Sunday Service with Church and Vickers
The weekly cricket podcast that shines a light on the many roles on offer in the world of cricket. Join Mark Church and Hector Vickers every Sunday at 11 am to hear them interview a new guest each episode, from various cricketing professions. Find out exactly what each job entails, how it is developing, and how best to get into it.
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Sunday Service with Church and Vickers
Episode 22 - Head Groundsman at Durham CCC, Vic Demain
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Welcome back to the Sunday Service with Church and Vickers - we hope you’ve all had a peaceful cricketing week.
This week, Mark and Hector are joined by a legend of the 'turf management' game.
Having begun his grounds career back in 1996, this man has worked his way up the ladder, and is now a Test match-level Head Groundsman - marshalling his charges at Chester-le-Street since 2015. A 'Professional Groundsman of the Year' award back in 2017 - an award covering groundswork across all sports - is a good indicator of his prestige within the industry.
Vic Demain joins the show to chat all about turf management - from producing Test match pitches, to just how much work goes on during the winter months. With more cricket than ever on the cards, Vic also looks ahead to a huge season with Durham CCC.
Also on the episode, Church and Vickers continue their new segment - “Whose cricket book is this?” - and Churchy delivers a sermon remembering a farcical end to a rather big semi final 34 years ago.
A huge thank you to Vic Demain for joining us on this week's show for an incredibly insightful conversation - we hope to catch up with him (time permitting!) this summer.
Another big thank you goes to our friends at Newbery Cricket, who have announced a SECRET SPECIAL prize for the months of February and March.
Genuinely, this is one that you won't want to miss out on - with hints of; classic, iconic, and 'seriously good' wrapped into one fantastic prize.
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Email us at: sundayservice.pod@yahoo.com
‘X’ - sundayservice22
Hello everyone and thank you for joining us again on the Sunday service. I hope you've all had a good cricketing week. The sun is out, the sky is blue, and if we run hard, I reckon there's two. Yes, less than two weeks until the season starts again, and I'm sat alongside the old man here at the Kia O.
SPEAKER_04Alright, Shakespeare. Thank you. Very good from you then. Uh start the season now, everybody, because the weather is perfect. Just don't mention the ashes in any way, shape, or form. Otherwise, you will be bundled into the back of a car and driven to the world centre.
SPEAKER_03Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Sunday service with church and figures.
SPEAKER_04Well, it's been a busy one, Hector, as you say. I saw you on Tuesday for Sorry's press day here at the Kear Oval, which was a rip roaring affair, I would describe it as that. I particularly enjoyed the deluxe breakfast that was put on for us. I power hosed my mum's patio. Very proud of that, I am. And then I hosted a members' night, again here at the Keir Oval, and spent a bit of time in a comfy chair with the latest strike novel. Yeah, by Robert Galbraith. You know who Robert Galbraith is?
SPEAKER_03I've heard of him.
SPEAKER_04J.K. Rowling, who wrote Harry Potter. Yeah, brilliant, everybody. Brilliant though. Uh I read that in the sun, of course. Uh so a good week. What's on today's show, please, Hector?
SPEAKER_03Sounds like a great week. Churchy has his cricketing sermon, remembering a farcical end, to a rather big semi-final 34 years ago today.
SPEAKER_04We have another edition of the hard-hitting feature. Whose cricket book is this?
SPEAKER_03And our guest today is the head groundsperson at Chesterler Street, Durham County Cricket Club, Vic Domain.
SPEAKER_04And thanks to our friends at Newbury Cricket, we have our competition, of course, where you can win their fantastic mystery piece of cricketing equipment. And don't forget you can get in touch with us. Just email sundayservice.pod at yahoo.com or tweet at Sundayservice22.
SPEAKER_03Lots to get through, so let's get cracking with the Sunday service.
SPEAKER_00This is Cameron Steele, and you are listening to the Sunday service with church and vicars.
