The first game of the cricket season was rescued with the help of the amazing groundsmen and co-ordination between the trust (SCST), Ploughmans CC and South Bank CC. A memorial game was arranged in the memoray of Ploughman's CC player Nasser Khan.

Somehow we beat the rain to get 80 overs of cricket thanks to the DSG team, and our friends at @southbankcc

Great to start the year with so many players, old and new, with family and friends down to start this #HotPloughSummer

#cricket #cricketlover #surrey #southlondon #Summer

Perfect: New astro turf outdoor seating area, come rain or shine.

#dsg #scst #summercricket #cricketlondon #dulwichsportsground

March 16, 2023, A summer users meeting was held at the Pavilion by SCST. The attendees included South Bank CC, Ploughmans CC, Dulwich CC, BOCA, SCST representatives Jackie Howard, John Howard (JH), and John Smith (JS), as well as Sportsturf representatives Andy Allen and Rory Moore. Several topics were discussed, including dressing room allocations, teas, and catering, and the opening of the bar.

Sportsturf noted that the grounds at the Dulwich Sports Ground were very busy with cricket being played virtually every day and usually on 3-4 squares. The wickets on the Burbage & Hollies pitches had improved by 30-50 runs per match, but the Belair pitch looked tired by the end of the season with some low bounce, and the Nursery pitch had improved least and may need more work. The outfields had held up despite the major drought from July.
Winter renovations had been completed by the end of September, and the squares were ahead of schedule until the freeze in mid-March. A Football Foundation improvement grant was spent on verti-draining, fertiliser & seed on all football pitches, which should result in improved outfields.
The "house rules" for the use of the ground were discussed and agreed upon, including no use of sawdust on the square, squeegee drying rollers can be used on outfields but never on the square, bowlers should not use studs to mark run ups, and batsmen should not damage the pitch by making excessive marks on the crease.
Volunteer help from clubs was offered to Sportsturf if needed, and good communication between ground staff and skippers was emphasized as key to a successful summer.

The SCST (Southwark Community Sports Trust) has been making significant improvements to the sports ground over the autumn and early spring. Sportsturf and contractors were brought in to clean up the edges of the ground, including removing low-hanging tree branches and shrubs. The Hollies were particularly affected, with sleeper maintenance being used to maintain the western boundary. The SCST has also invested in renovating the artificial surfaces, including new surfaces for the outdoor nets and a new artificial pitch on the Hollies. The SCST equipment, including sight screens, covers, and scoreboards, has been checked and prepared for use. Drainage issues have been addressed throughout the whole ground

There was also a detailed discussion on preparations for the upcoming season.
The following is a summary of the key points discussed:

