When Cricket Renovations don’t go to Plan

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When Cricket Renovations don’t go to Plan, for many groundsman the autumn of 2024 was probably one of the most challenging. A unusually wet September delayed many end of season (EOS) works and in some cases resulted in some Clubs deciding to cancel their EOS altogether. 

Normally we try and start our EOS work by the middle of September, relying on contractors to carry out our renovations. However, it only needs a few rainy days in September to push the whole process back. In ‘normal’ seasons this isn’t too much of a problem but the consistent rain in September and October 2024 resulted in numerous cancelled starts and made us think that it’s was too late to even contemplate renovations especially as we thought the grass wouldn’t germinate or at best be sceptical to rot and fungal problems.

Note:- We often forget that whilst the majority of groundsmen normally only have one square to worry about contractors have 20-30 squares to complete by the middle of October so we are not alone in worrying about the weather and when the work be completed. 

Relentless Rain

The weather continued to be unrelenting this Autumn and the outfield/ground conditions too soft to even allow heavy machinery to access the ground. 

We contacted other groundsmen in the area who were having similar experiences so don’t feel alone or embarrassed. Interestingly everyone was considering different ways of trying to complete their work. This including hiring equipment, contacting other contractors, trying to get Club members to help move the waiting bags of soil!!

It was at this point I contacted a senior ground advisers who had many years of experience on the County circuit. I have shared his thoughts below which I hope will Groundsman will find useful:-

“Whilst it’s less than ideal, it’s not unusual for people to renovate in the middle of October (and even into early November), especially on the south coast…but I would proceed conservatively.

Reality Check

At this point I think you need to scale back any ambition you might have for a heavy scarification and concentrate on cleaning the surface, restoring grass cover and addressing any minor levels issues. So, whilst I would still scarify, I wouldn’t go much deeper than a couple of mm and perhaps limit it to just two or three passes maximum this year. The square should not suffer unduly if you are light on scarification for one year, but you should be mindful of this the following year and make sure that you are extra thorough.

My Advise

• Similarly, I would still top dress, but the grass growth will be far less vigorous: so as light an application as possible to avoid burying anything
• Most importantly, do not work in the wrong conditions or press on regardless because you could do more harm than good.
• If all else fails, work on the ends when you can and don’t lose too much sleep over it. If you really don’t get a break in the weather then you may have to pick things up in spring”

What we could achieve

Eventually we had a window of opportunity, the long range forecast was dry and mild so we took the plunge and carried out our EOS work on the 8th November. (The latest we have carried completed the renovations)

We cut the square short (for the third time since September) and arranged for a local contractor to dimple seed / top dress the square. Four brave member’s shovelled the ongar into the hooper as we watched the work being completed before we had to put the fencing up around the square. 

We now had our fingers crossed hoping that ‘mother nature’ would be kind to us. Some three weeks later we had the first signs of green shoots. 

Some hope ahead

Considering all the problems and challenges we have gone through this autumn/winter we are very pleased with the results. Thankfully we haven’t suffered from any fungal disease or rotting off, of the young grass and recently we have added some winter fertiliser to keep the grass looking as healthy as possible. 

Spring Plans

Come March we will over seed the square whilst at the same time ensure we don’t over roll the young grass. 

The groundsman’s journey never ends and we never stop leaning Here’s looking forward to the sound of the mowers in 2025 season! 

Malcolm Page
Lindfield CC
West Sussex

Keep a eye out in the coming weeks, as l have written a blog called, Spring Renovations of a Cricket Square- Brian

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