Chris gains top award for 30 years of toil

POPULAR Hursley Park veteran Chris Westbrook has won a national award for his expert groundsmanship at the Quarters over the past 30 years, writes Ian Henderson.

He's been named as cricket's Club Groundsman of the Year (2004) in a competition organised by Cricket World magazine and pitchcare.com.

Club grounds all over the UK (and even West Bengal and Botswana!) were inspected, and Hursley's impressive facilities led to Chris deservedly gaining the award.

Nominations were made based on three criteria: the outstanding quality of the playing surface, general upkeep of the ground and longevity of service.

A chartered engineer, Chris became a member of the Institute of Groundsmanship in 1974 and took over as Head Groundsman at Hursley the following year.

He also skippered the club's first team to a string of Hampshire League Championship titles in the seventies and early '80s and to an appearance at Lord's in the 1984 National Village Champioship.

The most loyal of club servants, Westbrook, now 60, first joined Hursley as a teenager and has always combined the dual roles of player and groundsman.

He became the holder of a national diploma in turf culture and has for many years been an assessor for ground accreditation for both the SPL and HCL.

He's twice been named as the SEPL groundsman of the year and in 2003 was appointed as an ECB pitch advisor, one of only 43 in England and Wales.

Chris, a slow left-armer, has continued to play first team cricket with Hursley in the Southern League and was a key member of the 1992 'double winning' team that took both the SCL title and the National Village trophy on a second visit to Lord's.

He was responsible for the construction of a second square at the Quarters a decade ago and has been hard at work this winter installing yet another square on additional land provided by the Hursley Estate.

This will enable the club to field a 4th XI this summer in the HCL Division 4 Central.

In addition, he's overseen the introduction of two artificial wickets, two similar surfaces in the practice nets and a comprehensive ground drainage scheme.

"It's been a lot of hard work, but I still thoroughly enjoy it," says the man who prefers to be known as the ground 'curator'.

"But I couldn't have won this award without the great support of all the volunteers who've helped me over the years.

"This is really for them too - it's truly been a team effort."

Chris will receive his trophy at Lord's on April 20th during the match between Middlesex and Notts.