1. The club has received money from Southwark Council to improve the outfield.
2. The club is currently in the process of obtaining insurance for the upcoming season.
3. The new bar manager, Neil, has been introduced.
4. The club has received new cricket covers, which will be used for the first time this season.
5. The club is looking for volunteers to help with the preparation of the cricket pitch.
6. The club is in the process of planning a fundraising event in June.
7. Prasanna volunteered to recruit volunteers for a task force activity at the Trust on 1st April from 11am-1pm. The list of jobs includes replacing tarpaulin on Cricket covers, applying hoses to all covers, checking cricket stumps, bails and flags, and checking that dressing rooms are ready for use.
8. Last Man Stands cricket has requested three artificial pitches on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesday & Thursdays from 6-30pm in May and June.
9. The club uses Open Play to record all fixtures and activities, with updates sent out every Monday and Friday. Simon Bannon publishes all matches on the TV screens on the veranda every Saturday and Sunday morning. Rahul Nair was introduced as a volunteer who will introduce social media information and good news stories.
10. The club reinforced their policy on cancellations, with decisions being made by Friday of each week based on pitch readiness and weather forecasts. A final deadline of 10-30am on the day of the game was agreed upon for cancellations.
11. Dressing room allocations: John Howard confirmed that the 2022 dressing room allocation would remain the same, with a separate dressing room for junior teams in the afternoon. Clubs were reminded to check their dressing rooms at the task force day and John planned to clean the showers and dressing rooms extensively over Easter. Jackie suggested setting up signs after Easter.
12. Teas and catering: Teas for a match would now cost £120, with payment by cash or card. Dietary requirements should be notified to Jackie by mid-week. Jackie also included 20 over interval drinks and was happy to help with supper or BBQ options for some evenings. Nidhi and Jackie were exploring options for coffees/breakfast for junior cricket. The use of paper plates helped keep prices down.
13. The opening of the Bar: The old artificial surfaces had been re-laid in the beer garden area, and new benches would be secured and taken to each of the four pitches. The picket fence would be painted and installed around Easter time, and the bar would receive a spring clean. New bar staff were being recruited to meet demand, and suggestions for improvement were welcome. Ploughmans CC had bought 150 recyclable cups, and John and Jackie welcomed ideas to improve the use of recyclable “glasses” for outdoor drinking.
14. Date of next meeting: No further business was discussed, and JS suggested establishing a WhatsApp forum rather than scheduling another meeting. The possibility of a review at the end of the season was also mentioned.

Overall, the meeting covered a range of topics including fundraising, recruitment, and the upcoming cricket season.

 ​What a great effort yesterday! Thank you to you all for help and support at the task force day. Can you send out this note and photographs to your team of helpers.
 
It was a great piece of team work by the home clubs – Dulwich CC, South Bank CC and Ploughmans CC sent in plenty of volunteers. A very worthwhile day. Particular thanks to John Howard who supplied the tools and materials.  Yesterday’s work created a new shed ready to be made into a scorebox, all the cricket covers had tarpaulin replaced & cleaned, new hoses & gullies cleaned, a scoreboard painted in the Hollies and a the Ploughmans CC home dressing room painted in blue & gold.
 
It was a brilliant effort and we would like to keep up the momentum by asking teams to come an hour earlier before their games for the next two weekends – Saturday 16th and 23rd April as we have a couple of tasks left. Could skippers contact John to agree how they can help.
 
We would like to paint the front of the new score-box black, re-slat & move the sightscreens, set out boundary ropes and sweep all the astro-surfaces.
 
John Howard, the winter users and Sportsturf will be working this week on clearing away the winter sports equipment, taking down the rugby posts and clearing away and storing safely all our machinery.
 
At the same time, John Howard is planning a major offensive against litter and debris about the place. All pitches will have litter bins. Please encourage your fellow players to use them.

I ​am sure that we are all hoping for a long summer of cricket. At the Trust, we look forward to seeing you and your members soon. The SCST is delighted to announce that we have renovated our outdoor cricket nets under John Howard’s direction. I hope that users can treat them with respect, for instance spiked shoes cannot be used.  
 
I hope that we can ease our way into outdoor cricket practice.
 
We are starting with one to one coaching for our selected individual coaches. As members, they can book single lanes of nets and use them for 1:1 coaching. I confirm all bookings for cricket nets on our ground management system Open Play. The system is shared with the ground staff, bar and Trust managers.  A key principle is to avoid double bookings. We expect to be busy and to tightly schedule use, therefore we ask for prompt starts and finishes.
 
According to the ECB road map (please see documents below), we can now plan to open the outdoor nets at the ground for club bookings for outdoor cricket net practice from Wednesday 29th March.  
 
We are very aware that ECB and Governement regulations may change over the coming weeks in the lead up to the cricket season. We ask that all your members stay aware of any changes in regulations and restrictions.  I have attached below the COVID-19 briefing supplied by the ECB.

Please make all your members and parents are familiar with the content and requirements.
 
