CRICKET
Test matches and other internationals present opportunities to pull people in and boost ticket sales, as well as benefitting the local community
” The Riverside grounds team in a less pressurised environment
Holidays - but still have to juggle the social needs of staff and the schedules. And Vic? “I rarely, if ever, take time off and lost holiday hours last year.”
Ever mindful to build the best team he can, Vic took on two apprentices in May - both are taking their NVQ Level 2 at local Houghall College. “Ethan Fordy is assigned to Chester-le-Street CC Fridays and Mondays,” explains Vic, “and the Riverside Wednesdays and Thursdays, with college on Tuesdays. Christian Henderson works with me full-time. Both are on two-year apprenticeships with no commitment to take them on full-time afterwards.” With a full-time team of four and two apprentices, “we’re stronger now than we’ve ever been”, Vic enthuses. He runs a tight ship but is relaxed about individual roles. “I don’t believe in pigeon-holing people,” he states. “If Tom’s away for example, somebody else can jump on the machine to cut the outfield.”
“I give the team their heads and trust
them to make their own decisions, but I put my name to everything. I’m a hands-on head who wants to keep on making cricket pitches.”
Vic strives to encourage lasting values and a sound work ethic, which can mean long hours when necessary. “Tensions can arise, of course, and we’ve had dissenters and disruptors. When team members come here straight from school or college it can take six months for them to see what’s going on and how we do things here.” He’s clear on the qualities he seeks in grounds professionals. “Passion for the industry, pride in your own work and the drive to get you out of bed, do the job and achieve.”
His startling confession though is that “I only realised recently that these are qualities I have in my locker. Every day, I return home having done everything I can. We work with a living surface and I always have a reason for what we do and can justify those actions to whoever might question them.”
Expansion
The Riverside was left off the test venue list in 2017, with no five-day internationals scheduled for five years, due to the club’s financial difficulties at the time. “Test matches and other internationals present opportunities to pull people in and boost ticket sales, as well as benefitting the local community,” Vic notes. “England’s World Cup game against the
Blackcaps here attracted a full house - the other two almost doing so,” he adds. The other formats are bolstering Durham’s fortunes though. The advent of T20 sparked a need for ground improvements, with floodlights coming on stream in 2016, new to the Riverside surprisingly. “Up here, it’s light until midnight on the longest day, but illuminating the pitch for T20s is an exact science and we needed the floods to conform to ECB regulations.” Stadium expansion became necessary.
“We’re racking up T20 attendances,” Vic reports, “from around 5,000 before, we attract a crowd of 7,000 - 8,000 now.” “Acquiring some of the temporary spectator seating used at Dornay Lakes for the London 2012 Olympics rowing event has boosted capacity by 5,000 to 15,500.”
Cultural practices Attention to detail! 90 PC October/November 2019
Cricket has extended its boundaries dramatically during Vic’s time as a groundsman. “We had far fewer formats of the game to contend with back then. It’s great to say you have hosted test matches, World Cup fixtures and T20s, but can the team prepare appropriate pitches day in day out for every demand? That’s the challenge.” “The World Cup fixtures allowed us to prove that we can deliver and comments from managers of competing teams confirm that belief. We punched well above our weight when you consider the Riverside has no grow lights, no hover covers, no huge grounds team or pots of money.” The team delivered surfaces that were the equal of many venues and I’m exceptionally
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