Bowled over by contractor at Wellesbourne Cricket Club

Jane Carleyin Cricket

They say if you want a job doing well, call in a specialist, and that’s the approach behind Willow Turf Care, offering a cricket groundsmanship service to clubs in the Midlands.

Richie Woodmason cut his teeth in Australia, benefitting from training by Philip Petrievich. After roles as head curator at Willerton District and Western Suburbs cricket clubs, he returned to the UK, ending up as assistant head groundsman at Trent Bridge just before Covid.

“I was made redundant after Covid and eventually decided to become self-employed,” he explains. “There’s a growing number of clubs who are struggling to find part-time groundsmen or volunteers who have the skills or time to help with grounds maintenance.”

Wellesbourne Cricket Club in Warwickshire is a good example. Situated in a bustling, expanding village near Stratford-Upon-Avon, the club is part of a community sports association, whose ground is also home to the bowls club and Wellesbourne Wanderers FC.

Richie Woodmason (left) and Chris Calcott - an experienced partnership working together for cricket.

With history tracing back to the early 19th century, it’s one of the oldest clubs in Warwickshire and indeed may have been the original base of the county cricket club, now at Edgbaston.

On Saturdays, the 1st XI play in the Cotswold Hills League Premier Division – the club was a founder member of the league. The 2nd XI are in Cotswold League Division Three; there’s also a senior friendly on a Sunday.

There’s a burgeoning junior section which includes the ECB All Stars and Dynamos programmes.

Chairman Phil Rothwell comments: “We have approximately 250 junior members, and most of our senior teams have come up through the junior ranks. We’ve also invested nearly £225,000 in recent years to improve the clubhouse facilities for cricketing and social use.”

A strip being prepared after five passes with the brush; poa makes it difficult to get the leaf to dry out. Three or four more passes with the brush, a final cut and sweep up and it’s ready to water and sheet.

Willow Turf Care took over at Wellesbourne at the end of 2022, after two volunteer groundsmen suffered ill health and one sadly passed away.

“Richie had previously approached us about doing our end of season renovations and I’d kept his details so could discuss the possibility of a contract package,” recalls Phil. “We need help on a seasonal basis, and I felt we could get full value from his services.”

Central to the operation is Chris Calcott, who looks after a couple of Warwickshire clubs alongside Richie, and has worked at Cheltenham College and Adelaide Cricket Club.

“There are 13 strips in total – nine for seniors and four for juniors,” Chris explains. “The top seven have been down some fifty years, with the rest added on as the club has expanded.”

The pair describe the handover at the club as ‘seamless’ with a supportive committee headed up by Phil.

Some machinery is owned by the club, but Richie Woodmason is also investing in kit to make work such as renovations more efficient.

“There’s always plenty of help to put sheets on, and they do it precisely to Chris’s instructions,” says Richie. “The main challenge is that the club is so busy. In June, there were 26 fixtures in 30 days; 20 is normal and the teams also train on a Thursday.”

The ground, on the outskirts of the village, is on sandy soil – unusual for the mainly clay county and Chris describes it as being in two halves, with lots of poa in the more open top end.

“It dries out quickly – after 6-7mm of rain in the morning, we can be rolling by evening.”

Willow Turf Care’s contract runs from April to September, so Phil and his team of volunteers care for the ground over winter, also taking on pre-season rolling and fertiliser application.

“Juniors play on the bottom four strips and the coaches are happy to use the markings and accommodate us in looking after them,” comments Chris. “This section holds more water, and we treat it slightly differently because of the wear it receives, leaving more grass on to get it through the season.”

There are 13 strips in total which get plenty of use – the month of June seeing 26 matches.

The spirit of co-operation is even more important in the peak of the season, when Richie can be looking after up to seven clubs with a team of three or four groundsmen.

“I’m always aiming to offer a premium service, regardless of the level of club, and committees seem very happy with this. I’ve looked at a range of fertilisers, for example, but the premium products offer the best value and results.”

Thus he kicks of the season with ICL Renovator and Coldstart to give the pitch a boost in April.

