ELITE CRICKET
The award-winning Edgbaston grounds team: (standing, left to right) Mark Johnson, Gary Barwell, Ben Smith, Brandon Johnson, Martin Porter; (being held) Dave Keen; (kneeling at front) Oscar Kendall and Jack Tombs
BEST PRACTICE
TRIUMPH AND CHALLENGE
By Greg Rhodes Freelance writer
A memorable year beckons for Edgbaston’s award-winning grounds team in what will be a watershed 12 months for cricket in England
W
arwickshire County Cricket Club’s return to Division One after relegation in 2017 is backed by a pledge to pursue silverware in all competitions this season. For head groundsman Gary Barwell, who lifted his own glittering prize in 2018 as winner of the Alex R Miller Ransomes/DLF Groundsman of the Year, 2019 presents an even stiffer challenge as he and his awardwinning grounds team strive for sustained turf care excellence in what is being heralded as cricket’s ‘Golden Summer’.
14 THE GROUNDSMAN February 2019
“My award was the culmination of 25 years’ hard work but just a point in time to progress from,” says Gary, 43, whose career kicked off in 1993 with two weeks’ work experience at Leicester City FC, his home football team. He then spent 16 years at Leicestershire CCC before moving to Trent Bridge in 2009, where he became deputy head groundsman. In 2011, Gary became head groundsman at Edgbaston, where he is now in his ninth season. He is a perfectionist who routinely puts in an extra 500 hours over summer to “get everything right”. It’s all part and parcel
of the team’s turf care commitment at an international venue, foundation ground and the practice ground across the river Rea. “We are a cog making Warwickshire work and preparing pitches for first class cricket is our way of playing a part in club history,” he explains. “If I put in the extra hours, I know the team will, too. Success means the club can bid for prestige matches, and that creates need and demand from players – our nets are used 8am to 5pm but we have lost the second set to ground redevelopment so the remaining practice strips need to withstand even heavier use.”