BEST PRACTICE | COMMUNITY CRICKET
“This year has been particularly difficult for everyone but ours was the only ground fit enough to play cricket on,” says John Ayling
AILING PITCHES GET THE AYLING TOUCH! Now 85 years old and enjoying retirement in south west France, John Ayling continues his amazing grounds care career by not only maintaining “one of the best cricket pitches in France” but also by freely offering advice to cricket clubs throughout the country
Colin Hoskins Editor
J OHN AYL I N G ’S association with Damazan Cricket Club in France (south east of Bordeaux) began in 1996. While holidaying in south west France (a region where he had spent many summer breaks) the club chairman asked John to visit the ground. “The grass wicket was sitting above drainage that had been laid across the square, which was far from ideal, but the club had thankfully secured a grant to install an artificial wicket,”says John. “I emigrated to France in 2000 and have been maintaining the Damazan pitch since then. In due course, I decided that the wicket needed to be moved to the middle of the ground, since at that stage there was only a 30m boundary on one side,” he continues. “This meant using a digger to remove a 30m by 3m strip and transferring the sub-base of calcaire (crushed chalk) from the old wicket to the new, topping it off with sieved calcaire. It was then watered and compressed with a shatter plate, after which the shock pad
20 GROUNDS MANAGEMENT | DECEMBER 2020
and mat were both winched tight then nailed down.” Now considered one of the best cricket pitches in France (one measure of its popularity is that club members jointly travel more than 1,500km for a home game!) the Damazan ground operates on a very small budget – “certainly not enough to buy equipment,” says John. It features John Ayling-designed sightscreens and scorebox, as well as a trailer that was converted by John from a boat trailer. “I also managed to get hold of a set of three gang mowers which were being discarded, converting them into a triple roller. We were also gifted a 4ft roller which can be filled with water, and we have a sit-on mower that is used most of the time towing a small set of gang mowers.” John concludes: “This year has been particularly difficult for everyone but, with club members’ help, ours was the only ground fit enough to play cricket on after a three-month ban on mowing!” ■