Four groundsmen were honoured this month at Lord’s, the home of cricket, as they each received a Cricket World® & Pitchcare Cricket Groundsman of the Year Award for 2009.
 
The awards, now in their sixth year, recognise the hard work and high standards achieved by cricket groundsmen in the recreational game and are split into four categories – ICC Europe, educational establishment, private club and local authority.
 
Hundreds of nominations were received for this year’s awards through Cricket World® magazine www.cricketworld.com and Pitchcare.com.
 
The presentations were made to the winners Alan Hamilton (Guernsey Cricket Board - ICC Europe Award), Tom Punchard (Millfield School - Educational Establishment Award), Rodney Heyhoe (Lightcliffe CC - Private Clubs Award) and Jimmy Yea (Bollington CC - Local Authority Award) in the presence of sponsors and invited guests, including Mike Gatting and Peter Ackerley from the ECB and Philip Hudson from ICC Europe. In the morning, the winners took to their Executive Box seats to watch the npower Village Cricket Final and enjoyed lunch at the Lord’s Tavern.
 
Alastair Symondson, Head of Media at Cricket World®, and Pitchcare’s Laurence Gale expressed their admiration for the winning groundsmen and thanked the sponsors whose continuing support makes the awards possible.

 
Entries are now being invited for the 2010 awards.

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