Durham’s groundstaff have been nominated as finalists in the prestigious Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) Industry Awards for 2016.
Head Groundsman, Vic Demain, and his team are in contention to win the Headland Amenity Professional Cricket Grounds Team of the Year.
They will go up against Essex’s groundstaff, with the winner to be announced at an awards dinner on Wednesday, 2 November.
The nomination marks another successful year for Vic’s team, earning praise from club captain Paul Collingwood in the process.
“I’m really pleased with how it’s gone this year, the team have really worked hard,” Demain said.
“We did a lot of research during the winter, talking to the groundsman who actually laid the ground, Tom Flintoff, who was very keen to come up and talk to us.
“He gave us a lot of background into the square and no doubt that has helped.”
Emirates Riverside has become a fortress for Durham under Vic’s second year at the helm.
Last week’s victory over Surrey marked an unbeaten home record in the Specsavers County Championship this year, while the NatWest T20 Blast campaign yielded five wins from six completed games.
“It’s always pleasing to get a pat on the back from the players, though it doesn’t always happen!
You’re never pleasing everybody but I was always taught a pitch is only ever good if the home side win and that’s been the case; we’ve only lost two games in total here, including all of the limited overs games, so I’ll settle for that.”
An independant judging panel will decide on the winners across all 18 awards before being presented at the IOG Awards Dinner at the National Conference Centre.