WAUCHOPE's maestro of the Andrews Park cricket pitch, Rod Lyon, has been honing his skills again with a Cricket Wicket Seminar - or curators' course - in Sydney.
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The August event at the Sydney Cricket Ground was Lyon's second, following on from one in 2012 at the Blacktown International Sportspark.
The expertise employed at the SCG was "great to see", Lyon said, with the professional team there led by head curator Tom Parker very impressive.
"They really have the gear and the know-how to prepare a pitch," he said.
The scale of the SCG turf and wicket management is an eye-opener in itself, he said, with 16 practice nets, which are maintained by their own staff of two full-time employees and an apprentice, in addition to Tom Parker and "six or seven other blokes" looking after the SCG proper.
The most interesting thing he learned at the seminar was that the whole of the SCG pitch and grounds was over-sown with rye grass every autumn to protect the couch grass over winter.
The rye grass is then sprayed out in spring ahead of the cricket season.
Lyon also learned about the intricacies of drop-in wickets, their preparation and the laborious process of moving them into position.
"I call myself a backyard boy, compared with those blokes," said Lyon, who nevertheless discovered he knew a good deal more than some of the other people from around Australia who attend the seminars.
Lyon, a well-known Wauchope Cricket Club member and player, works as the part-time Andrews Park curator.
He just looks after the wicket, with Port Macquarie-Hastings Council staff maintaining the outer field.
Lyon took his youngest son, Wauchope first grade player Nathan, to the Sydney seminar and he really enjoyed it too, having his eyes opened about the finer points of wicket preparation.
And Lyon said he will definitely be going to the next wicket seminar in two years, if possible. "I won't miss out on it again - you learn so much," he said.