There are some key areas that affect our local provision -

• We do not wish to encourage mingling outside of the nets sessions. We ask that parents drop off their children and collect them away from the cricket net facility please.
• Players attending cricket nets or the ground should be aware of the rule "group of six" and therefore do not mingling in large groups,
• We ask all people using our facilities to continue to be aware of the Governement and ECB social distancing guidelines.
• We will expect your members to observe all the hygiene requirements and recommendations suggested by the ECB including the sharing of equipment.
• Players feeling unwell and displaying any of the Covid-19 symptoms should not attend the ground and any person displaying these symptoms will be asked to leave.

 
We ask that all clubs nominate a session manager so that they can collect the key for the nets and the Pavilion. The session manager must also maintain a complete list of all attendees for track and trace purposes. John Howard has installed a key safe with a security number. Clubs should talk with John about access arrangements.
 
The toilets in the changing rooms are available for access. All cricket net gates, lanes and the Pavilion must be locked after use and the keys put back securely into the key safe. After the evening sessions, the Turney Road gates must be locked by the last group or person leaving. If in doubt, please ask John Howard.
 
As you will be aware, the recent weather means that the outfield is soft. We ask that your members do not cycle over the fields or drag their bags along the surfaces. On arrival at the nets, players should change into sports shoes. We do not want to get mud on to the new surfaces. Please ask players to clean the mud from their shoes.  John Howard and the ground staff can guide you on the drier routes to the nets.
 
We are hoping that the your cricket nets and practice will be enjoyable.


The bar is scheduled to open in the week commencing Monday 12th April. We plan to open on Wednesday and Thursday evenings and at the weekend.  Drinks and meals can be consumed outside at tables of no more than six. Jackie Howard can take advance orders for food. The guidelines state that table orders and table service are required in the next phase.
 
I hope that this short guide enables you to use our facilities and enjoy the start-up of cricket. We hope that the ECB road map enables us to move through the stages safely.
 
Please do hesitate to ask me or John Howard about any aspect of start up to sports play at the Trust.
 
With many thanks John Smith
PLEASE SEE ECB DOCUMENTS BELOW

Please see the initial guidance below from the FA back in June which can be similarly applied to certain situations since the 11th of September no more than 6 people rule when off the pitch.

Please read adaptations for all outdoor cricket activity, applicable to players, spectators, volunteers, clubs, coaches & officials in Step 4 of the ECB Return to Cricket Roadmap.
​
Click on file below to read

"Please respect your fellow sports people, our dedicated staff and volunteers. Please do not enter SCST ground if you are displaying symptoms of Covid-19 and please follow all current government recommendations whilst at this ground​"

PLEASE NOTE
THERE IS STRICTLY NO ACCESS TO THE BAR AREA FOR ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18 YEARS OLD

JUNE UPDATE  - Covid-19 Pandemic



We are all watching the trickle of announcements about safe training for cricket from the ECB.
 
There is to be no organised cricket until at least July.
 
We now have full use of our outdoor nets by member clubs on each evening of the week plus mornings on Saturday and Sunday. We will continue with that usage as booked and managed by member clubs. The trust is providing access to the nets and dressing rooms/toilets on a strictly managed basis. Please ensure that non-members do not use our facilities. Each club has provided evidence of their protocols and we are pleased at the level of adherence.  We plan to continue nets sessions until at least July.
 
In a recent statement the ECB has allowed “pods” of cricket training in groups of six.  I understand that member clubs may seek to organise cricket training sessions at the Trust. It has been suggested that the pods could use the artificial wickets on the SCST ground. We would welcome member clubs booking artificial pitches for well managed training sessions.  Could I suggest that we will allow use of the remote artificial pitch and the Belair artificial pitch.  For the moment, we will not book the Nursery artificial pitch because of the proximity of the outdoor nets and the windows in the Nursery. John Howard will be considering these matters in the next few days.

PREVIOUS ANNOUNCEMENT
As you may have read the Government is gradually easing restrictions on the Pandemic lockdown. The Trust has been following ECB guidelines since the shutdown and we are interpreting the attached guidance received yesterday.

