So there's 24 pitches on the Edgbaston square all like I say all of them are first class but mainly
the reason we put the test match pitch right in the middle is because of tv cameras and the
number of seats sold in the stadium to get maximum use of the stadium. So a test match against India
will sell out whereas maybe a county championship game will probably have less people in so that's
why it goes on more the outside and there's no tv cameras for those games. Yeah so we water a
lot on the square just to keep the moisture in and keep the grass alive stop it cracking
and keep the profile full of water as much as we can without it being a problem for people
diving on it. It's a fine balance so we're now leading up to a game on Thursday where it's dry
so we'll probably water today but we'll also do it at the right times because if we put cold water on
it'll drop the soil temperatures which means the grass won't be growing as much as we want it to
but we'd also use the sheets on there to keep the grass warm overnight
and help growth. So the square's cut at 12 mil that's purely because that's where we found
the height of the cut of the plant is really happy and also we keep the pace in the square
stops it drying out in a big four day game when it's warm but also the pace in the square is
quick enough for the ball to run across. Anything higher generally the square goes a bit slower.
Outfield wise we we sort of play around with it a bit higher. We roughly go about 12 mil 11 mil
firstly it's presentation we want it to look right looks acceptable for first class cricket and any
spectators that come in secondly and the most important is ball speed you want the ball speed to
be quick so shots for four go for four so it's a real trade-off because it's a sand based outfield
where you need to water it to keep it alive and keep it stable if you keep it too alive and too
well and it looks really good the ball speed slows so it's finding that balance between ball speed
and playability and actual stability in the plant to keep the whole outfield moving nicely. So on
the square - the square's fertilized probably with a granular fertilizer three times a year
one is at the start of the season to give it a bit of a kick to get it going one in the middle
when we've got a bit of a free time and then the other ones at the end to get us through winter
the rest of the time is a liquid feed and that's basically seaweed seaweed's a natural product we
can spray it down now and players can play on it straight away it's not going to hurt anybody
and that's the other thing is the amount of games we have and the timings to do it.
We do use other little fertilisers as well but again they're all liquids and that just
keeps everything nicely green and topped up and stability in the structure of the plant.
The same goes for the outfield the only difference is with the outfield the outfield is basically has
a base feed at the start of the end at the end of the year and then we hit it probably three
times with more with granular fertilisers at the right time and again then it's all
liquid fertilizers and again plenty of seaweed. Through the season only things to do on the square
on pitches new pitches will be verticutting and cleaning out so the plant's really clean.
Regarding as well we also seed up and top dress brand new pitches that have just been finished
with and used and hope to bring them back. Regarding the outfield the outfield has a full
year programme we try and pro-core probably at least once a month to keep the profile open
we uni-rake to keep keep the grass clean and stood up to get the stripes really strong
we also then verti-cut if we if needs be, holllow-core twice a year to get rid of thatch and
bring the debris and organic matter layer down and then we sand once a year with 30 tons of sand and
also seed up twice a year with mm50 in probably four or five different directions. So for all our
match day mowing on the square we use a variety of machines we use a C34E that has a Scarifier reel
in it and a rake wheel in it as well as a cylinder that generally cuts cross ways of the square in
blocks. The blocks that you see with play like the pitches that's what we use the buffalo for
that generally fits the stripe nicely and gets us a nice cut and then we also use the Uplift
at the end of match days or match day evenings to collect any debris from the square and again with
the roller on the front of the uplift it gives it a really strong stripe without over stressing the
plant which is really important at the end of a busy day's cricket. One of the big things we're
looking to do here at Edgbaston over the next few years is bring battery powered mowers more in play
I think it's really important for the future, sustainability fuel sources are getting more
and more expensive also you know now we're using the C34E you know you can start to hear
the amount of noise working conditions that the people are using the other machines in
but also sustainability you know fuel like I say fuel is very expensive working conditions
are just different. Using the battery-powered ones is is a lot more silent a lot easier to
use mechanical pressures on the machine are a lot less. The clip rate seems to be a lot more cleaner
and just everything we seem to use with battery seems to be the way forward so at Edgbaston that's
one thing we're looking to potentially replace the whole of our range with battery-powered
mowers within hopefully the next five years we've always sort of put a five-year plan in place.
I do believe though that you should only replace them when the actual proper mowers are out there
so we you know we brought the C34E in because it was a good like for like change it was as good
as any mower that was out there for its range and again with the Uplift we changed the Uplift from
using just normal petrol driven rotaries now the uplift is a battery one the difference in usage
is a lot more a lot more powerful. Again it's just where we are as a an environment the planet
we've started to got to make decisions that we need to make for the future and I think it's the
right way to go to be looking into the right sources you know whether that be solar panels
whether that be the water on the outfield where we're recycling and maybe harvesting the water
all the things that we're we're looking to do are all things that we can
that are around now but we've got to still push the boundaries for a bit further.
So one of the biggest things in cricket that's a bit of a disparity between clubs
is probably the budgets our budgets people think you've just got an endless about money
unfortunately we haven't. Comparing us to premier league football club some premier league football
clubs spend more on their undersoil heating at their training ground than we do in a budget
for a season it's just where we are so we have to sort of cut our cloth accordingly
but one thing that makes you is a bit of thrifty with your money and make sure you spend it in
the right way because you can have all the money in the world but if you don't spend
it right and get the right things in everything fails so we generally are very you know we put
our money in the right areas we look where we're spending it we've got a plan for all our capital
expenditure budgets I'm lucky at Edgbaston you know I'll get fully supported on a lot of things
so it's it's yeah it's really important to be knowledgeable about budgets and i think being
in charge of your own budget as a groundsman is a massive important part of your job.