The assistant groundsman of the Eastern Province Cricket Board, Adi Carter, was one of the top students at a recent Pretoria Technikon Turf Management Course.

Carter (27 was selected by the United Cricket Board to study the course in turf management at the end of May this year. The 15-day course is considered one of the best courses for people involved in the turfgrass industry.

The initiative by the UCB to send and pay for young groundsman to attend these courses is aimed at ensuring that South Africa continue to have the best qualified and experienced staff to look after South Africa's cricket. This is especially important for Eastern Province with one of the 2003 World Cup semi-finals being played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth.

According to Carter, who studied Sports Administration and Marketing at the PE Technikon, the course covers all aspects involved in turfgrass management. The experience he gained from working under EPCB groundsman Andrew McLean helped him enormously to gain an overall understanding of turfgrass management with special emphasis on pitch preparation, maintenance and management of machinery.

Carter came sixth out of 28 students in the course. He will use the knowledge he gained to help McLean ensure that the St George's Park pitches are ready for 2003.

Besides Carter's work at St. George's Park he is also responsible for the PPC and MTN development projects and his goal for the future is to give more assistance to schools and clubs. The pitches that fall directly under his management include the Dan Qeqe Stadium.

"I think my work is important because the better the pitches, the better chance we have to create opportunities to develop first class players. From schools to first class cricket we should set the highest standards and EP has already proved that we are on the right track in achieving this. This can be verified by a computer package devised by the UCB, which analyses pitch performance, " said Carter.

© EPCB