A Quiet Week

Its the calm before the storm!!! Not much has been happening lately but the silly season is closing in quickly - 20/20 starts in 2 weeks!!! 

Not having cricket on the ground for 9 days is one of the good things about working a County ground. Not that it meant there was no work to be done. It gave an opportunity for some remedial work to get done. During the quiet time the ground was feed and watered. The outfield and square was fertilised and we got the chance to water the square heavily and re-seed the worn wickets.  There are very few windows of opportunity to do this so we have to take advantage when we can. The whole square is covered most of the time so artificial watering is just about the only water it gets. Of course the weather was fine when there was no cricket on the ground!!!

We had cricket back yesterday, a Friends Provident match against Gloucester, and you guessed it………it rained! Heavy rain overnight so there was no chance of a prompt start. There were puddles over a lot of the outfield and it was still raining at 11.00am then it eased. We had heard that the Glamorgan/Somerset game had been cancelled so we needed to play and win to get through to the quarter finals. That meant a lot of mopping up! And that’s what we did for hours until the game was abandoned at 3.45pm. Just after that it started to rain again so we would never have gotten a 10 over game in which was what we were aiming for.

One blessing was that the wicket wasn’t used. We play Essex in the Championship tomorrow so we can play them on this wicket, which looks good. The other wicket we were preparing had been under the sheets for 4 out of the previous 5 days so it was very damp and would have been difficult to play on.

As mentioned above 20/20 is coming up. I can’t wait to see the whole impact of 20/20 in person. Full grounds, music and entertainment is all part of the 20/20 phenomenon that has hit English cricket over the last few years. It has been so successful that most clubs rely on the income to keep the Clubs books in good order. I’m really looking to see the ground full and to taste the atmosphere of evening cricket. The Sky Sports cameras will also be in town so keep an eye out for me!! We have 2 matches on tv, on June 12th and 19th.

 The day before 20/20 starts we play New Zealand in a 50 over match so it will certainly be a busy time.

I must also congratulate the Irish cricket team on their recent good performances in the FPT. Being in Worcester the locals got great satisfaction out of Ireland beating Warwickshire. There is a big local rivalry over the neighbouring counties. So I was proud to be Irish on that day!!! I had the day off for their return fixture with Warwickshire and had planned to go up to Birmingham see them play but yet again the rain came. It was called off at 12pm and I didn’t even travel up.

So here’s hoping for 4 good days weather, and a win!! We’ve played 4 and drawn 4 in the Championship with the weather playing a major role in all the games. Plus I’m sick of mopping up water and pulling covers on and off!!!!!!