporting standard he witnesses.


“I was working as a gardener when I started volunteering - my first sector role. The then groundsman, Tony Saunders, tasked me with cutting the outfields using the ride-ons, watering and rolling. I remember we had to crank the old Autoroller into life with a handle.” The advent of the Twenty20 game in 2003 heralded yet another record at The Mote. “Australian batsman Andrew Simons scored 100 off 34 balls in 2004; the then fastest ton,” recalls Howard. “All the more impressive given our long boundaries.” Howard himself played for The Mote against Lashings in 2003, when Pakistani bowler Shoaib Akhtar, the world’s fastest, now retired, was in his prime.


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