Hearse blasts dangerous wicket

DAVE HEARSE has brandished the artificial wicket at the KGV dangerous and wants it sorted out. Bowlers from the de Beauvoir end of the ground have, for the past few seasons, had assistance from a 'ridge', which causes a good length ball to rise sharply on the batsman.

But in recent games, the problem has seemingly got worse with the ball whistling past batsmen's noses as they have looked to get forward and play on the front foot.

Last night the island manager was on the receiving end of such a delivery from Total Cobo's Rob Turville and as Hearse went to take evasive action, he was struck on the back of the head when not wearing a helmet.

The DHS St Pierre captain was able to continue his innings, but after the game, which his side lost, expressed the need for the matter to be addressed urgently.

'Something has got to be done about that ridge, it is getting ridiculous,' said Hearse.

'I will not bat out there again with it like that without wearing a helmet.'

Island and Cobo wicketkeeper Justin Ferbrache also voiced his concerns after the game and admitted that he has now taken to wearing a helmet when standing up to the wicket at that end.

Former Guernsey Cricket Association president Gary Tapp had an inspection of the wicket carried out by UK pitch consultants during his tenure because of the problem.

'They put a level on the whole thing and it was totally straight so there was no ridge as such, but there was the possibility that there is a land drain that runs underneath the wicket and that just causes the ball to react differently off the surface,' he said.

'A few years ago when we had a very dry summer you could see the line of the drains on the outfield because they retained moisture and one runs effectively where the ?ridge? is.

'It could be that the dry spell we have had recently has made the variance of the bounce bigger.'

The actual game between last year's top two in Premier One was a disappointing affair.

The champions were missing six players, four to injury (Glenn Milnes, Jarrod Avery, Paul Wakeford and Vince Kenny) and two (Phil Cox and Dougie Mackay) were away.

And after choosing to bat, things were soon looking even worse at nought for two and six for three with Mark Renouf capturing the wickets of Mike Webber and Carl Le Tissier and Justin Walker being run out by Gary Rich.

Andy Burkhardt played a very sensible knock for his side with a fine 49 not out including six fours, but there was never much hope for Saints defending 91 in 22 overs. Renouf finished with three wickets and Turville and Rich one apiece.

Cobo made easy work of the reply with Matt Oliver notching an unbeaten 38 with Jeremy Frith (21) and Jamie Nussbaumer (20 not out) providing the main assistance.

'It was nice to have the opportunity to give a couple of young guys a bat,' said Peter Vidamour, who stood in for the injured Stuart Le Prevost as Cobo captain.

'Unfortunately we lost to Optimists last week but we are still only one game behind them and we are reasonably confident of still being in with a shout at the end of the season.'