PAHS groundsman gets its pitch perfect
“A cricket pitch is like a baby. It must be taken care of. There is a bowler and a batsman. It works on my mind at times. I always tell myseIf, I cannot please both … but I’ll do my utmost best to satisfy batsman and bowler.
“For example if there is a match on Saturday, I have to prepare the two pitches let’s say on a Tuesday already because the grass must be very short.
“Then you have to water it … and roll it afterwards,” he said. “I don’t do much to the outfield, except to cut it regularly for a smooth surface.”
To prepare the pitches or strips for a packed Pineapple Cricket schedule, Shavings starts his work two weeks before the tournament.
“I will start with one pitch and give it a lot of water but once you have given it water you have to roll it until you just about see cracks appearing.
“Remember this is a clay surface, so once you see a bit of soil on the roller you have to stop as you do not want the cracks to open up — and you then have to give the surface time to dry.
“People won’t see the stress I do go through because I have to make sure the pitches are nice and hard so that the matting surface can be placed on top of it. If the surface under the matting is not flat, even and hard enough, it doesn’t help placing the matting on top of an under-prepared pitch,” Shavings said.
The footmarks of the fast bowlers can become a bit of a headache.
“The spinners are not a problem but with the fast bowlers, the weight is on the front foot when they run into bowl and that can be a problem at times because by day five, holes develop in the batsmen’s crease when the bowlers land on their front foot.
“I’ve got some bully [special soil]; it makes the ground firm and once you roll it, it gets hard like concrete. But now by day five, I can’t use the roller to flatten the surface because the mat is already there … I have to use a plank to level out the hole and place bully over it and water that area and compact it.”
Shavings, who has won the best groundsman award for the Pineapple Cricket tournament three times, including last year, said he and the organisers had developed a great relationship and understanding over the last 18 years.
“I’ve been working very well with them … I always make sure I am ahead of the game with my job. I can look like I am slow, but I am just making sure I am doing the job properly. They [organisers] really have been nice to me throughout the years.”
Shavings said it was a proud moment for him when he received news that Pineapple Cricket had scheduled the A and B section finals on the PAHS’ A & B fields on Saturday. It is the first time that both finals are being played at the same venue.
“When I heard that, I said ‘thank God’. At least with this news now, I know I am doing something right. It means all my hard work is paying off.”
Weather conditions can leave Shavings with some anxious moments.
“That’s the time when I am stressing the most. Sometimes the covers will leak but you cannot locate the areas where the water is leaking. If I go home and it’s raining overnight I pray that the pitch is not waterlogged the next day.”
He said what struck him the most about Pineapple was the players’ love and passion for the game. “They really have to be dragged off the field at times when it rains. Often they will even stop me at the shops when I bump into them and make time for a nice chat.”
So what does Shavings do to relax? “I play computer games with my son. I ask him to show me how it works and I play with him.
“That really takes my mind off the pitch stress that goes with tournaments like Pineapple. But I would not change this job for the world. I love it and I am passionate about it.”