Aradale Cricket Club life member and former Grampians Cricket Association representative Phil Rodger is still playing a vital role in the association more than 15 years after he finished playing.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This season he is celebrating 25 years of preparing the Alexandra Oval turf pitch for Grampians Cricket Association games as well as other representative matches.
Rodger works closely with the Ararat Rural City Council to ensure a high quality pitch is prepared for each game at the ground.
The keen former batsman said he was keen to get involved after seeing pitches that provided bowlers with too much advantage.
"I had a great interest in it, after playing in this association for that long, I felt the batsman was at a strong disadvantage,” he said.
"Being an old school cricketer, I know the more effort you put into it during the week, the better it will play during the weekend.”
Rogers led Aradale to two A Grade premierships and one B Grade premiership and also represented the association at country week as an opening batsman.
He spends an average of 15 hours a week rolling and watering the pitch during the week with maintenance required each day in the lead up to games.
The veteran has learnt some tricks during his time at the helm and he said that he still uses them regularly.
"The secret as much as the rolling is having enough water in it, naturally as it dries off the water will come to the surface and form a nice hard track to prepare and roll,” he said.
"If it dries out, it plays out lower and lower as the game goes on.
"One of the best pitches I have ever prepared was two years ago for the Victorian under-21 championships final and I got plenty of positive feedback from people after that match finished.”
Rogers said he gets enjoyment from seeing the younger generations playing on quality pitches.
"There is no bigger thrill than when a young player scores a century at the oval,” he said.
And with so much experience, he has been able to develop a routine.
"I have got my certain way of knowing which will be the best wicket, due to the grass cover,” he said.
“I start rolling on Monday and give it a good watering twice a day early in the week then from there it is just a matter of rolling it twice a day along with some more watering each day.”
And Rogers has a clear idea in his mind of how a perfect pitch should play.
"It should be flat, hard and have good pace so bowlers can get reward if they bend their back,” he said.
“And batsman should be able to get on the front foot confidently to play their front foot drives.”
