Gary Barwell is sitting on his electric mower, chatting to the Spin on his earphones as he quietly eases up and down the Edgbaston square, one eye on the approaching clouds.
He has been at Edgbaston since 2011, as head of sports turf – as well as an ambassador for the Grounds Management Association – and has been tenderly encouraging grass to behave for more than 30 years, since he first joined Leicester City on a YTS scheme as a teenager.
“I love it,” he says. “I’m very passionate about it, I don’t feel I do a job and I class myself very lucky. Basically, I’m a failed sportsman. I realised that about 12-13, but I wanted to carry on in sport. I had two days at the ticket office with Leicester City before the ground staff took pity on me.”
From then on, he was hooked. He joined the ground staff at Grace Road in 1993 and worked his way up before moving to Trent Bridge as deputy head groundskeeper in 2009, where he learned alongside the person he considers the best grounds manager in the world, Steve Birks.
“Ideally I’d have liked more years there but then the opportunity came up at Edgbaston and all those things I’d wanted – to be in charge, and for it to be my pitch – were on offer. I said that I’d try it for a year and if I was no good … that was in September 2011, the rest is history.”
Barwell, and his team, have gone on to scoop up a number of awards, including the IOG’s Groundsman of the Year and Professional Cricket Grounds Team of the Year trophies in 2018 and the (shared) Bernard Flack Memorial Trophy in 2022. There have been many other satisfying moments, from successfully soaking up Storm Alex before the Covid Blast Finals Day of 2020 to hearing Eoin Morgan say of a World Cup Edgbaston pitch in 2019: “We knew when we turned up to Edgbaston we’d be playing on a belter.” Barwell says: “And that’s great, just to be a small cog making things happen. My ambition is to get cricket on quicker than everyone.”
Much has changed during Barwell’s time on the grass, from the pattern of the playing season to the pattern of the climatic seasons. “When I left school, to be honest, it was more of a seasonal job, cricket was very much a summer sport,” he says.
“Now, with the Hundred, we’ve got more tournaments and the season starts on 15 March with friendlies and training days and can last until 1 October. Out of 155 days this summer, Edgbaston is going to be used or trained on for 133. The fact that the players are more professional now, and practise more, means that the workload is greater.
“Climate wise, the seasons have moved and the extremes are getting more extreme. Winters used to be cold and summers warm. Now if it is going to rain it generally hammers it down and it is only going to get worse, we are constantly battling.
“Most years something strange is happening somewhere in the country, we had that really hot spell last year, now there is no real pattern to it. In Birmingham we’ve barely had a summer this year and it’s been windy virtually every day. Years ago, you knew you would have the jet stream in the right place.”
The season flows in peaks and troughs. Right now he is in the middle of a peak which started with the Test against West Indies and runs through eight Hundred games and four Metro Bank 50-over fixtures – mostly played at an outground but kept an eye on by Barwell.
The working day also varies. Barwell lives outside Birmingham, so is up at 5.30am to get to the ground on time. Some days he has left Edgbaston at four, on others he might not lock up until midnight. He has become something of a weather geek, with various apps on his phone including Thunderstore which measures the likelihood of storms – though one of the reasons he’s so in love with his job is that it takes him away from mobiles and social media.
“It’s a great career, I’d recommend it to everyone. These days, when people are worrying about their mental health, and people are on their phones all the time and don’t talk to one another, I’m outside every day, with a team of seven from 22 to 64 years old. Is it hard and frustrating? Yes. Is there added pressure? Yes. But I’m not a nurse trying to save a child. I’m very lucky, I’ve seen some of the best players in the world.”
He loves the people side of it, the teamwork, keeping an eye on the welfare of the rest of the ground staff. “I wouldn’t say I’m in peak physical fitness but I’m relatively fit. Personally, it is more mentally draining, continually seeing how people are, it’s a demanding job. I’m a people person, it’s a great team.
“This morning I wanted to take the nets off early, so I got here at 6.30am. The staff are supposed to work 8-5 but by the time I got here, three members of the team were already in – and two more came in 20 minutes later. That’s the level of dedication.”
And his secret? “Sitting and chatting rubbish over a beer and a biscuit after work.”
This is an extract from the Guardian’s weekly cricket email, The Spin. To subscribe, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
