Marshalling his troops - Pitchcare

Vic Demain, parched outfield and Hampshire CCC warming up!
Vic with his ‘invaluable’ good friend Ramesh Patel
Players warm up ahead of the T20 game
between Middlesex and Hampshire
“We are expected to
work 12 to 14-hour
days for little financial
reward, and that’s
something that just
doesn’t appeal to
younger people now”
86
cricket. Vic and his
“invaluable” assistant,
Ramesh Patel, have a tough
job of keeping the square up
to the standards that
cricketers of all levels
increasingly demand.
“Preparing the finest
surfaces for county play can
be a real challenge, yet still
be a real thrill,” says Vic,
“because I’m seeking to
provide bounce, pace, spin,
seam and consistency. We
can only try and do the best
job we can with, what is, a
very limited budget.”
“When I do need
something extra, I have to
go to the committee and, in
most cases, our requests are
turned down.”
Not one to moan about
his plight, Vic is professional
enough to know that he just
has to get on with the job in
hand. “When Middlesex
come here, they take over
the ground. That’s the way
it is. You’ll never be able to
control them, just mop up
afterwards,” he jokes.
Given the daily grind of
matches, Vic’s key priority is
to try and protect the main
square as much as he can
and to maintain standards.
With the rugby pitch, bowls
green and grass tennis
courts to manage to boot,
he knows that he has to
devote the level of care and
attention to the cricket
surfaces that will deliver
results.
“It’s a bit of a change
from my positions at Ascott
Park and Campbell Park, as
I have to tend to these
facilities in the same
timespan as I used to look
after just one cricket pitch -
and here we have around
500 club members to keep
happy as well,” he explains.
For the four-day games,
Vic likes to leave a little
more grass on the pitch and
allow for a tad more bounce,
particularly on the first day.
“It can get a little one- sided
if we’re not careful,” he says.
“For Twenty20 games, my
aim is to produce wickets as
dry and hard as possible -
everyone wants to see the
runs pile on, so we’ll aim for
a wicket that can generate at
least 120 an innings.”
His wish came true in the
Hampshire game although
the result may not have
suited him - Middlesex
ramped up a total of 165,
but were outflanked by their
opponents Hampshire,
losing by three wickets.
“I like the strip ready two
days before the event so we
can keep it as hard as
possible. If rain does come
in the run-up, we have a
large Blotter ready in the
shed and plenty of cover, so
we can be out playing after
only a couple of hours if we
need to.”
Once the Festival, which
attracts crowds of up to
3,000 a day, is over, the first
task is to apply water to the
ground, and especially the
square, by hose or sprinkler,
as Uxbridge are unlikely
ever to see the scale of
outfield irrigation that is
transforming the top
venues.
With only an inch of
topsoil, then gravel below
that, the surface turns a
bright white in hot summers
as the grass shuts down and
lies dormant.
With daily irrigation on
the squares, his wickets
turns into, what Vic calls
poetically, “an oasis of green
in the centre of a white
desert,” scenes reminiscent
of the Oval in the
unprecedentedly dry
summer of 1976, he recalls -
a period many will
remember for the
appointment of Labour MP
and avid cricketer Denis
Howell as Minister for
Drought, and the
Government’s plea to the
nation to ‘Bath with a
friend’ to save water.
With so many fixtures,
and Uxbridge first and
second elevens using the
main square, Vic stresses the
need for caution to balance
the desire for hard surfaces
with simply keeping the
grass alive when so little
rain has fallen.
Irrigation is something
that Vic wishes he had more
control over though. “The
outfield is not in great
shape at the moment - it’s
built to a very ‘old school’
design and, unfortunately,
we don’t have irrigation to
deal with the dry spells. It’ll
be a long time before we see
the benefit of ECB grants to
transform the outfield,” he
adds wistfully.
“It’s something we have to
live with - there’s no point
getting worked up about
things you can’t control, so I
don’t worry about it
anymore.” The angst of a
turfcare professional, clearly
frustrated by a predicament
unlikely to change anytime
soon, is tangible enough to