With temperatures rising, it’s the perfect time to fine-tune your maintenance efforts and ensure your pitch is in top condition. With the cricket season also just around the corner, now is the crucial time to prepare your surface for the demands of the season ahead. 

Here are ten essential tasks to focus on this month: 
 

1. Squaring the Square and Marking Pitches 
   Squaring your cricket square prior to the season beginning and the first pitch being prepared, it is important to ensure that the square is indeed square and that the individual pitch positions are marked out and are 22 yards in length in order to establish the true stump lines. This should be done using a 3,4,5 triangle or multiples of those numbers. Click here for more.
2. Pre-Season Rolling 
   Continue pre-season rolling on the cricket square, which is helpful to the production of quality pitches, as the cricket square requires a firm, even surface. Rolling should commence as soon as conditions permit, aiming to use successively heavier rollers as the soil dries to compact the soil over a period of several weeks. Click here for more.
3. Renovation/Repairs 
   Repair any areas on your playing surface. For cricket, you surface may be affected when playing winter sports such as football, rugby or lacrosse on your outfield. You should renovate and repair any damage to surface levels or grass cover before the cricket season. Click here for more.
4. Pre-Season Mowing the Square 
   In cricket, regular mowing, three to four times a week, is important not only so that it provides the right length of grass to facilitate good ball roll, but also to encourage the grass plants to thicken (tiller) and grow in the right way. Click here for more.
5. Fertiliser and Pest Control 
   Apply fertiliser which is needed to replace the nutrients removed in the clippings when your playing surface is cut, loss through leeching from the soil and volatilisation to the air. The grass plant needs the nutrients to grow and develop, to resist and recover from wear and to prevent disease. Click here for more.
6. In-Season Overseeding 
   If you don't plan to heavily scarify or turf strip your pitch at the end of the season, April represents a good opportunity to get a head start with getting your pitch into tip top condition for the following season. Seeding in early spring can help to mitigate the risks of poor germination, often seen on sites without irrigation when renovations are left till end of season and the risk of drought is higher. 
7. Soil Analysis 
   A good time of year to get a soil analysis done which will give the club a better understanding of what nutrients the pitches need to produce a stronger, healthier grass plant. Having a soil analysis will give a contractor or fertiliser supplier the ability to provide a tailored fertiliser regime around the requirements of the site just in time for end of season renovations. 
8. Divotting  
   Divots from matches and training sessions can wreak havoc on a pitch. Prioritise divotting after every session to maintain a smooth, even surface. It’s a task that pays off in the long term. 
9. Decompaction 
   Soil compaction harms pitch quality by reducing grass cover, causing waterlogging, and limiting root growth. Seasonal decompaction improves water and air penetration, soil structure, and drainage. April often presents the perfect spring conditions to allow your pitch to breathe again following a tough winter of use. Solid tine decompaction creates fissures for better root development and infiltration. Follow best practices for depth, speed, and direction. Sand brushing after decompaction in high-wear areas enhances drainage. Avoid linear decompaction this option is more suited to autumn depending on your soil type. 
10. Surface Grooming
    Surface grooming will help take any dew of the leaf and reduce the risk of disease infection. It will also will stand back up any grass lying flat due to matches or training and remove any loose material. The correct time to introduce surface grooming is when you begin increasing cut frequency in line with growth, and gradually reducing the height of cut to a desirable level to thicken the sward. 

For More Expert Advice  

Need more guidance on pitch care? Visit the GMA Toolkit for detailed resources and tips tailored to your needs: thegma.org.uk/toolkit.  

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