The Groundsman October 2019

ELITE SPORT

BEST PRACTICE

WONDERFUL WICKETS! This year’s heroics by England’s Ben Stokes helped highlight the contribution that playing surfaces make to superb sporting performances.

Andy Fogarty, head groundsman at Emerald Headingley, tells us more

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By Colin Hoskins Features editor

28 THE GROUNDSMAN October 2019

ndy Fogarty has seen plenty of top-class cricket during his 23 years as head groundsman at the Emerald Headingley Cricket Ground, home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. And before that he had 14 years as part of the grounds team at Lancashire CCC’s Old Trafford venue in Manchester. But, he says, nothing prepared him for that “wonderful day” in August when Ben Stokes hit an unbeaten 135 against Australia to help England win the third Ashes Test match.

“It was quite an eerie experience, actually, particularly during the last over and especially for the last ball,” he says, reflecting on what many describe as the greatest batting achievement in England’s cricketing history. “We had a packed house, yet you could hear a pin drop every time an Australian bowler approached.

And, as Ben Stokes continued to score runs, there was an overwhelming roar from the crowd; a crescendo of noise that I’ve never experienced before. It made the hairs on your arms stand up!”

Ben Stokes’ heroics were, in fact, the latest evidence of a summer series of outstanding sporting achievements where, once again, the skill of UK grounds personnel played a key role – by producing top-class playing surfaces that effectively inspire fantastic sporting performances.

TWO YEARS IN PLANNING

For 57-year-old Andy Fogarty, though, the preparation of the Headingley pitch was, he says, a case of “business as usual”. Well, almost. “We started planning two years ago for this year’s fixtures, knowing that we’d be staging One-Day International and World Cup games as well as the Test just a few months after having our new