The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has today announced the winners of the 2014 Groundsman of the Year Awards.
Nigel Gray from The Ageas Bowl was named the winner of the four-day category at the ceremony in Worcester with Gary Barwell and Andy Fogarty from Edgbaston and Headingley respectively sharing the runner-up prize. In the one-day category, the winner was Neil Godrich from the 3aaaCounty Ground, Derby with the runner-up prize awarded to Northampton’s Paul Marshall.
Commendations went to Neil Godrich (The 3aaa County Ground, Derby), and Matthew Merchant (Emirates Old Trafford) in the four-day pitch category, while Gary Barwell (Edgbaston), Andy Mackay (Hove) and Simon Lee (Taunton) were commended in the one-day category.
ECB's Chief Operating Officer Gordon Hollins said: “These awards recognise the outstanding job our county groundsmen do every summer to ensure our domestic game is played on the best possible surfaces nationwide. We thank them all for their tireless work and dedication to their task and warmly congratulate the winners in the different categories.”
Chris Morse from Usk was named winner for pitches at MCC Universities in respect of his work for Cardiff MCCU with Richard Sula at Oxford MCCU the runner-up. John Dodds at Scarborough was awarded the Outgrounds prize with Ross Spry (Cheltenham) runner-up and James Askew (Horsham) and John McKnight (Swansea) commended.
Every pitch is rated at the end of the match by each of the umpires with these ratings used as the basis for making the awards.