The cricket season may be all over for most people, but for Somerset Head groundsman Phil Frost this is one of the busiest times of the year. Now that all of the games at the County Ground have been completed he has started to get ready for the 2002 season, which after all is less than 200 days away!

Just recently Phil took delivery of ten tons of Ongar loam which has been used for top dressing the wickets at Taunton.

"Frosty" told me, "The whole of the square has been scarifyed, cut down and overseeded with New Elka dwarf rye grass. We have now completed top dressing which we still do by hand at Taunton. Some clubs do this by machine, but I prefer to do it in the traditional way by hand. Doing about seven wickets a day it takes a week to complete."

This is just the start of Phil's work this winter. Now that the square has been worked on all of the boundary fences will be repaired and repainted.

The wickets at The County Ground have once again been well marked by the first class umpires, which is a tribute to Phil Frost and his team for all of the hard work that they put in over the year.

When the "Groundsman of the Year Award" is announced in October no doubt Frosty will once again be amongst the contenders for this coveted award.

© SOMERSET