New pitch for Winterthur

The Winterthur Sports Council has confirmed that a new Notts Sport pitch will be installed at Deutweg Sportpark in Winterthur prior to the beginning of the 2012 season.

In 2002 Winterthur Cricket Club with the support of the Sportamt Winterthur, purchased a Notts Sports cricket pitch with the assistance of ICC ground development subsidies via the Swiss Cricket Association.

However, in 2011 the wear & tear of nearly 10 years or cricket, accelerated by the subsequent sharing of the ground with Power and the juniors, had taken its toll and patches began to appear. By the end of the season it was badly in need of replacement.

But due to the support of cricket by the Winterthur Sports Authority, it was agreed to reinvest in a replacement.

Damage to the NottsSport pitch

The possibilities of replacing the Notts Sport pitch with a domestic supplier of artificial grass surfaces was researched extensively but nothing matched the requirements of cricket. Also, the strong Swiss Franc made it finacially attractive to have this supplied again by Notts Sport. And so it was agreed to invest again in the technology supplied by this English based company.

Alex Mackay, President of the Swiss Cricket Association, said "Everyone in Winterthur is very grateful to the support we receive from the Winterthur Sports Council. There is a great team in place that are positively disposed towards cricket and it is greatly appreciated".

Below you can see the work and equipment that went in to installing the new pitch. The end result was certainly worth it!

The new pitch also complete with the creases, ready for the first game of the season.