THE IDEA
When I was young I wanted a cricket ground. Im not sure why but what I can remember thinking was that if it wasn't full size it wasn't worth it. As with most silly ideas it was lost with age. Many years later, after working as a groundsman at a polo club in the UK, the thought crossed my mind again but with an added aspect. There was something about preparing a venue for an event that gave me a sense of satisfaction. From mowing the fields to pruning the roses the end result was something (usually) to be proud of. So upon returning home I eventually decided to evict my horses from their home and turn it into a cricket field.
THE IMPLEMENTATION
Needless to say almost everything I did at the beginning was wrong. I knew nothing about building sports fields and all I had was a farm tractor. After a bit of time on google and time covincing myself that the issues the internet warned me about didnt apply to me, I began. I managed to plough level and grass the paddock. I gained access to the sacred guild of secret cricket groundsmen and met a man named Mike. He came and helped lay the single marton clay pitch. The next thing, was to sculpt the hills that formed the natural basin around the ground into somthing that could be mown.
The grass was up by the next spring and the fist game was scheduled.
ABOUT US
THE DEVELOPMENT
The First match was played on the 11th of January 2017 between the cricket clubs Bloomfield and Manawatu/Foxton. A great turn out on the day with Sky TV turning up to film a segment for the Cricket Show. With 80mls of rain 2 days before this event, the ground proved that drainage wasn’t going to be an issue. The pitch had been covered silage wrap that we found on the farm- so its lack of bounce was understandable.
After the first year the outfield began to die out and be replaced with weeds and native grasses. This was all part of the plan and at the end of second year we re-grassed it with a turf fescue, which it still in place today.
We planted trees to try to give us a bit of shelter from the prevailing westerly wind. It was becoming clear that this was something that we were going to have to improve as time went on.
Over the last five years, we have developed the ground through the planting of native trees and adding irrigation to the outfield. Weve built a clubhouse, added a scoreboard and had a mate build me some 'sweet' portable pitch covers.
Its come a long way but has further to go.