Bill Gordon Honoured by ECB

Bill Gordon, a legend of Surrey CCC since 1964 and former Head Groundsman, has been honoured with the ECB Special Award at the recent PCA Awards evening.

Gordon started work at the ground in 1964, bridging the gap in the generations by working alongside Andy Sandham (first-class debut 1911) in the ground's scoreboard, helping to overcome problems caused by Sandham's fading eyesight.

Ever since then, Gordon has been part of the staff at Surrey CCC. He has worked on many different projects but found a home in the ground staff with Surrey fans over many decades enjoying his inimitable style as he worked on the square and outfield before games and during breaks in play.

Having watched all of the great Surrey sides of the last fifty years, he lists his cricketing heroes as Peter May, Ken Barrington and John Edrich - but names the great West Indian Sir Garfield Sobers as the greatest cricketer he has seen.

Bill became Head Groundsman in 2003, a position he held until 2010. Whilst in this job he was frequently honoured as Groundsman of the Year - an award he monopolised from 2003 until 2008, also finishing runner up in 2009. In this job he was also in charge of producing the pitches for England's Ashes victories in 2005 and 2009.

Although he is leaving the ground staff at the end of this season, Gordon will stay at The Kia Oval, appropriately working in the Sandham Room inside the Members' Pavilion as helps the club to get the most out of the fantastic collection of cricket books, memorabilia and artefacts on display in the club museum.

The award he collected - the ECB Special Award - is an award that honours people who have made a great contribution to the sport but have never played the game. A previous winner was the great Test Match Special producer Peter Baxter, for 34 years the brains behind the iconic BBC show.

Article sourced from Surrey CCC