IOG GR ASSROOTS
Lashings of success at Eversholt Volunteer groundsman Ian Stockdale outlines how his pitch preparation consistently attracts famous cricketers to Eversholt CC’s small but high-quality ground
I By Colin Hoskins Features editor
t is undoubtedly a feather in any village cricket club’s cap to host a Lashings World XI game starring a team of renowned cricketers so, the fact that next month Eversholt CC will be staging its sixth such event (in the past 12 years) says much about the quality of the club’s facilities, its players and its pitch. Based at one of the most picturesque grounds in the country and bounded on one side by the Woburn Estate in Bedfordshire, the Eversholt CC square accommodates 16 ‘tracks’. These are used by the club’s two teams that compete in the Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League, its two teams in the Bedfordshire County Cricket League and a thriving Academy at all junior age levels from the ages of six through to 16. In addition, the pitch will again this year host the Lashings World XI team and the game – for the first time for Eversholt a T20 rather than a 35-overs event and as usual a fundraiser for the club and a nominated charity – is scheduled to feature prominent players such as Tino Best, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Tim Paine, Yasir Arafat and Michael Carberry. The thought of hosting some of the world’s most revered cricketers does not, however, faze volunteer groundsmen Ian Stockdale and Bevis Rotherham, Ian’s number two. They will continue to prepare the first-class wickets to the highest standards that
28 THE GROUNDSMAN July 2017
they always seek to achieve on a ground that is based on Bedfordshire blue clay, as Ian explains: “I’ve always adopted the ECB guidelines for wicket preparation, whether for five-, six-, seven- or ten-day preparations.
PREPARATION IS KEY
“For the Lashings event, I usually identify which track we’ll be using during the winter planning,” he continues, “and 14 days before, preparations begin with a cut down to 8/9mm, then pedestrian scarify, water, roll and brush. I usually scarify again, until I am happy with the density – tending to leave a little more grass on than I used to, to use the sward as a ‘lubricant’ between ball and surface – before taking it down to 5mm three days before the game.” It is a process, he says, that he has employed ever since he joined the club six years ago, initially (and still today) as a player but also as a volunteer on pitch maintenance, a role he took up as soon as the club members and committee discovered his groundsmanship ‘heritage’, which started to take shape when, as a schoolboy, Ian was selected to play for Derbyshire U15/18s and Academy at county level. “Since then, I’ve always taken an interest in pitch preparation,” Ian says, “but my involvement in pitch care became more focused when I was playing at Flitwick Cricket Club. And when I moved to Eversholt