​We consider that the Trust is in a position to open our outdoor nets for the use of the member clubs: Dulwich CC, South Bank CC and Ploughmans CC. To borrow a phrase from the Prime Minister, we intend to do this using “granny steps”.

All bookings for nets will be managed by me. I propose to honour the pre-booked sessions for SBCC on Wednesdays and Ploughmans CC on Thursdays. I am asking Dulwich CC to inform me which days that they wish to use as they have booked Saturday and Sunday mornings for junior nets already.

We realise that there is some pent up demand from your members, I am open to member clubs making further requests for slots. I have been talking with senior members of the Board about how we might use the outdoor nets. I have set out our initial thoughts so that you can respond as you consider your requirements for your members and your club.
 
We have agreed that a slot for an evening session be extended (initially) from 3pm to 8pm for Ploughman’s and SBCC. The generous pricing is based on reduced numbers of users, the practice social distancing and net use protocols. I have attached the SCST price list. Here is some illustrative guidance-
 
1.            Outdoor nets – operation
Nets management and distancing is the responsibility of the cricket club using the facility. SCST will set out the nets with the middle lane free.
All club members on site to be responsibility of cricket club including waiting groups. Usual net usage rules will apply especially no spikes. We expect clubs to manage issues around bringing your own ball, pads, bats and other equipment.
SCST request that care is taken with commonly used articles e.g. padlocks, returning balls and touching stumps. The SBCC protocol may help other clubs.
As club members may be at the ground when ground staff are working, we ask that waiting groups be prepared to move away if ground staff are working nearby.
The SCST is clear that groups should not arrive before the booked time and should leave at the close. There is no opportunity for club meetings or social arrangements.
 
2. Access to the nets

John Howard of SCST will provide access codes for pedestrian gate to each club organiser.  It is important that as each club member comes in to the ground, that they shut the gate afterwards. SCST does not want open access for the public to our grounds. Could club organisers tell all their participants please.
SCST will open the west side dressing rooms to allow for access to toilets. At the end of the club session, club organisers are asked to close the west side-door as they leave. We expect your members to come ready changed.
John Howard will arrange for collection of the nets keys with the club organiser.  
We expect clubs to use their own sets of spring-back stumps. John can advise if this is an issue.
At end of the session, the club is responsible for locking up the nets, closing the dressing room door and locking the Turney Road gates.
At end of the session, club members are asked to leave the ground promptly and quietly with no social gathering afterwards.
 
3.            Outdoor nets – payment
SCST wishes to hold to the existing price list as far as possible. All member clubs pay £100 annual membership plus a fee for booking facilities within HRMC guidelines.
Previously clubs have paid £35 for an evening use. We propose to offer an extended session from 3pm to 8pm as a gesture towards member clubs.  Therefore if you wish to book nets with the SCST, we suggest that you initially book say ten sessions.
 
As the Pandemic eases or possibly worsens, we will review the use of nets, the safety implications of your protocols and the likelihood of cricket match resumption.  We will keep in touch with you about this.

Once I receive your request for bookings, I will make a confirmation and enter on to our booking system “ Open Play”. This system informs the treasurer, grounds director and Sportsturf of confirmed bookings. Only confirmed bookings will be allowed to use the nets. If your net is cancelled or the pandemic grows, we will not make refunds but your club will be offered a credit for future use.

Once the needs of member clubs has been met, we expect that there may be some ad hoc requests, which we may insert into any gaps.

I hope that your club chooses to practice in our nets at the Trust. We are opening in a spirit of seeking to help but we ask your co-operation in keeping all people at the ground safe and well. We do not expect John Howard or his team to supervise your members as we expect you to manage your members in a safe way.
​

Please see ECB guidance below

Please see latest guidance and updates from Government and ECB from  Dulwich Sports Ground