SPORTS PITCHES of another major milestone for innovation in cricket.“ Our first trial began with the UK’ s first day-night test between England and West Indies. The bowlers had full use of it throughout, sending plenty of deliveries, and initial impressions were very positive. The players said it had a better carry and more consistent bounce, along with much less wear and tear. This was a key moment for us because player feedback really carries in this sport.”
Getting on the scoreboard
Edgbaston’ s move into hybrids coincided with a growing interest in new surfaces among cricket’ s elite. In 2017, the England Cricket Board signed off on two hybrid wickets at its National Performance Centre in Loughborough, another SIS Pitches installation. Much like Barwell, the ECB opted for the trial having noticed the success of hybrid surfaces in the Premier League.
In 2019, following positive feedback from county clubs, the ECB then sanctioned hybrids for use in the Royal London One Day Cup, Vitality Blast and all formats of Second XI cricket. This decision set the stage for major stadiums, like Edgbaston, to begin integrating the surface within elite-level competition.“ We continued to use the technology in the intervening years,” adds Barwell.“ This period allowed us to fully understand how the fibres interacted under different moisture conditions, as well as the system’ s impact on natural grass growth.”
With the ECB sanction and a pause to tournament play due to the pandemic, Edgbaston found itself with a window to install its first two pitches within the main square. This work, which took place in late 2020, proved particularly effective for the shorter, more intense T20 format hosted once lockdowns eased and sport recommenced across the country.“ Our main square install got off to a flying start, which was reflected in the high scoring we were seeing. If I remember correctly, the first match was 150 / 1 off 10 overs. That’ s the type of action you want to see when fans come down for an evening,” says Barwell.
Hitting for six
For Edgbaston, the impact of SIS Grass Hybrid is best seen through the success of several major competitions, chiefly among them the Commonwealth
Games held in 2022. During the games, the stadium hosted 16 international women’ s matches played over a two-week period. With an all-natural pitch, this intense window of competition would typically require a high number of maintenance intervals to keep wickets up to standard. With SIS Grass Hybrid, however, the window was expanded, allowing top-level performance without major interventions so often from the grounds team.
“ On traditional pitches, you see really good performance on day one, but there’ s typically a steep decline once you get into days three or four,” Barwell notes.“ We noticed with hybrids you could play on them over 10-12 days and not see a drop off. You only have to prepare one pitch, as opposed to two or three for the same amount of game time. This was massive for us during the games, with 60,000 people in the stadium and many more watching around the world.”
It’ s often said that stats only tell part of the story in sport, but for SIS Grass Hybrid at Edgbaston the numbers really do speak for themselves. In 2024, the ground was able to facilitate 55 matches across all formats – the most of any ground in the country. To put that in context, it’ s more than double the number of matches hosted at Edgbaston when Barwell first joined as Head of Sports Turf in 2012.
With hybrids now approved by the ECB for some red-ball competition, there is seemingly more to come at Edgbaston.“ We’ ll continue to invest in our hybrid surface because it’ s proven effective at the highest level,” says Barwell.“ For us, it’ s about lowering the maintenance requirement while also delivering the best possible performance – for both players and fans. SIS Grass Hybrid has given us that option. Sporting theatre at its best.”
GroundskeepingJournal. co. uk | September / October 2025 65