GBOS (Great Berry Open Space)

So, after last nights conversation with Suhail it seems the plans may all change and we move back to our spiritual home of GBOS (Great Berry Open Space). So this morning I went over for another pitch inspection to see if it had drained at all and to look at the idea of the wicket running in a different direction. I've drawn an ariel view so you can get a sense of how it looks and the layout.
















Last year we had the wicket runing across the narrower width of the field mainly because the football pitches dictated that we ran along their length and we occupied the space in between. Having gone over there today and had a look and a measure it's possible that we can have the wicket along the length of the field and the short boundarys to the side. Unfortunately there's got to be a shorter boundary of 60 yards to the "Bankside" because of a drain just to the "Tesco Side" of the wicket. The Tesco boundary is 70 yards, but I don't think this is a problem.

I reckon it's better to have the longer boundaries along the length of the wicket anyway. Looking at the state of the grass/wicket it looks as though the condition of the grass is better in this direction anyway and the wicket that I've already marked out seems to have very flat and sparse grass from the stumps going forward at least 7 yards meaning all of the bowling should be onto a wicket area which looks reasonably flat.

With regards the light in the summer the sun is generally in the quarter of the field between the Tesco side (D) and the "Oak Tree End" (A). In the evening mid summer the sun goes down towards the gap in the trees at the Oak Tree end and Tesco side.

At the moment as mentioned before the field is still pretty much a swamp and is nowhere near playable on, but ideal for rolling. This morning I finished off the handle on the roller and it's ready to go, so there's a vague chance we may get to roll it sometime this week. But looking around the field today unlike Five Tree Field this field is in the middle of a residential area and is frequented by loads of people and the chance to stash the roller there without it being discovered is minimal, so we'd have to bring it bakwards and forwards which isn't an ideal situation at all because of the weight and getting it in and out of a car. So that's a problem.

Even though we have got 100% support of the council with regards using this field I'm still slightly concerned about rolling it etc - I don't want to wind anyone up.

Anyway here's the field as it looks at the moment and the red line indicates where the wicket will be. The other good thing about GBOS is the fact that the parking is free and it's easy to find and within walking distance of the station. One of the downsides is that it doesn't get mown that often so that outfield gets a bit "Thick and lush" to say the least, but if we use it - it may be the case that the council will cut it more frequently?