Groundsmen Lend A Hand To Help Cricket Club’s Pitch Stay Green

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King’s Ely groundsmen lend a hand to help City of Ely Cricket Club’s pitch stay green ahead of new season.

The grounds of King’s Ely are known for their luscious lawns – but this month, the school’s groundsmen have been lending a hand to help another local institution ensure their pitch remains in top condition over the winter.

Grounds manager Will Temple and his assistant, Chris Young, have been busy spreading two tonnes of soil over the wicket at the City of Ely Cricket Club so new grass can grow ahead of the new season next year.

The gruelling task took just an hour-and-a-half to complete, much to the delight of the club’s President, Brian Leonard.

He said: “The club has a long and proud history and its wicket on Paradise Field in the centre of the city has always been renowned as one on which batsman can flourish.

“King’s Ely learnt of the cricket club’s need and kindly agreed to make its mechanised loam-spreader this year as part of its ongoing community support commitment.

“Thus it was that in early October that Will and Chris arrived on the Paradise Field and left having achieved what had hitherto been the all-day and back-breaking task of distributing two tonnes of soil evenly across the wicket area by hand.

“It is a wonderful gesture by King’s Ely and one that should bear fruit for Ely’s batsmen next season as they seek to take advantage of the quality wickets and progress up the Cambridgeshire cricket leagues.”

Before every new season begins, the club scarifies, spikes, re-seeds and then spreads loam onto the wicket.

“In recent years a few of my friends have helped with the all-important autumn task of ensuring that the wickets are refreshed and re-seeded for the following season,” Brian added.

“Of the tasks at hand, the one involving the most muscle power is spreading loam and myself and my helpers are well past retirement age!”

Brian has been the club’s President for the past 25 years and has tended to its pitch single-handedly for over two decades.

He has been honoured at Lord’s with a lifetime achievement award by the England Cricket Board (ECB) for his services to the sport.

To read the original article from Ely Standard, click here

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Ex-Groundsman Dropping In On England

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Ex-Groundsman Dropping In On England: Former Eden Park head groundsman Mark Perham has been tasked with ensuring a portable cricket pitch and temporary outfield is installed at the London Olympic Stadium for the 2019 World Cup.

The stadium could also be used in England’s revamped city-based Twenty20 competition, due to start in 2020.

The venue is home to Premier League club West Ham and scheduled to be available for a week during the World Cup’s May 30-July 15 window. A day-night match is likely to be played on a Friday, followed by a day fixture on a Sunday. Drop-in pitches are yet to be used for international cricket in England.

The 2012 Games arena’s capacity is expected to be around 60,000, meaning it could increase sales budgets and reduce operating costs through economies of scale. The International Cricket Council runs the tournament, but the England and Wales Cricket Board collects the ticket revenue. The Times estimated the ECB could haul in up to 20 million pounds ($37 million) from the exercise; 2 million pounds ($3.7 million) is set aside to develop the project.

In May, the Guardian reported the India-Pakistan and Australia-England matches are likely targets in what looms as a “festival of cricket” across London, with Lord’s and the Oval also official World Cup venues.

Perham left his Eden Park job at the end of the 2012-13 season and now runs Field Turf New Zealand, with 19 staff who contract to sports grounds in New Zealand and overseas.

Part of his cricket groundsman reputation was as a pioneer for portable pitches, which were regularly used at Eden Park during his tenure. He has been charged with preparing three such wickets at Loughborough University in England’s East Midlands for transport to London.

“They will go to the stadium next year for a trial,” said Perham, who has made four trips to Britain within the last year as part of the preparation.

“[The organisers] won’t go into the World Cup without playing on them. They want to reduce [the traditional pitch] square size and have pitches close to the centre of the ground. We will also turf over the [athletics] track.”

Perham was shoulder-tapped following glowing feedback from his efforts preparing pitches in the United States. He oversaw the drop-in strips used in Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne’s cricket all-stars series at Major League baseball parks in New York, Los Angeles and Houston in November 2015.

