Custom Bats Cricket Forum
General Cricket => Cricket Admin, Facilities and Fundraising => The Groundsman => Topic started by: TangoWhiskey on February 17, 2015, 10:54:19 AM
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We used to have a lovely outfield, not carpet like but you got attack a ball with confidence. Then a couple of years ago when we had that stinker of a summer with the rain, the groundsman managed to chop it all up with the tyres on his tractor whilst mowing and it has been getting worse ever since. Now if you're fielding practically anywhere other than on the square and the ball is hit hard along the floor it's a long barrier, close your eyes and pray for your face job, it's really awful. It has been exacerbated by a local football team using the outfield in the winter to train on. I'd say that the poor outfield adds about 30 runs an innings to the batting team.
Is there anything we can do do smooth it back out into something at least remotely playable?
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Before the start of the season, while the ground is still soft (but not too soft), get a friendly local farmer to pull a large paddock roller over it a few times.
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Part of the problem will be lack of grass coverage to give that carpet effect. Get plenty of seed down in any worn area, rake and water. Agree with the above poster, rolling will help a little to flatten it out but it can also compact the ground and leave water sitting on top in wet periods.
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No there is plenty of grass, it's just so uneven underneath that the ball bobbles everywhere.
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No there is plenty of grass, it's just so uneven underneath that the ball bobbles everywhere.
Might be worth checking whether it's all grass or not. If you have a bit of plant/weed amongst the grass it will bobble over it. If the coverage is good then rolling is probably the next thing to do.
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Roll it when it is soft. Cut the grass short. Fill the big bobbles with top soil and re-seed.
The footballers need to learn to replace divots and pat down holes/gauges they make. The use of the outfield in winter is good to help open up the soil for easier winter drainage. This will stop the water sitting too long and killing the grass.
It's not an overnight fix, the groundsman shouldn't have used his tractor so much.
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Roll it when it is soft. Cut the grass short. Fill the big bobbles with top soil and re-seed.
The footballers need to learn to replace divots and pat down holes/gauges they make. The use of the outfield in winter is good to help open up the soil for easier winter drainage. This will stop the water sitting too long and killing the grass.
It's not an overnight fix, the groundsman shouldn't have used his tractor so much.
Yeah he's got the thin field tires on it too which doesn't help. I've approached the committee about either him changing his tires to turf ones or we hire someone else but it falls on deaf ears usually.
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Do the footballers train on one side of the field? Is it worse on that side? I think you would have a case for the footballers stumping up for the outfield to be relaid in some areas.
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It's all over the outfield. Problem is we don't own the ground.
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Is the mowing with a tractor the only time/way it gets mowed? Even in the summer?
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Yeah unfortunately. The social club who own the ground pay some guy who is a member there to do it. I don't think they pay him much either and it's done more like a favour, so we can't really demand he does it any other way he pleases...
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So would they not consider a new mower? A proper one, may help to level the field a little bit at a time and eventually make improvements. Same bloke can still do it, will just have a new toy to play with
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We don't have that much cash in reserve unfortunately as we are in the process of procuring a new roller. My initial thought was once we get the new roller (a decent sit on one) would be that I'd take it for a spin round the outfield when I have time and the conditions suit, but I have heard different things as to whether this will work or even if it's a good idea at all.
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We use to have a football pitch at one end and the ground towards the boundary got very bare. I know one of the guys talked about gang mowers helping to level the ground somewhat.
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We use to have a football pitch at one end and the ground towards the boundary got very bare. I know one of the guys talked about gang mowers helping to level the ground somewhat.
Yeah the guy uses a gang mower at the minute.
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i would be very careful about putting a roller over the outfield its more likely to compact everything rather then level stuff out.
try getting hold of a chain harrow and drag it round a lot. i have a football pitch on one side of the square it always looks a bit bare and uneven a serious chain harrow bit of seed and fertiliser it comes up nicely for the cricket season.
if they are that uneven it would be worth considering filling in the holes and putting some seed down or possibly even taking the turf up and level underneath.
it all comes down to time and resources available.
have a look at www.pitchcare.com (http://www.pitchcare.com) they have a brilliant message board on there. regular posters include the head groundsman from sussex, cardiff, durham and loughborough along with lots of other knowledgeable people
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Don't roll whatever you do!
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You could really do with having the outfield verti-drained to decompact it, this will also help with the drainage. If you are struggling to find people to do the maintenance I suggest you set up a user account on pitchcare.com and post on their message board that you're looking for some maintenance work. You'll be surprised at how reasonable the costs are, when contractors are going round the area anyway. We do quite a lot of Natural & Synthetic pitch construction at work. If we've got a natural pitch out of the area and we've got to do the initial maintenance this is what I do to save travelling 200 miles to cut the grass for an hour!!
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Do as much chain harrowing as above then once levels are good may be light roll with outfield roller not wicket roller. If you have gangs these will probably give enough rolling.
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With regard to rolling, it depends on the condition of the ground i suppose. Our groundsmen do a fantastic job and keep the place looking immaculate. I know every March they hire a road roller (for tarmac) for 2 days and roll the outfield dawn till dusk. Commitment.
The outfield is absolute lightning.
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Ours gets rolled throughout the season, and is seirous value for shots at woolpit!
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Surely a roller just makes the high spots lower and the low spots even lower? And gives a load of other issues?!
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a roller will roll out little divots etc but it won't stop it from having high and low spots (like little rolling hills so to speak). for that you need to drag matt it when it's soft and re seed as you'll scrap away grass.
I know my old club literally had a pump in the local stream and flooded the outfield where the football pitch is, scraped it, drag matted it then seeded and top soiled it all.. weeks later.. flat grass outfield that's easy to maintain.
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I'm not worried about the high spots and low spots, it doesn't need to be flat like a car park! All I would like is to get down into a long barrier and not have the ball ping up into my teeth off a bobble.
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Our primary home ground is horrifically bumpy in spots. Almost like a sine wave in places. The football team play on the far side of the ground and chew it up, then when it's hot the muddy spots go dry and crumbly and will graze any knees that dare to go near them.
Secondary ground, (where I've played the most) albeit with the grass being slightly too long, is lovely and flat!