21 not out

Steve Birks at Trent Bridge

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club’s head groundsman Steve Birks speaks to Jacob Newbury on being Groundsman of the Year and still loving his job after 21 years

“I don’t really enjoy Test matches until the third day because it’s so difficult to relax. You want a minimum of four days of cricket and a good game as well. But if a ball reacts badly, suddenly pundits on the television are looking at it over and over.”

Steve Birks is the head groundsman at Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and in 2017 won the ECB Groundsman of the Year award.

Steve is now into his 21st year at the club after a brilliant 2017 season for Notts when they won two trophies and gained promotion to Division One of the County Championship, but stresses that he “never gets too high and never gets too low” after collecting accolades.

He attributes his longevity to taking each game as it comes and not letting criticism - like the India test match in July 2014 - affect him.

“You are dealing with a live, living beast out there,” he adds. “If I’ve had a good wicket, I go home and have a glass of whisky, then pat yourself on the back and then forget about it.”

How does Steve go about producing award-winning pitches? Not even he knows – he likens it to producing a perfectly cooked steak, he says: “You could try cooking a steak 50 times but every time it will be different and you won’t know exactly what you’ll get until you cut into it.”

Originally from Derbyshire, where he spent 18 years and became Derbyshire County Cricket Club’s youngest ever head groundsman, he has now amassed almost 40 years in the field.

The idea of curating cricket pitches did not feature much in his thoughts once he left school at 16. After six months of painting and decorating, he had the opportunity to join Derbyshire as a junior groundsman while attending college. Steve was appointed assistant groundsman soon after and has not looked back since.

When the challenge of stepping up from a county ground to a test arena in Trent Bridge arose, Steve was not afraid of the prospect.

“It was seamless. I went from having to empty the fruit machine to buy a gallon of petrol, to asking for a new roller that was £10,000 and Notts saying ‘we’ll get two of them’ – that was the biggest difference.

“I got to start in January to prepare for the season ahead and, coincidentally, my first game at Notts was against Derbyshire – we won.”

Steve, 60, emphasises the importance of having great team around him. He has eight members of staff and an understanding partner who knows the expectations put on groundsman in modern day of cricket.

“It’s been fantastic. The young lads who work here must have the passion and they all put in the effort required to produce great wickets.”

It is this guidance that has seen two previous members of staff go on to become groundsman at test grounds around the country: Vic Demain at Chester-Le-Street and Gary Barwell at Edgbaston, which he has enormous pride in. “It does make me happy to see it. You see quickly if they’ve got the passion and enjoy it,” he says.

Source: ESPNcricinfo and DW Sports

At Trent Bridge there are 22 net pitches either side of the middle, 13 first-class pitches and five pitches just for TV.

This means that during the winter they can only ease off for a couple of months. With the season becoming longer and the amount of cricket played across three formats, preparation must start a lot earlier.

“Once the season has finished, we try and keep off it as much as possible and let it rest, check for disease every now and then but the aim is to keep off it,” Steve says.

“During the season I start to prepare a pitch ten days before a game and depending on what the directive is from above, I can then start taking away the grass.”

He is still excited to come in to work every day. With a huge smile beaming on his face, he says: “I just love it. Looking across the ground, it’s my office – it’s fantastic!”

Most workplaces are offices full of toner, tea bags and ties. A day at the office for Steve is not quite the same, he says: “You have your shorts on, bring your lunch box, sun tan lotion and get on with work.”