SPEAKER_04Good morning. I trust your cricketing week has been one of triumph and success, and you have been using the magnificent weather wisely. We certainly have in the parish. As soon as the sun came out, midweek, our net was erected, and much like the Avengers, we assembled. The kit bag came out of the pavilion, and Mr. Jackson was the first to buckle up and face Derek, our opening bowler. Derek came charging down the parish slope, having been in the pub since lunchtime. And unfortunately, halfway through his run-up, he veered off in a westerly direction and ran straight into our famous birch tree just inside the boundary rope. Thankfully, Derek only suffered minor injuries, but quite rightly asked for our physio Mrs. Jackson to be called. She arrived from her Women's Institute meeting in the village hall, and using words of sympathy and a sticking plaster, had Derek back on his feet and bowling again in no time. Our net sessions were a triumph this week, and Sexy Rex, our wicket keeper, nicknamed Iron Gloves, looks in particularly good form and is still using his iron abdominal guard to stop balls to great effect. I'm optimistic, I have to say, about our new season. Now, today is March the 22nd, and it is the 34th anniversary of one of the most ridiculous finishes to a cricket game ever recorded. And not just any cricket game. Oh no, this was a World Cup semi-final no less at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Allow me to set the scene if you will. It is 1992, and the World Cup is taking place in Australia and New Zealand. England are sporting their greatest one-day kit ever seen, the light blue number with the blue, green, red and white stripes upon the shoulders. Captain by the mustachio Graham Gooch, they progressed to the semi-finals with no huge alarms, apart from losing to Zimbabwe after being balled out by the chicken farmer Ido Brandez. Their progression had included I.T. Botham, coming off four paces against Australia due to a bad back, and running through the batting lineup with some very slow swingers and celebrating with the beefy shuffle. South Africa were back in international cricket, captained by Kepler vessels. John T. Rhodes had announced himself to the world by flying through the air like Superman against Pakistan and demolishing the stumps to run out INSY, and White Lightning Mr. Alan Donald had been unleashed, zinc paint on his nose and bowling 90 miles an hour. So the semi-final. England batted first after South Africa interestingly won the toss and stuck them in, and England posted 252 for six off their so-called 50 overs. G. Hick made 83, AJ Stewart made 33, and I. T. Botham now opening the batting with G. Gooch made 21. But South Africa took so long to bowl their overs that they only managed to bowl 45, meaning they would only have 45 overs to chase. Now there had been talk of rain throughout the day, and as South Africa started their chase, the skies darkened. Tension built into the evening under the lights at the SCG as England kept taking wickets at the right times, but South Africa kept in the run chase. It got down to South Africa needing 22 runs off 13 balls for victory, with Brian Macmillan facing Chris Lewis. And then it started raining. The players went off for 10 minutes and nobody really knew what was going on. Then the rain stopped and TV and the big screen at the SCD shone out the sign South Africa need 22 runs off seven balls. Fair enough we all thought, because nobody really knew what was going on. And then as the players went back out into the middle, the big screen changed to the Oracle South Africa need twenty-two runs off one ball. I beg your pardon? The cameras panned around the ground to a slightly inebriated England fan bursting into tears, as Chris Lewis in slightly embarrassed manner came in off four paces and Brian McMillan defended the ball back. What was happening? Nobody really knew, but it meant England were into the World Cup final where they would lose to Pakistan. It was all wonderfully amateur. The only problem was this was actually a World Cup semi-final. Now, when the dust eventually settled, two things emerged. South Africa had shot themselves in the foot by winning the toss, bowling first when they knew the rain was coming, and then they bowled their overs so slowly they only managed the 45 of them. And then the most productive overs equation came into play. And here is that equation. If an interruption means that the innings of the team batting second is reduced to a total of X overs, their target score is adjusted as follows. Team 2's new target for their total of X overs equals runs scored by team 1 in their highest scoring X overs plus 1. Brackets. Good luck everybody. So, according to that equation, South Africa needed 22 runs off one ball. After the semi-final debacle, the most productive overs method was dumped in favour of the good old Duckworth Lewis. So, all of that excitement was 34 years ago today. So this afternoon, at your leisure, if you will, go on the old YouTube and look it up. It's well worth a watch. So my cricketing friends, have a good cricketing week. Don't use the most productive Over's equation and remember, if rain is coming, it's probably best to bat first. Until next Sunday, bat well everyone. Bat very, very well. Arrive at the Oval, park in the convent and set up the commentary box. Greeted by the sight of Charles Dagnall dangling his effects microphone out of the test match special box window. Dagnall, a man with his finger on the pulse, has the test match playing on his iPad.
