ECB reward outstanding effort by groundstaff

The England and Wales Cricket Board today announced a special one-off award to reward county groundstaff for their 'wonderful efforts' to ensure as much play as possible in the Twenty20 competition this summer.

In the last month groundstaff up and down the country have been faced with clearing several hundred thousands of litres of rainwater from grounds, and have been working from the early hours of the morning before evening Twenty20 matches to clear huge amounts of surface water.

Even with these extraordinary efforts, a number of matches - 18 up to today (Friday July 6) - have had to be abandoned. The ECB has today announced that all the Clydesdale Bank Man of the Match fees for those matches will be awarded to the 18 counties' groundstaff to recognise their wonderful efforts.

ECB chief executive David Collier commented: "The efforts of the county groundstaff through one of the wettest Junes on record have been quite extraordinary. The large super-sopper machines have emptied several thousand litres of water from venues throughout England and Wales and have enabled cricket supporters to see as much cricket as possible in the Twenty20 competition.

"We hope that this token of our appreciation reflects the high esteem in which the ECB and the counties hold their groundstaff and we thank them for their fantastic efforts."