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By Press Release in Cricket on 30th May 2007 10:05
The batsman who is out of touch has but one ground in mind in terms of feeling his way back into form. The bounce is wonderfully consistent, the straight boundaries are markedly short and bountiful run-making is a given. This is Taunton, where Phil Frost, five times groundsman of the year, tends a square beloved by anyone looking to boost his average, but bemoaned by Andrew Caddick, Somerset's premier bowler.
Frost has the burnished look of one who spends his life outdoors. What with that and his straggly white hair, he has the appearance of an old sea dog. Nobody doubts his expertise, not least Peter Anderson, the long-serving Somerset chief executive whose first task upon taking office in 1988 was to interview him for the post of head groundsman.
Frost, 49, grew up in the county and was intent on becoming a first-class cricketer. He has been with Somerset for 30 years and is at the ground at 7am every matchday. Yet he is presiding over a square on which, seemingly, bowlers do not have a prayer.
The first two championship matches of this season accentuated the dominance of bat over ball. There were 14 centuries scored, including triple and double ones, and Brian Rose, the director of cricket, has told him he wants a more even balance between bat and ball.
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Timesonline
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There are 4 comments on this article
30 May 2007 by Markone
Working just a mile up the road from Phil, I often visit him for a chat. He is under incredible pressure from all sides at the moment - very unfairly in my opinion - it was not his decision to Koro the square last September and he warned those who made the decision that it was not the answer to improve the pitches for bowlers.
After the glut of runs at Taunton so far this season, he is now being blamed for it !
Surely, the answer to improve the pitches for bowlers would be to relay the square over a number of years.
Phil is a bloody good groundsman with years of experience - just look at all the awards he has won, mostly in recent years, but as usual, there are those who haven't a clue what they're talking about and who have no appreciation of the skill and workload of a groundsman, particularly at county level with all the media attention.
Perhaps if the players performed better on the pitch, then the criticisms would disappear!?
31 May 2007 by Zippy
Just about the best wicket on county circuit and still it comes in for criticism !!
Anyone who knows anything about cricket pitches knows it the bottom 4 to 5 inches that generate the pace and bounce not the top inch - something i have been trying to tell our members for ages.
No doubt if Somerset do decide to relay a couple of pitches and it all goes horribly wrong then the groundsman will be at fault once again.
Who'd be a groundsman ?
1 Jun 2007 by jlawrence
OK, I'm not a groundsman any where near Phil's caliber but even I know that changing the top inch isn't going to add bounce to a pitch.
I see no problem with regularly Koro'ing a county square (an inch is a bit excessive though).
The question that need to be asked is:
Who on earth told the Somerset board that changing the top inch would add bounce ? Chris Woods certainly wouldn't have advised that.
Perhaps the top was taken off for other reasons - cos doing it for bounce certainly doesn't make any sense.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
2 Jun 2007 by Markone
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the square - it played consistently and true, was level with excellent grass species and coverage.
Taunton has been a hard, dry batsman's paradise for years so removing the top inch of the square was never going to make any difference.
It was decided by those in higher places at SCCC that removing the top inch would help bowlers this season, who made that decision I don't know - but they bizarrely must have thought that there must be something better below the surface that would somehow help bowlers!
I know that Chris Woods was at the ground yesterday (Friday) to offer his opinion - outcome yet to be established.
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