SPEAKER_03Well, what a snippet, what a book. And it was of course a snippet from the hard-hitting account of the 2018 season entitled Typical Surrey by the one and only Mark Church.
SPEAKER_04You know I mentioned J.K. Rowling right at the top of the show. Yes. That was my a bit like uh first hard-hitting novel. And you know when they say you get your first book in your hand and it's an amazing moment when you see it? Yes. Do you know when I first got that book in my hand? On where I was? At the Ogre? Yeah. In the gents toilets. We couldn't find find the boxes of them anywhere. And then someone had just put them in the gents toilets. So the first time I got my hand on my first hard-hitting novel, it was in the gents toilets at the Kiarobo. I should have known then, Hector. And anybody who wants one, I think there's still about three and a half thousand copies left, to be honest with you. So there you are.
SPEAKER_03Well, I'm looking forward to it. I really am. What a great book. Uh so here is Churchy with today's extract, and the question is again, whose cricket book is this?
SPEAKER_04To say I was stewing on the dismissal would be an understatement. I knew I was out, but I had to wait on the ground until the video umpire confirmed the inevitable. While I was waiting, I told Umpire Alin Dar how pissed off I was. When I was finally allowed to walk off, the crowd was into me, which I expected, and then I saw Fletcher, up on the home team's viewing area, smiling at me. I've always been able to cop losing, but I struggle when the game is being played the wrong way.
SPEAKER_03So whose cricket book is that? If you think you know the answer, email sundayservice.pod at yahoo.com or tweet at Sundayservice22.
SPEAKER_01Hi, Matt Fisher, Surrey in England. Um, you're listening to the Sunday service with church and vicars.
SPEAKER_03And now it is time for our cricketing guests. This man is one of the most experienced groundsmen in the game. Starting off his turf management career at the National Trust Ascot Park back in 1996, he has risen from private estate to outground all the way to preparing test match services. In fact, he won Outground Groundsman of the Year back in 2008 and followed it up with Professional Groundsman of the Year in 2017, an award that covers all sports, not just cricket grounds. Victor Mann, the head grounds person at Durham, joins the podcast to chat all things grounds related, including his incredible career. And I started by asking him how he was.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I'm doing really well. Um all as a bonus when I wake up every morning when you get to get to my time of life. But um that's that's good. Feeling fairly healthy, looking forward to another exciting season, and um hopefully the weather plays ball and we can get Durham back up into Division One next season.
SPEAKER_04You said the weather's playing ball at the moment. You've got your first game Saturday week there against Durham MCCU, and then Good Friday can arrive for the opening championship game. Um, just give everybody a sort of idea of the preparation and where you are getting pitches ready for for sort of the opening weeks of the season.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean it's it's been uh it's been a fairly poor sort of January, February, um, up until the last couple of weeks when it actually stopped raining and um now we've started to see some clear skies. I mean, for the whole of January, I don't think we saw any daylight at all. It was just grey leaden skies, occasional drizzle, which meant that we couldn't get onto the field in January, which set us back probably two weeks from where we would like to be. Normally we'd like to have rollers out by the end of February. This year that didn't happen until well into March. Um, so we were a little bit behind, but then the last two weeks have been dry. Um, we've seen that those longer days, and we've been able to get on and play a bit of catch-up. We're still behind where we'd like to be. Um, we haven't really seen any warmth from the sun as yet, and that's what grass needs. Grass needs the warmth. It's it's not really growing at the moment, it's just just sitting there dormant. Once the ground temperatures get up to about eight degrees, then the grass will start growing. Any new seed that we put into the grass will grow as into the ground will grow as well. Um, and so now that we start the cricket season so early, um, starting in March, for us up here is is the no-go really, because I I always liken it to sort of when I see the daffodils. If I go down south, the daffodils are out sort of early February, but up here we're we're probably about two and a half, three weeks behind when the daffs actually show their heads, and that's that's a sign of the the growing season. So the grass is just the same. So so we're we're a little bit behind with their preparation, but as I say, the last couple of weeks have been good. The top of the ground now is is firming up quite well, still lots of moisture down below, which we need to get out, but at least we're hopefully we'll be able to turn pitches out if the overhead conditions are okay.
