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Hampshire's Simon Lee Honoured at ECB Grounds Manager Awards
Hampshire's Simon Lee Honoured at ECB Grounds Manager Awards
Lee was recognised for his First Test match pitch
Hampshire Groundsman Simon Lee won an award at the ECB Grounds Manager Awards at Grace Road.
Lee was honoured with a Recognition Award for his First Test match pitch at The Ageas Bowl for England Men’s Test against West Indies in 2020.
That was Lee’s first season at The Ageas Bowl after moving from Taunton.
Lancashire’s Matt Merchant won the ECB 3&4-Day Grounds Manager of the Year Award for the third time following an awards ceremony at the Uptonsteel County Ground in Leicester.
Long-serving Merchant, who first joined the ground staff at Emirates Old Trafford as a 16-year-old in 1990, was recognised for his outstanding pitches in multi-day cricket.
Kent’s Adrian Llong won the One-Day award for the pitches at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence in the same season the club were crowned Vitality Blast champions.
Cheltenham College’s Christian Brain won the Best Outground award while Scott Hawkins (Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton) was notably runner-up for both the multi-day and one-day awards.
The award winners fully deserve this recognition for the consistently outstanding pitches they have produced during the summer. This has been a challenging summer for all county ground staff beginning with the uncertainty of the pandemic heading into the season before a busy summer schedule.
Every venue has met those challenges head on and delivered pitches and facilities that have enabled the players to showcase the best of the game to the fans who returned to attend cricket this summer.”
ECB Pitch and Grounds Advisor, Andy Mackay
AWARDS
Headquarters Grounds, 3&4-Day: Matt Merchant (Emirates Old Trafford).
Joint Runners-up: Scott Hawkins (Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton), Neil Godrich (Incora County Ground, Derby). Commendations: Gary Barwell (Edgbaston), Ben Gibson (The 1st Central County Ground, Hove), Lee Fortis (Kia Oval).
Headquarters Grounds, One-Day: Adrian Llong (The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence).
Runner-up: Scott Hawkins (Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton). Commendations: Gary Barwell (Edgbaston), Vic Demain (Emirates Riverside), Andy Ward (Uptonsteel County Ground, Grace Road), Karl McDermott (Lord’s).
Test Match Recognition Award: Simon Lee, The Ageas Bowl, England Men v West Indies, 2020.
Outgrounds: Christian Brain (Cheltenham College)
Commendation: Alex Kegg (Chester Boughton), Ben Harris (York).
