Suffolk County Cricket Board

Tim’s July Grounds update

Sorry for the late delivery – must be the time of year!
I was dismayed that my game last Saturday was off due to the weather despite Saturday being fine and with a drying wind. I gather the club in question decided the ends were too wet and unsafe. I fully appreciate how much rain we have had, much of which was localised and thundery. At Woolpit we made our own covers for £2000. To buy roll-ons will set you back between 4 -6K. This makes a 30x 4 meter waterproof sheet from Bradshaws for £170 look very cheap. I am aware of the problems with   wind and clearing surface puddles but surely this is not too much to manage in order to get cricket on especially if it is fine on Friday night and Saturday. In my opinion the EAPL rule “ All pitches will be covered from the Thursday night prior to the game” should apply to all Senior League cricket in the county.

The recent press coverage of the abandoned Suffolk Cup match due to the state of the pitch highlights the importance of the groundsmans role in any club. Communication is a two way street. Far too many clubs do not talk to their groundsman and assume a pitch will be ready every weekend. Little or no policy is in hand to cover workload, machinery and quantity and quality of pitches and outfield. Many clubs have enjoyed success via promotion in recent years yet the quality of facilities and pitch have stayed at best static and at worst gone backwards. At Woolpit the pitch has not played to my expectations and is covered in Fairy Rings. This is not a “ laid” square and was originally raked flat from a ploughed field following a crop of wheat! My recommendation to the committee will be that if we want to move forward as regards quality of pitch we need to Koro off 4 inches and relay with Ongar loam – all 13 wickets in one hit £30K! Crazy but what an investment for the future if we can find the funds.
Martin Taylor at a recent meeting highlighted how many of you have no idea of the cost of quality professional inputs such as seed, fertiliser and top dressings which are an essential part the budgeting and ongoing maintenance of any square.

Seed
The industry standard is now purely Dwarf Perennial Ryegrass. Companies such as Advanta, Johnstones, DLF, Barenbrug British Seed Houses etc all produce excellent cultivars available to you via all the local Amenity Turf Companies and their representatives. A three way mix in a 20 Kg bag will cost you £65 - £100 depending on quality, quantity and dressings ( which I recommend) . For a 10 wicket square you will need atleast 2 bags for end of season overseeding with a bit left for end repairs.

Fertiliser
This is a minefield for the uneducated! So keep it simple. Autumn feed for the end of season to simulate root growth and replace all the potash removed in the cuttings. Scotts Autumn 5- 6- 10 is £35 per 25Kg bag ( the best) you will need 2 bags  once end of season work has been done and 2 more in December. There are many variations on this theme, if in doubt get a soil analysis done to include ph. If your soil is sour(acidic) it will not respond to fertiliser properly. All the main suppliers do this service and it is essential to know what is in your soil.2 bags of spring and summer should be applied in March/April and again in June/ July. This is 12- 0- 9 or similar with high nitrogen for growth and colour. Scotts is £35 per bag. Prices have shot up due to World shortages and oil price. If you have a sprayer, liquid fertiliser is most cost  effective and very good in dry times as it wont need watering in.

Top dressing
Again a potential minefield! Ongar is the ONLY loam recommended by the ECB. If you mix some of the other loams such as Surrey, Kaoloam, Banbury etc it could be a disaster because they all have different shrinkage rates when drying out and consequentially can cause big cracks and root breaks in the soil profile. This will make your pitch unstable and dangerous, if you don’t believe me go and play on a pitch near the seaside locally!
Price is also a minefield. 1x 25KG bag will cost £7-50! Most clubs need 10 bags per wicket if the square is not professionally  laid so a 10 wicket square will need 100 bags plus some for end repairs eg 3 tonnes. Depending on post code this will cost you around £3-60 - £3-90 per bag delivered. WARNING these bags have tiny holes in and are shrink wrapped on the pallet for a good reason! Try to keep this intact until use and store any surplus in a dry shed. If it gets wet it runs together and is not usable even once dry again.

Herbicides
It is essential to control moss, weeds and worms. This can only be done by spraying approved chemicals and applications can only be done by a person who has a certificate of competence. Do not cut corners on this. Use a contractor, local golf club, bowls club or other qualified person to pop in and do this. With the right machine etc it only takes 10 minutes to do the job on a square and saves you all the cost of storage and going on the courses to be able to do it yourself. I would estimate a chemical safe and PA 1 and 2 qualifications to be legal will cost you £500! A walkover sprayer with 3 or 5 nozzles will cost £750. Knapsacks for this type of application are inaccurate and fraught with danger.

Finally the current wet weather is ideal to repair ends and revisit ends from early in the season which haven’t come too well as we will be needing them again soon!
TIM PARKER