SPEAKER_03So, what does the process look like from the end of last season to getting ready to the few weeks building up into the first game of this season? I think we saw with Lords they dug up their pitch at the end of September. Is that a similar thing to you? Um yeah, what are you doing in the depths of winter?
SPEAKER_05No, Lords has a lot of um a lot of advantages that we don't have. Um the warm, the warmer weather down in um down in the south. I mean, Carl can put glass grass and seed in the ground in December. I mean, I might as well throw it in the river up here. That's that's never gonna happen. Um he's also got probably about 25 times the budget that I've got. Um, so uh uh I mean he does a fantastic job at Lords, and it it needs to be the best ground, the best ground in the world, and always looks that way. Um we can never we can never aspire to reach those sort of levels. So really stripping the top off the outfield here would be a massive risk unless the ECB were to grant us um the chance of finishing sort of middle of September at the latest. So if we could miss the last two rounds of the championship, we'd probably be able to do that. But um, so what what we tend to do is is end of season, we'll do a complete renovation of the ground that involves taking quite a lot of the grass off of it, ripping it up, any old dead matter that's in the ground, we rip out and we punch lots of holes into the ground to um let the air get in and the moisture get in underneath. Because over the season, with us taking on mowers and rollers and then people running all over it all the time, the ground gets quite compacted. So we have to we have to open that up. Once we've done that, we'll we'll seed the whole of the ground. That would be probably we'll probably use about 30 bags of grass seed over the whole ground. Then we'll cover that. The outfield gets covered with a sand, the square gets covered with a with a clay loam that we use for our pitches. Then after that, really, it's a question of sitting back and hoping that we get still some warmth, get some get some steady rain. Don't want the sort of rain that's going to wash it all away, but uh a steady rain because what the what the grass seed needs is it needs warmth and it needs moisture. If it gets that, it'll hopefully it'll come through in two, three, four weeks. And then when conditions allow, we'll be able to get on and start sort of a mowing process, just taking the very tip off of it to stop it from getting too long and to encourage it to start growing again.
SPEAKER_04The other thing now is there is so much cricket. I I was looking at your fixture list. So I I mentioned Durham MCCU, that then the opening game against Kent. Durham's next away game, uh next game for the men is away from home, but then I think I look, is it three or four women's games you've got 50 over games in between that block, and then the men come back for another four-day game. So so I I know speaking to lots and lots of ground groundsmen across the country, you you have to be so prepared, don't you? Obviously, squares uh are different uh shapes. There's there uh we're sat here at the Kiro, obviously they've got a massive square, but other places might have a smaller square with not as many pitches. That that planning process must just be huge, I would have thought, with the amount of cricket you're you're having played now.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's it's become a bit of a nightmare now because um yes, we have the additional the additional women's games, and what also goes with that is the additional training.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_05People don't think about the training. We have so much training on the ground now, it's difficult for me to get my guys out there to be able to keep the field in pristine condition because there's always someone training on it. What you won't see from the fixture list as well is we probably have 12, 15 additional games that will be junior age squad games, um, academy games, they can be two-day games, they can be 50 over games, can be T20 games. Um it's it's almost getting to a question now where you look at the calendar, and if there's a day where there's not a game, well, let's put something in there. Yeah um and as you say, the squares get no bigger. Um, we're we're lucky at Chestler Street, we've got 24 pitches, of which we'll probably use 16 of those for first-class cricket. You go to somewhere like Trent Bridge, yeah, they have a they have a 13-pitch square, and they can probably only use um 12 of those for first-class matches, and throw in that you've got the hundred competition there as well now, a lot of their games will be on television, which means that only a certain few pitches in the middle of the square can be used. It's uh it's horrendous for guys to um to try and fit all these fixtures in. But it's it's part of the planning, the planning role of the the head person, the head groundsman to um to make that plan work. But what it does mean is that you're gonna see over years as we go on now, is that more and more of the pitches will be used more often during the season. Whereas in the past we may have played one or two games on a pitch. In the future, we're going to be playing five or six games on the same pitch. That has to result in a dropping standard at some point. Um, and that's that's just part and parcel of the fixture schedule.
