HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) — Two of Bermuda’s leading groundsmen have been chosen to attend a three-day Cricket West Indies curator course in Antigua which started yesterday, the Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) has announced.

The board said it had secured two of the four available places provided to associate members of ICC Americas, and selected BCB groundsman of the year Calvin “Squaller” Richardson and Allan Douglas Sr for the course to be run by ICC pitch consultant Andy Pick from December 18-20.

The workshop will include pitch preparation, pitch renovation and discussions on grass coverage of pitches, the board said.

Most of Bermuda’s cricket grounds are used for football in the winter, leaving curators little time to get cricket pitches ready for the new season, which normally starts in May.

Richardson, who has been preparing the wickets at St David’s for the past two years after learning his trade under Mansfield Smith at St George’s, is looking forward to learning new techniques.

“I’m excited. Hopefully I can bring some of their tactics back and pass that knowledge on to the other groundsmen,” he said.

New BCB President Lloyd Smith said: “I am very pleased that out of 15 countries competing for places, the BCB has been awarded two of the four places available.

“The quality of our pitches is a major factor in improving our standard of cricket, by allowing the players to express themselves and play to their best.

“Therefore, the art of curatorship is a critical skill that all clubs with grounds need to have, to not only turn the fields over from football to cricket but to create a surface to play on that is enjoyable for all players to improve their craft and develop cricket in Bermuda.”