THE WORK BEHIND BLOY'S 'PERFECT PITCH' AT CENTURION

Sunrisers Eastern Cape weren’t the only back-to-back winners when Betway SA20 Season 2 concluded, as Groundsman of the Season Bryan Bloy also held onto his title.

The man in charge of Centurion’s pitch and outfield was once again rewarded for producing a venue which produced exciting cricket with an even contest between bat and ball. All told, 1554 runs were scored in the four completed matches at the ground, with bowlers claiming 59 wickets. This amounted to an average of 26.34 runs per wicket.

Comparatively, Wanderers had the highest runs per wicket average for Season 2 (27.28), while Newlands (26.11) slotted in just behind Pretoria Capitals’ home ground.

As Bloy recently told SuperSport, he has taken a roundabout route to being in charge of Centurion.

“My turf career started in golf – I studied at Technikon Pretoria at the time [now Tshwane University of Technology] and they offered a course in turfgrass management and all the research is very much golf related focusing on a few golf clubs on the highveld.

“I got the opportunity to work at Wits University just before the World Cup in 2010. That was quite exciting … we had to relay quite a few football pitches and that’s also where I got exposure to cricket for the first time.”

After his stint in Johannesburg, in Bloy returned to his capital city roots to take over as head groundsman at Centurion at the start of the 2016-17 cricket season. In the subsequent years, he has become used to the demands of an international cricket ground.

“It’s a tough job, there’s a lot of hours involved and a lot of sacrifices to be made. A lot of the work we do for any cricket match, the maintenance happens throughout the year it’s not just ‘here’s a game coming along, let’s get ready’, we’re constantly working on the facility, trying to get all the little aspects in order.

“Depending on weather, we need ten to seven days’ lead-time in preparation for a match. You try get your density correct before you start and try get all your moisture in the surface and then the rolling and preparation begins.”

For a long time, there was a cliché about pitches in South Africa… that the highveld had quick pitches while the coastal pitches tended to take more spin. Bloy, though, explains that each ground tends to have a good mix these days.

“Each pitch has its own characteristics… [at Centurion] numbers 2 and 3 seem to take a little bit more turn, number 4 can be a little bit more bouncier, number 5 is a Test pitch, number 6 is a bit of a mystery pitch… “

Despite these differing characteristics, the results at Centurion during Season 2 reiterated its reputation for a ‘sporty’ surface. Capitals, the home team, beat the two finalists there: Durban’s Super Giants in a high-scorer (204 vs 187) before restricting Sunrisers Eastern Cape when they only set them 125 to win.

Of the two they lost, Capitals scored 200 chasing Paarl Royals’ 210 and then Kyle Verreynne’s record-breaking 116 not out helped the sky blues to 214 in response to MI Cape Town’s 248.

More’s the pity that the derby against Joburg Super Kings was ultimately rained out.

“I can’t say it has all to do with the pitch, it comes down to the players be it an individual performance or whatever but any score of 200 in a T20 and every now and then, seldom, we get 400 in a 50-over game … that’s really great. It means we’ve prepared a great pitch for sure but also that the players have come out and done their jobs well.

With the busy schedule of SA20, Bloy and his colleagues have been forced to deliver their best.

“It’s toughened me up a bit. It’s a tremendous vibe, the energy is high and it’s a terrific competition and I see it going from strength to strength.”