“We’ll use a liquid iron feed to harden up in a wet spring and then feed once a month.”

Investment in machinery has come from both client and contractor with Wellesbourne CC adding a new Powerroll for this season.

The square came out of a tough winter well – it is seen here in April 2024, ready for match preparation.

“You can’t beat Powerroll for customer service and it was a competitive price,” comments Richie. “It’s easy to maintain with a proven Honda engine, and straightforward enough for the volunteers to use effectively – up to 15 different people can be on the seat through the season.”

Brushing is key for the older strips, Chris comments. “We can brush with the Sisis 30-40 times over a two-week period and early season rolling is vital as they dry out so quickly.”

A pair of Allett mowers are deployed, aiming for a 7mm cut height by the Friday before a fixture.

“We’ll get down to 15mm in the last couple of weeks before the season - or may back off to 17-18mm if it turns wet - and can be cutting twice a week as it grows so quickly. Verticutting is important to tackle poa, especially when starting a new strip, and it’s essential to take out lateral growth pre-season.”

At a time when environmental issues are coming under the spotlight, Richie is keeping an open mind on options such as electric mowers.

“You can still see downsides such as the environmental impact of battery disposal, but it has to be under consideration if that is what the client wants.”

Chris adds that while watering will always be a key part of cricket pitch preparation, the club committee are fully conversant with the need to put sheets down to help conserve water.

The ground, which backs onto the community centre and gym, also offers nets for training, an important resource for the 250 junior members.

Communication is essential, points out Richie; Willow Turf Care’s contract is Monday-Friday with the club making final preparations such as removing covers.

“We have a What’s app group which includes the senior captains and coaches. Each week, we’ll post a pitch report and that includes clear guidance on what needs to be done by the volunteers. It avoids mistakes and ensures that everyone is kept informed, which is especially important when there is a Saturday and two Sunday matches. We have a great relationship with Phil and his committee.”

Come the end of the season, renovations aim to get the pitch ready for the next year.

“I use a Sisis TM1000 scarifier and how that machine copes and what comes out tells me a lot about the state of the strips,” explains Richie. “It came out heavy and thatchy last year, but we got really good results with lots of grass cover over winter with the sward going into spring thick and dense. That wasn’t the case everywhere last winter and it stood us in good stead for this season.”

The TM1000 got down to 6-8mm, using 3mm blades at 19mm spacing, which took out more than 90% of the poa, before overseeding with MM50, fertilising with Evolution and topdressing with K-loam.

The attractive pavilion, which has seen considerable investment to improve it for cricket and social use in recent years.

“You’ve got to get the timing right for seeding – if there’s no rain for a couple of weeks, it can take a long time to germinate. If you get a downpour in the second or third week of September, when you can get back on again, coverage is much better.”

The pair are already planning ahead for autumn at Wellesbourne – Chris would like to have it Koroed and apply glyphosate to get rid of the poa, plus there are some ends that he’d like to get flatter.

“We’re progressing all the time – we’ll have two tractors and scarifiers for the autumn, plus I’ve got a Toro Workman coming which could have a topdresser fitted, and which will make it all a lot quicker,” says Richie.

He comments that this spring has seen a wide variety of conditions at different grounds, depending on their location – with cold soils and poorer grass growth at some of the more southern clubs. “Every year is different and brings a new set of problems. It’s great to have Chris to bounce ideas off and between us we have a lot of experience.”

Pitch standards are clearly very important to them both.

“We want to provide the best possible surface for every game. The youth coaches are always very complimentary and youth fixtures are an excellent shop window for our services as the coaches from other clubs tend to travel with their teams.”

It’s clearly working for Wellesbourne, as Phil says: “There’s tremendous demand for cricket which we’d like to meet with more junior games, but to do that you need to have the right maintenance in place. It’s made a possibility by having professional groundsmen who can prepare the strips in the week rather than a volunteer groundsman rushing to do them on the evening before. In the future, we may dedicate more tracks to junior cricket as so many games are played on them, and we’ve got the resources now in place to do that.”

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