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Dennis combination gets results Ian Smith, Turf Consultant for St Albans School, Woollam Trust Playing Fields, has reported excellent results from using the combination of a Dennis G860 cassette system and a Dennis Razor fine turf mower on the cricket pitches. The Woollham Trust Playing Fields are the largest development of their kind ever undertaken in a single phase in Europe. The school’s outstanding facilities include a huge pavilion, 22 winter pitches for rugby and football, an all-weather hockey pitch and eight cricket squares. Not only is the magnificent 73 acre site shared with the Old Albanians Club but it is also the training base for Saracens Rugby Club. “Standards are exceptionally high and we take our pitch preparations incredibly seriously,” said Ian.
“You can imagine the situation if someone like Owen Farrell was to turn an ankle on an uneven pitch. Of course, it is great to have fabulous presentation but player safety is paramount.” In preparing the cricket pitches, Ian first of all uses the Dennis G860, which is the ideal machine for someone looking to complete a number of tasks with just one power unit. Featuring an interchangeable cassette system, users have the option of fitting different types of cassettes including scarifiers, verticutters, brushes, spikers, and slitters. “We purchased the G860 because of its versatility,” said Ian. “We can use it for cutting the squares, cutting the outfields, but then we can also use it to scarify. For pre-season we have a cassette which has 1mm scarifying blades so we will use that at the start of the season to
thin the square a little bit. We’ve also got the new spring tine rake cassette which we also use for cricket pitch preparation. “As the pitches are drying out we use the brush cassette to flick out a lot of the older dead grass, and generally to clean them up and make the grass stand up for when it is time to cut with the Razor.” Superbly balanced and ideal for cricket pitches and other fine turf surfaces, the Razor features a 560mm (22in), 11 blade cutting cylinder for a perfect finish. It encompasses the simple ‘no tools required’ click height adjusters for quick and easy operation, a feature which Ian is particularly fond of. “The Razor is great because we are starting on turf that has been cut down to 12mm by the G860. With the click system of the Razor, it is very simple to
change the height. In a matter of seconds we can go down from 12mm to 10mm and then you give it a couple of clicks and then you are down to 8mm and then a couple more clicks and you are down to 6mm, it’s as easy as that. No tools are required and any of the staff can use it without any problems whatsoever. “The cutting cylinders on both mowers are as good, if not better, than anything I have used before.”
Ian and his team at St Albans
Turf Matters | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 | 13