SPEAKER_03What can you do to sort of counteract that? Can you suggest, for example, playing on an outground, or is it just a case of making sure that your team is as big and as cohesive as possible?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean out outgrounds are are useful, but uh they're extremely costly to take games to. I think someone said to me somewhere in the region of£10,000 to take a game, a one-day game to an out ground. Um when we look at second eleven fixtures, the second eleven now play over four days, the same as the the first eleven. There are very few clubs, club grants, that want um that want to give their game up uh their uh ground up for four days. And they have junior fixtures all through the week. Um, they're getting ready for their matches on a Saturday. So very few clubs now want the second eleven. So we'll get second eleven games here as well. And it's getting very difficult to find those grounds that can take um take the fixtures that aren't played at the uh at the headquarters ground. Um there are there are a few schools, clubs will tend to take a one-day game, but of course, everybody wants to play at headquarters.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. That's the thing. And and and and also just moving on with that, you know, when they come to play their games, they want it to be the best it can be. Um, and as you say, they want to play at headquarters. Um just give everybody an idea, because I don't think anybody realises how hard you work. And I see it here with Lee Fortis and his ground staff. But just give everybody an idea of sort of the number you've got working with you and also the hours that you put in, because you know, just talking there with the amount of cricket that you have got and getting everything ready, just give people a sort of an idea of the work schedule that you guys have to put in.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's a really hard workload. Um, we during the summer season, we will probably work anywhere in the region of 60 to 80 hours a week. Yeah, um a match day, take a match day, for example, will probably be in by seven o'clock, and we possibly won't get home until 7:30 in the evening. And yes, it's fair to say, well, most of that time you're sat in your deck chair watching the game of cricket go on, but there's a lot that happens before the game starts, and there's quite a bit that happens after the game finishes, and that's that's on a nice day when it's sunny. Yeah if we've got showery weather where we're on and off with covers all day, try putting all those covers across 24 24 pitches um six or seven times a day, and that's that's hard work. Um we get we get a bit of time back in the winter.
SPEAKER_04Um but even but even then in the winter, you'll you're still working because you've said that to us. So I think people I I think from the outside looking in, I think people think, right, work hard during the summer and then you get you know a break during the winter, but you you never stop, you never ever stop.
SPEAKER_05There's there's a there's always something to do, that's for sure. And with the season spreading at each end, yeah, and the introduction now, you guys at the so at the oval, you'll have a marquee come in probably in January.
SPEAKER_04It's in, yeah, and they've they've been in there now uh two weeks, I think.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so that so those guys are having to having to work on that before the side go in there, they've probably got about three weeks' work in there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um, and that again is using up some of the surfaces which could be taken up during the summer, yeah. So they have to be renovated afterwards and whatever. So the off-season is getting very much smaller now. Um, whereas the players didn't used to report back for training until April.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Now they're it they're now they're in 12 months of the year, and there's always someone banging on the door. When can we get outside? Um, so it's yeah, it's it's a it's a difficult job. We work a lot of hours, but there are a lot of benefits that go with it as well.
