The winners of the 2007 Cricket World® Groundsman of the Year Awards were announced at a presentation ceremony at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London earlier this week.  George Alexander, of Tonbridge School, won the award for Groundsman of the Year in the School and College group.

The Awards, hosted by Cricket World® and Pitchcare.com, came under four categories: School and College, Local Authority, Cricket Club and European grounds.

The Award Winners

Laurence Gale of PitchCare.com who said that judging the awards was an extremely rewarding experience selected the winners.

“Whilst judging the awards I had the opportunity to meet many dedicated groundsmen at their inspiring venues and it gave me the opportunity to see a wide range of skills, knowledge and experience being put into practice.”

Gale also said that selecting the four winners from the twenty finalists was a far from easy task.

“How do you compare a ground that has everything - plenty of resources, machinery and staff, to one that is managed by volunteers with little or no equipment?

“I believe it’s about the Groundsman himself and what he brings to the table in terms of commitment, enthusiasm and guile along with the ability to get things done with the resources he has at hand. Above all he must produce a playing surface that is both safe and consistent, while at the same time promotes the game of cricket.”

The winners were presented with their Awards by Chris Wood, the top ECB Pitch Advisor and Alastair Symondson, Head of Media at Cricket World® 

The Groundsman of the Year Awards 2007: 

School and College
1. George Alexander, Tonbridge School
2. Mike Rutherford Framling College
3. Ian Smith, St Albans School

Local Authority

1. Simon Lawrence, Colchester and East Sussex CC
2. Gordon Gill, Westbury and District CC
3. Glyn Dobbs and Ivor Parry, Borough of Blaenow Gwent

Cricket Club

1. Paul Tatton, Haydock CC
2. Andrew Clarke, Shenley CC
3. John Lawrence Plymouth CC

European

1. Karl McDermott, Clontarf CC (Ireland)
2. Ian Vauntier, Grainville Playing Fields, (Jersey)

John Deere, Dennis, Lloyds & Co, JMS, Notts Sports, Flicx, Goundreys, Binders, Stuart Canvas, Synergy Products, Groundsman Industries and Tildernet sponsored the Awards.

The European Groundsman of the Year title went to Karl McDermott of Clontarf CC in Ireland, who made the journey across the Irish Sea to pick up his award.

McDermott’s success comes after more than 16 years commitment to the club where he spends hundreds of hours tending his beloved ground which has 14 wickets required to host over 100 matches in a season.

McDermott was presented with his well-deserved award by ICC European Development Manager, Richard Holdsworth who has witnessed the top groundsman’s achievements at Clontarf first-hand this season in hosting the Ireland v West Indies ODI.

Holdsworth said, “It is a pleasure for me to present Karl with this award. The dedication and commitment that he gives to Clontarf Cricket Club are second to none.

“The improvements made to the ground during his time at the club have not only brought the pitch up to the ICC’s stringent playing standards for hosting One Day Internationals, but have made the ground and its facilities more enjoyable for both players and spectators alike.”

The improvements that Karl has brought to the cricket club include a new drainage system around the square, renewal of all the grounds equipment, installation of an artificial pitch and the additional of an electronic scoreboard.

Another fanatical groundsman and the runner up of the European award is Ian Vauntier, who for the past 32 years has looked after the Grainville Playing Fields in Jersey. Like McDermott, Vauntier dedicates his life to maintaining and improving the ground so that visitors will go away impressed.

Richard Holdsworth added “I am pleased that both Karl and Ian’s hard work has been recognized with these awards. These two dedicated men stand as shining examples of the challenging work that must be done behind the scenes to enable so many cricketers to enjoy this great game.”

For further information on the awards and details of the winners and runners-up please visit the Cricket World Groundmanship pages:

http://www.cricketworld.com/groundsmanship/article/?aid=13024

ECB have updated their guide to groundsman “Recommended guidelines for the construction, preparation and maintenance of cricket pitches and outfield at all levels of the game – TS4” (Technical Specification 4)

It is available for download from this website at this address.  Please note this is a large PDF file (3.4mb) and you will need the freely-available Acrobat Reader to be able to view it.

This really is a fantastic resource for everyone involved in all turf management.  Certainly it’s a “must” for all groundsman or people wanting to gain a better understanding of the work of groundsman at all levels of the game.

Flooded cricket grounds are relatively rare in Kent, but if you have one, or if you have dropped in from another county having been unlucky enough to fall victim to the recent floods, you might be interested in the following, from Sibton Park, who experienced very severe flooding on 2000/2001 and have supplied us with some pointers.

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Attached are the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Kent Cricket Board’s Groundsman’s Association held on 27th April 2007 at the County Ground, Canterbury.

The Minutes are available for download by clicking this link.

Included in the Minutes are summary notes of a presentation given by Alex Vickers on results to date of the Cranfield rolling trials and one given by David Bates of Total Turf Solutions, both of which were well received by those present.

The Groundman’s Fund this year was a grant of £95,000, accessible to Focus Clubs in the South of England.

 The Kent Groundman’s Association has a bid in for aeration machinery and Sibton Park and Addington have been awarded grants towards the cost of two fairway mowers from the London Golf Club. See the full story here.

The Annual Meeting of the Kent Cricket Groundsman’s Association will be held in the ‘Legends Room’ Academy Building at the St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury on 23rd April 2007.  The meeting will start at 6.30pm and will feature presentations, a brief AGM and forum.

Full details and an attendance form can be found and downloaded by clicking here.

The ECB has teamed up with The Institute of Groundsmanship to provide a programme of progressive training courses for the management of cricket pitches.

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If you have any problems with your pitch or outfield and you would like some professional advice

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