CRICKET
Finally, it is down to Gordon’s skilled hand and precise measurements to mark in the pitch ready for play. The outfi eld is cut every Monday with a set of old gangs which have been set at the same height of cut for many years, and it can be challenging to adjust the cut. “You ideally need two of you to adjust the machine. One of us will pull the tractor forward, the other will take note of which gang needs adjusting, then we will take the tractor out of gear and tweak the nut. Then we will pull the tractor forward again, and ten times out of ten it will lock up and then we know we must take a wee bit more pressure off . By yourself, it is a process that is just too time-consuming.”
Renovation of the square is carried out in house and can be a long-winded aff air with just Norman, George and Gordon and the equipment they have available to them. “As I say, I have a regime with the scarifi er which helps a lot and I try and do my wicket repairs one at a time. Whereas in the past I may have repaired them all at the one time towards the back end of the season, but I found it to be very time consuming and
doesn’t give you a good deal of fl exibility. The benefi t of spending a minimum of ten days on the wickets is the wear and tear is very slight.”
“Even with the amount of scarifying and repair work I do during the season, we will still renovate the square. It will be cut to a reasonable height for the winter, scarifi ed with the Graden and the debris ‘hoovered’ up with the rotary as I don’t want any old cuts on the grass, or it will go yellow. Then I go back up and down with the Dennis, so everything is looking pretty. Then we will hollow core the surface with a tiner we hire from a local fi rm, tidy up the cores and topdress with forty to fi fty bags of Boughton Loam.”
George was keen to point out that he feels the club is very lucky to have such dedicated volunteers at the club who do everything with pride and, without them, there would be no cricket being played at the weekend for all to enjoy. I could not agree more and hats off to all the volunteers around the British Isles who tirelessly give up their time for their sports clubs they love, and long may it continue.
We got a grant from Sport
Scotland, and then we had to fi nd the other thirty percent of the cost. This meant we had to have a whip-round and managed to get the money to do the work
What’s in the shed Dennis FT610
Graden Deep Scarifi er SISIS Lawn Rake Road Roller
Vintage Cutting Gangs 1963 Vintage Tractor STIHL Blower Rotary Mowers x 3
PC October/November 2020 77
“
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