SPEAKER_03Well, one of those must be test matches. Was it did you do the Sri Lanka test in 2016 or 17? And yeah, I get I guess what are the main differences? Is it higher intensity when I guess there are more eyeballs on you, for example? What's the difference between a county champ game and a test match?
SPEAKER_05To be honest with you, there's not a lot of difference. The uh the role in preparing the pitch and everything is exactly the same. Nothing nothing different happens for a test match. There are more people around because you've got all of the the television people coming in and setting up the 3D boards and um everything, all the other paraphernalia that goes with uh a match on television, um, adverts being painted on the on the ground and whatever. Um, so there are a few more people about, but the the build-up is just the same. The pressure uh I'd be kidding if I said there wasn't pressure. Of course there is pressure. Yeah, um everybody everybody in the world is is watching you or listening to you, and um within 10 minutes of the game starting, everyone's formed an opinion. And I think I think most of us know that the most spoken thing in the game of cricket is the pitch. It has more coverage than than anything else, and everybody wants to make a um a comment about the pitch, whether that be on sky television, through the written media, or somebody on TikTok who's probably nowhere near the ground, but is 500 miles away, watching or listening to something else. Everybody wants to have an input, everybody notices that one ball that sticks in the pitch and doesn't quite come on, or the one that stays a little bit low. Um, and that's that's really where the pressure comes from. Uh, and if you're sorry, if you if you're a fragile sort of person, you can take a lot of that to heart. A lot, a lot of people do take that to heart. Yeah, I think what for me personally, I just say to all the lads that work with me, just um don't tell me anything about what goes on on social media. I don't I don't want to hear about it, I don't look at it. I'll maybe record the highlights on an evening and then watch them back in a couple of weeks' time once the game's done and dusted and out of the way.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah. But also thrilling, as well, I would have thought, to to know that your your pitch is going to be the centrepiece for five days of international cricket.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely, it's it's why we do the job. I mean, for me personally, I've always wanted to test myself at the highest level that I possibly can. There is no there is no higher level than doing a test match, it's as far as I can go. Yeah, um, unfortunately, I've ever only ever done one, and I I will only ever do one, but um, at least I now have that t-shirt, and I know that I've I've I've done it, I I can do it, and for me, there's a lot of validation in that. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it it is it is a wonderful place to be, there's no doubt about that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. So if we look through your career, I mean you've had an incredible one, you've done so many different things. I think you left school at 16 and then started up your own business um for 20 years before becoming cricket ground manager at Ascot Park. So you sort of went through private cricket grounds and then to Uxbridge uh outgrounds, and then you were deputy head groundsman at Trent Bridge before moving, I think in 2015 to Chesler Street or 2016. Could you just that that was a very whistle stop talk? Could you give us an outline of your career and how each job has sort of helped you move on to the next one?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely, absolutely, as you say, you've researched very well, actually. Um, yeah, I guess for the first 20 years, I mean I was a painter and decorator. I'm trained as a painter and decorator. Um, always loved cricket, always played cricket, done everything in cricket at a very lowly level. Um my main um I'll say skill in cricket was coaching. That's I got my coaching badges, did a lot of a lot of coaching work with club sides and county sides in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire. At that time, I'm I'm talking probably about the late 80s into the early 90s. There were very few cricket jobs around. Um, there weren't the jobs that there are now with the the cricket foundations and whatever, whatever, where there are a lot of coaching roles around. Um and I was fortunate enough to see a job at a private state in Buckinghamshire for a cricket ground manager, which I applied for and uh and luckily got. And that role was sort of, as it says, managing the cricket on a private, a private estate that had its own ground, and also part of the job was looking after the ground. So I I had very little experience other than working as a volunteer in