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Chipco Green To Be Withdrawn From The Market 

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Chipco Green To Be Withdrawn From The Market: A recent EU meeting, held by the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF), has voted for the non-inclusion of iprodione.

This means that all products across Europe that contain this active ingredient, including Chipco® Green and Interface® from Bayer, will be withdrawn from the market.

Chipco Green To Be Withdrawn From The Market 

Steve Bishop, Bayer professional product manager, explains that the industry can expect an update in the coming weeks with regards to timescales for the sell-out and usage periods of iprodione product based registrations.

“We have a large regulatory team based in the UK who’ll keep the industry informed on all of the latest updates,” says Steve.

Earlier this year, Bayer launched Exteris™ Stressgard®, which increased the available number of fungicide groups from five to six, with the new turf SDHI fluopyram.

“Unfortunately the loss of iprodione will reduce the available turf fungicide groups back to five, meaning that rotation strategy remains a critical element of integrated disease management,” explains Steve.

“With other chemicals also due for assessment, a further reduction in the total number of products on the market, and therefore the number of available groups for rotation, for turf disease control is  not out of the question.

“This is why we’re constantly investing into the research and development of new chemistry, to continue to deliver solutions to our customers well into the future.”

For further information on the withdrawal of iprodione and Bayer products, please contact the Turf Solutions Team on 00800 1214 9451 or email turfsolutions@bayer.com

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National Recognition For Potters Bar Bowls Club Duo

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National Recognition For Potters Bar Bowls Club Duo: Husband and wife team, Rod and Sandra Smale, have been shortlisted for the Bowling Greenkeeper/Team of the Year award by the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG).

The expertise and dedication of the couple in maintaining the bowling greens at Potters Bar’s greens at The Walk has been the reason for the nomination.

They took over the upkeep of the six-rink green in 2014 after a desire from the members for more competitive facilities.

Working to a limited budget, the duo set about the task and aided by a two helpers the green is now tended every day for a regular programme of mowing, dew brushing and rink marking.

They will be up against last year’s winners, Burnham Hillside Bowls Club of Burnham-on-Crouch, with the winners announced at the National Conference Centre, Birmingham, on November 1.

To read the original article from WH Times, click here

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Germinal To Establish Research Station 

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Germinal to establish research station to help amenity turf professionals get the best from their facilities: Amenity grass seed specialist Germinal is to establish its own research station to spearhead a new programme of trials and development work geared to helping UK groundsmen, greenkeepers, turf growers and landscape architects get the very best from their amenity and sports areas.

The 11-acre facility, located near Melksham in Wiltshire, will be managed by grass trials specialist Dr Joanna Matthews, who leaves her post at NIAB to join Germinal in January 2018.

Germinal GB Managing Director Paul Billings believes the development will create an unrivalled knowledge hub that will enable professional sports turf and amenity grass specialists to improve the performance and aesthetics of their green spaces.

“In a competitive market where only the best cultivars and seed mixtures will suffice, having a bespoke R&D facility will allow Germinal to showcase market-leading varieties, test innovative ideas in UK conditions, and demonstrate at a local level alternative grass seed species or turf management systems that we are bringing in from around the world.

“The research station will be integrated with our amenity breeding programme at IBERS Aberystwyth University and will provide facilities for Germinal to collaborate with many other industry partners on projects of great significance and benefit to the wider industry.

“We already have plans for over forty projects at the site, which will include trialling new amenity varieties, and proving, in real world conditions, the benefits and advantages of site specific traits such as tolerance to shade and disease resistance under stress.  We’ll also be collaborating with leading amenity nutrition manufacturers to trial a range of slow and phased- release fertilisers and specialist liquid and granular fertilisers.”

Dr Joanna Matthews joined NIAB in 2013 and brings to Germinal a valuable combination of practical grass trials knowledge and progressive plant science experience.

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