Petersfield Cricket Clubs Heath Wins Hampshire Cricket Grounds Award

From left to right Andy Salmon (Grounds Manager) Neil Hitch (Town Clerk), Toby Austin (Groundsman), Tim Tremlett, John Sutherland (The Heath Groundsman), Nick Blakstad (Club Chairman), Chris Mills (Town Councillor)

Members of Petersfield Town Council and Petersfield Cricket Club took a trip to The Aegas Bowl to collect the award for the most improved cricket ground in the Hampshire League presented by Tim Tremlett, the Director of Hampshire Cricket.

Throughout the year, visiting captains score the ground on categories such as the strip, the outfield and facilities. From these scores, grounds are shortlisted and visited by the judges. The Heath had been shortlisted before but this year managed to take the award ahead of 192 other teams in the League.

As the cricket club became more successful in increasing the participation of young people and introducing ladies cricket back to the club, the 12 strip square on the Heath was expected to be at full capacity. This required much more volunteering time than the club members could provide and the club went to Petersfield Town Council for support. Since 2010, the Town Council have provided support which has enabled the club to not only put on around 60 games a year but also to improve the standard of the ground.

Much of the hard work is done by John Sutherland (seen above holding the award) who is the main groundsman, but he is also supported by volunteers during April and May which are the busy times of season. The club has also raised large sums through grants and fund raising and this has gone towards building new net facilities, new equipment and a new scoreboard and improvements to the pavilion.

The main project in 2013 was to restore the footpath to the north of the ground and divert the increasing number of pedestrians away from the playing area. This was a collaborative effort between the cricket club, the Town Council and Friends of the Heath. Together with 4 years of winter scarifying, this has helped improve the outfield and restore the grass coverage.

In 2013, Ladies Cricket returned to the Heath after over 100 years as the club entered a team into the Hampshire League. Photos in the pavilion show ladies cricket being played on the Heath in the 19^th century when there were no trees at all.

Grounds Manager, Andy Salmon said “John and the volunteers can be particularly proud of what they have achieved, however, without the support of the Town Council this would not have been possible. The Heath is a wonderful place to play cricket and you won’t find many more beautiful grounds. It is also used by the community for picnics, family rounders and cricket matches on the outfield. This is great to see but sadly there are a few people in the area who find it necessary to cause deliberate damage to the playing strips and play inappropriate games on the outfield such as golf. This has increased the work required and makes winning the award even more special. If we thought that the vandalism would stop, then we could achieve much more.”

If you are interested in playing at the Heath, new players are very welcome. Please contact Marcus Sampson (Club Captain) 07966 267212 if you are interested in men’s or social cricket and Chris Russell (Ladies Head Coach) 07785 977977 if you are interested in girls’ or ladies cricket and Paddy May (Colts’ Manager) 07717 774946 if you are between 5 and 17.

Indoor nets for the club start for all age groups in January 2014.