my own club pushing the mower up and down, and so I had to get down on my hands and knees and learn very quickly how to look after a cricket ground. In those days, you didn't have the internet where you can search everything now on YouTube and you can find how to do anything on YouTube. Um there weren't really the qualifications that there are now. There's a lot of online qualifications now. It was a case of talking to the old boys in the local clubs and picking their brains and learning from them. And um, that's really how I learned. And I spent seven years there at Ascot Park, which was for me the best job in the world before I was made redundant. Um then sort of went through went into Milton Keynes actually, working for a contractor and looking after a North Ant's outground there, then on to Uxbridge, where I spent another seven years, um, which is really where I got into the county scene because Middlesex would often use Uxbridge, as one of their outgrounds, when they couldn't play at Lord's, which was fairly regularly. Um got on really well with all of the Middlesex guys. Um and um excuse me, when um in 2012, which was a really wet summer, Nottinghamshire came down to play at Uxbridge, and um the conditions were horrible, I have to say. But I think we managed to get about 70 overs in the game and it was washed out, didn't think a lot about it. But then at the end of the season, I saw a job come up um for Deputy Head Groundsman at Trent Bridge, and I thought, oh well, I might as well, I might as well throw my hat in the ring, which is what I did. Um, but apparently, as I'm told, the knot's director of cricket at the time, once he saw the applicants, he said, Well, that's the guy I want because when we went down to Uxbridge, he worked his socks off for us.
SPEAKER_04Brilliant.
SPEAKER_05You know, I was in the right place at the right time, got lucky, got into Trent Bridge for a couple of years, enjoyed working at Trent Bridge. It's the most fantastic ground. Yeah, and it just took it, took my career from to a different level. Um, I think one of the first games we had in 2015 was the first Ashes Test match. Yeah. I was just thrown from working at a lowly level into suddenly uh Sky Television were with us for a week and they were watching us for a week um and scrutinizing everything. And all of a sudden, all these guys who have been absolute heroes of mine were walking out onto the ground and and they wanted to talk to me. Yeah, I mean, it was it was crazy. The likes of Sari and both of them are coming out, and he wants to talk to me, and he's having a chat and a joke and a laugh with me, yeah. Um, which which was out of this world, and as I say, I'm really happy at Trent Bridge, but then the job came up at uh at Durham for a head groundsman, and you mentioned the the Sri Lanka test match in 2016. That was the big attraction for me because, as I say, I I've always wanted to test myself at the highest level. Yeah, um, the head groundsman at Trent Bridge was younger than me. He has actually just retired this winter. Um I uh I never thought that I would get a chance to to take that position on. And so uh when I was offered a job at Durham, it was uh it was something that I had to think seriously about. But it wasn't it wasn't a case of easily giving up the job at a Trent Bridge, I must admit.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. And uh what I want I'm I'm biased. So I went to university at Durham back in the days where Durham were playing in in the university ground. Um and I I love coming up for games at your place, and and it it's it's a lovely place as well to be, isn't it, Durham? And and the sort of passion for Durham cricket and just the story of the ground being built and those those first few years of the ground. How much do you like being and enjoy being in the area and the northeast as well?
SPEAKER_05I'll I'll be perfectly honest with you. At first, I was terrified. I mean, you can probably tell by my accent, but I'm a I'm a southerner. Yeah, I'm I'm not a Geordie by any means or a Macham. I must I must bring the Macams in as well. Yeah, I'm I so I was I was coming up from the south to take one of their jobs. Now it's in reverse, it's well known for northerners to come down and take jobs in the south. Yeah, but there are not many of us that have gone south up up to north. Um so I was worried about about taking a job here and how they would um how they would welcome me, but I would I was totally wrong to be worried because they've they've been brilliant people. It's a lovely part of the world. I mean I'm 10 miles from the coast. You go just north of us into Northumberland or Northumbria, and there's some beautiful little fishing villages just on the sea there. It's it's a really lovely place to be. Um, it's it's yeah, it is a lovely part of the world, as you say, and the people are so friendly, and um, yeah, they've made me very welcome.
