CRICKET


“This is what I love about the job. You never can really tell how a strip’s going to perform. It’s a brilliant feeling. Our wickets are a batsman’s paradise. If a team fail to score over 200, they won’t win.” The day after the game, Westgate volunteers “club together” to repair the strip that was in play on the Saturday. “If we need to use it again during the season, we know it’s in good shape to bring into play again,” Rafe reports.


“Not all clubs do this, but we find it saves time and hopefully money at the end of the season.” Sunday’s duties include running the mower over the square to pick up loose grass, then hand-raking to make grooves ready for applying seed and loam before watering. “On the Monday, when the repairs have hopefully compacted, I’ll roll lightly and carry on watering. Germination usually occurs after two or three days.” Fertiliser goes down when school’s out, adds Rafe - at Easter and in the autumn at the end of half- term. “After the last fixture, we mow the whole square with the strip mower, seed the areas that need it and lay Binder Ongar loam.” Although the practice nets are well used, the synthetic strip was dug out of the square ten years ago, “because it was dangerous” recalls Rafe. “I was club chairman at the time and made sure we replaced it with a new natural grass pitch.”


Have times changed at Westgate since


then? “As a small club, money is always tight. We use eighty bags of loam a year so the cost mounts up, what with fertiliser, plant protection products and grass seed as the main outlays.” Rafe’s umpiring duties will have to end when he turns seventy. “Those are the rules, but I’ll carry on with the groundcare as long I can. It’s a big commitment, at least fourteen hours a week in summer for me alone, and at least three hours on a Friday afternoon in season - rolling’s the biggest job.”


What’s in the shed?


Allett wicket mower Atco Masport Surrey scarifier Poweroll 1.5 tonne roller What’s applied?


ICL Greenmaster Pro-Lite spring and summer 14:5:10, six, 25kg bags


ICL Sportsmaster autumn 4:12:12, 25kg bag


Prizelawn grass seed, 20kg bag


Club history


The club began life as a church side in 1927, when there were two clubs in the village - one Westgate, the other the St Saviour’s Club. Westgate disbanded in 1937, with St Saviour’s renaming themselves Westgate- on-Sea Cricket Club at their AGM that March.


“Our annual subscription was just 5 shillings and 6 pence (27.5p in new money)” states former club chairman and current treasurer Martin Arnold.


In 1951, the club obtained exclusive use of Hawtrey’s Field in Westgate, renting the ground from Kent County Council. In 1954, Westgate set an example to other clubs by making their own efforts to secure better playing pitches and improved facilities. “It reached a milestone by opening its pavilion, costing the club £200,” Martin notes.


“This and pitch improvements made Hawtrey’s Field a far more attractive playing proposition than it had been a few


seasons’ earlier.” “We’ve played at the site ever since, gradually improving the facilities until, in 2003, we built a new pavilion, including changing room, showers, community area and bar.”


Catastrophe descended on Westgate on 1st September 2012 when fire gutted the pavilion. “We had to rebuild it from the ground up,” recalls Martin, “but we recovered from the setback and continue to thrive.”


100 PC April/May 2020


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