No . 132
The Trusty Servant
Lords and Levellers
First-class cricket returns to New Field :
Readers of The Times may have seen the College mentioned on 17 th September : ‘ Winchester set to host Hampshire again – after a 147-year wait ’. The article explains that Hampshire CCC are planning to use Lords as an outground in preference to other local venues such as Arundel or Basingstoke , extending a partnership which has already seen the club ’ s junior and women ’ s sides use the ground and nets . The last – indeed only – first-class match at Winchester took place in 1875 , when Hampshire lost to Kent by an innings and 217 runs , having been bowled out for 34 and 82 . Hampshire current Director of Cricket , Giles White , diplomatically described the pitches as ‘ a little slow and of low bounce ’, which will be familiar to many batsmen flummoxed by a ball that kept low . So in order to get Lords ready for professional cricket , likely to start with a limited-overs match in two years ’ time , the College has undertaken a huge earth-working process in partnership with the club .
Kim Larcombe , the Head Groundsman , explains :
On 27 th July , the entirety of Lords ( 2 hectares ) was sprayed with weed-killer to kill all the grass . Two weeks later work commenced . The top 10-15 cm was removed and stock-piled at the bottom of New Field . We will use it in a year or two for top-dressing areas such as football pitches , saving the cost of removing it from site and giving us some benefit .
The top soil ( top 150mm ) was pushed by a bulldozer to the bottom of the site , exposing the subsoil . The latter was levelled and the top soil replaced . The bulldozer gave the whole site a rough level before they brought in other machinery to do the finishing levels . They used a tractor-mounted Blec Blecavator , which rotavates and buries the stones and then a Blec Rota-Rake with laser levelling to give a true level . When they were happy with the levels they seeded using a Blec seeder .
The seed was sown on 17 th September ( Masterline PM80 Renovation 100 %
Rye grass at 45 grams per square meter ), together with an application of pre-seeding fertiliser . The first signs of growth were seen within seven days .
We followed that with an application of fertiliser when the grass was at the second-leaf stage on 13 th October . We will then feed it again in a few weeks ’ time and then in the new year .
Mowing , rolling and spiking will be carried out as and when the weather allows . We will keep the grass at about 20mm throughout the winter . Hopefully it will thicken ready for the cricket season next summer .
In the spring we will either have it sand-slit ( to a depth of around 80- 150mm , 25cm apart to aid with the surface drainage ) or put a top dressing of sand / soil over the whole area . If cost allows we may do both .
I am very happy with the results so far and believe it will be a great improvement to the playing surface and will enable us to make better use of the area throughout the year .
Sprayed grass part removed Blecavators in action
The outfield ready for sowing
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