SPEAKER_03And you won a I think a year into joining Durham, you won professional groundsman of the year, not just in cricket, but I think that's across all sports in England. Having won Professional Out Groundsman of the Year, I think 10 years before that, that must have felt quite validating a year into the job getting that amazing award, right?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean that was that for me was really the highlight of any any achievement because as you say, it's not just cricket, it's it's all sports across the country. Um absolute total surprise. No one from cricket had ever won it before. We've since had we've since had a few. We've had Gary at Edge Baston, who's won it, and Carl at Lords has just won it this year, just very recently. Um it was it was massive, but I think a lot of that recognition was for the work that I did with the local groundsmen here. One of the first things that I wanted to do when I came up was to try and get some of the locals on board because I was worried about coming up here. And I formed like a local groundsmen's association, and we put on training days at the riverside. The guys could come in and they could they could ask us questions, we could give them tips on what to do on their own grounds. And I remember remember the first night we started, I think with four four lads came along, and it went on and on. And we we were regularly getting 50 or 60 people come along, various guests come along to talk to them, and um I think that award was a recognition for the work that I've been doing with groundsmanship in the whole the whole area.
SPEAKER_04Well, look, we we can't we can't thank you enough for your time today. Um it's been fantastic, fascinating. We could speak to you for hours, to be honest with you, but but we know you've got to go and get get get your ground ready. But um look, have a brilliant season. Fingers crossed from a Durham point of view, get promoted as well. But uh thank you so much for joining us today. It's been an absolute joy.
SPEAKER_05Thanks so much, it's been a great pleasure. And if you do come up during the season at all, make sure you come and look us up.
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SPEAKER_03Well, there are our friends at Newbury Cricket, and now it is competition time, and thanks to our friends at Newbury Cricket, we have a very special prize that you could win. Newbury are bringing back a piece of classic cricketing equipment that is iconic for all cricket lovers. And you have a chance to win this special prize by just answering our cricketing question. And this really is something that you will want to win. So, first of all, Churchy, what was last week's question and answer?
SPEAKER_04So last week's question was what did Brett Randall do for the first time in first class cricket? Five wickets and five here. He certainly did. That was the answer. If you sent that in, then your name has gotten in the hat for the very special prize from Newbury Cricket. So this week's question, everybody. Now my sermon was based around the farcical, slightly village culmination of the 1992 World Cup semi-final between England and South Africa. But my question this week, everybody, is which member of the England 11 that played in the final against Pakistan at the MCG in 1992 is now one of the best umpires in the world. If you think you know the answer, email sundayservice.pod at yahoo.com or tweet at Sundayservice22. And if you are correct, your name will go in the hat for the mystery prize from our friends at Newbury Cricket. And our friends at Newbery have released an official Sunday service discount code. You can now use the discount code SundayService15 and get 15% off goods at www.newbery.co.uk, excluding bespoke bats. So why not treat yourself to some premium gear and quality willow?
SPEAKER_03Right, that is stumps for this episode of the Sunday service with Church and Vickers. We will be back together next Sunday, the 22nd of March, when British summertime starts. What a day. I'm so excited. So get that date in your download, Dari. Don't forget, send us your answers to the quiz and whose cricket book is this. And you can still get anything you want to off your chest cricketwise by emailing sundayservice.pod at yahoo.com or tweeting at Sundayservice22.
SPEAKER_04So thank you for listening. If you've liked what you've heard, please rate and review us as it really helps others find the podcast. Because as I say every single week, we want us all to be one big happy cricketing family. Thanks to Vic the Man for joining us today as our guest. Fascinating insight into the work of the ground staff across the country who all just have been working and working and working and working for the next six months. And of course, thank you to our friends at Newbury Cricket for all their support and their magnificent competition prize.
SPEAKER_03Until next Sunday from the Kier Oval, this has been a Hector Vickers and Mark Church production. Have a magnificent cricketing week, everybody. And if there's rain about and you win the toss, it's always a set in it. Goodbye.