Any cricket groundsman will tell you it takes hours to prepare a grass cricket pitch to a good standard and, indeed, an all year-round effort to maintain the entire cricket square, which typically contains 16 pitches (or ‘strips’ or ‘wickets’ or whatever you want to call them – the rest of this article will call them ‘pitches’).

This year is no exception – even though we’ve not yet bowled a competitive ball, all the usual pre-season work in March and April had to be done and all the subsequent guidance we have received has been all about being prepared for the potential of play this summer. Some of you have had the benefit of this work with recent lockdown net sessions – the practice pitches have played exceedingly well.

So, who does this work? What work is done? There are a few things I have learnt from our current groundsman, the magnificent Matthew Poucher, over the 7 years he has had the privilege of attending to the cricket square at Menston Cricket Club. Here are some of those words of wisdom:

- Pre-season work consists of ‘verticutting’ the square to clear out dead matter built up over the winter. Then loam is added, and a heavy square mower is used to go over the square at least 10 times.

- Then ‘rolling’ of the square is done using a sit-on heavy roller (see accompanying photo). This takes a minimum of 20 hours, but we aim for 40 hours, and is only done when the soil moisture level is just right – which can be done with a soil sampler or by pressing your thumb into the surface; making a small indent means it is OK to roll. Rolling helps to consolidate the square so that pitches allow cricket balls good bounce and carry (if you’re a fast bowler, this helps your bouncer!), and the pitches themselves don’t break up so easily.

- It takes a minimum of 10 days (ideally 14) to prepare a good quality pitch, for hard-ball practice or a match. The 10 days includes watering, cutting, rolling and marking the pitch. A pitch can usually be used for 3 full cricket matches i.e. bowling about 300 overs.

- Rye grass is a friend, grows uniformly and should be cultivated. Poa (meadow) grass is unhelpful, grows in clumps and should be controlled. If you were out LBW off a ball that surprisingly jagged back in, the ball may have hit a clump of poa…

- Pebbles, stones, lost spikes from cricket boots, dropped keys etc are a real nuisance and can be costly when cutting a pitch. It’s £90 for a new mower blade. It’s happened twice this year already.

- Sawdust is the enemy! Whilst it helps bowlers to keep their footing during a rain-affected match, it stunts grass growth and needs to swept up immediately after use.

- Having helpful assistants to roll covers on and off the designated practice / match pitch is a godsend – keeping all that hard work under the covers (with correctly attached flaps and pipes, of course) and therefore dry means a longer life for the pitch and more chance of cricket being played.

- End of season works are essential, even this year when we probably won’t get much (if any) cricket beyond net sessions. This typically consists of an extensive verticut to remove thatch and much of the unwanted grasses and lateral growth and several deep passes of scarification and aeration, followed by seeding and a heavy dressing of loam.

- As mentioned above, we may have a number of unused pitches this year. This may sound like good news – it’ll preserve the square won’t it, and save on costs? But no – unused pitches will naturally build litter that will turn into thatch, which will need removing (see photo of the thatch removed last year). Thatch is said to be the number one killer of a cricket pitch’s potential performance.

All this sounds a lot, and perhaps something that doesn’t cross your mind when the only thing you want to do is play the game, but clearly the work is essential to playing cricket. The cost? It’s over £10,000 a year towards labour and materials – the single biggest recurring annual cost to the cricket club – and that’s allowing for the many hours of voluntary work that Mr Poucher puts into his labour of love (and that at a personal cost of a severed finger in 2018, caught in a mower – photo available on request to those who are not squeamish). 2018 was also the year that the Airedale & Wharfedale Senior Cricket League awarded the hosting of the 3rd XI Cup Final to Menston, in recognition of the quality of our square.

Compare the above cost to 1978 when, according to club records, £600 was paid towards preparing the ground and, further back, to 1936 when the groundsman cost £10 a year. Maybe that’s inflation for you!

So, what about previous groundsmen? Those I can remember before Matthew Poucher include Tommy Powell, who still prepares the square at Green Lane Cricket Club, and our own Life Member Gordon Metcalfe and, before that, previous President (and current Life Member) David Thackeray.

In 1977, David Storr was elected a Vice President in recognition of his continuous connection with the club, stretching back more than 25 years, during which time he had given outstanding service. He was an efficient team secretary and, as assistant groundsman, gave the club hours of his time in caring for the ground and equipment.

Going further back in time, the Hanson family were heavily involved in preparing the ground. In 1922, there was a benefit match for Mr J W Hanson, the groundsman. In the 1930s, chimney sweep George Hanson was groundsman for two seasons and Edward Hanson ‘kept a watchful eye on club property’.

The final word goes to Yorkshire cricketer Bobby Peel who, in 1912, complimented the groundsman at Menston Cricket Club after playing in the annual village ‘feast’ match, stating that the pitch “seems to have been well maintained”. May that sentiment long continue – but please let’s not lose any other fingers…