AU776611B2 - Removeable cricket wicket - Google Patents

Description

Regulation 3.2 -1-

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT APPLICANT: STRATHAYR PTY. LIMITED

NUMBER:

FILING DATE: Invention Title: REMOVEABLE CRICKET WICKET The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 2 REMOVABLE CRICKET WICKET This invention relates to the general provision of removable areas of sporting arenas or the like and specifically removable cricket wickets.

We have, in previous patent applications discussed the provision of squares of turf material, the root zones of which are reinforced to enable ready handling, which are sold under our trade S mark SquAyrs. Whilst in this specification, we shall refer to squares of turf, this is not to be considered limiting either in shape or size.

9 9 These squares, inter alia, can be used in sporting arenas to enable areas of the arena which suffer very high wear to be readily and rapidly replaced, the replacement portion being fully turfed and available for use effectively immediately. Further, these areas can effectively have the same properties as the area replaced.

There are applications where specific areas in sporting arenas where the idea of being able to replace, in one way or another portion of the area could be most valuable.

Such applications could include, for example, areas of golf greens and another of these is cricket wickets.

Referring to cricket, many sporting arenas are used for cricket during the summer months and football during the winter months and, on occasions, there are times when cricket and football \wp51\spec\stwick.wpd\AT\May 13, 1997 3 are both played on the same arena at what is effectively the same time, that is in close proximity to each other, and on some occasions, at the change-over of seasons, both uses may occur at the same time.

Cricket wickets are conventionally, made of a very heavy clay in which the surface grass has been mown and rolled to become very hard to provide good bounce of cricket balls and to withstand wear over at least the period of time for the playing of a cricket match, possibly a number of days of continuous use or, on occasions, to permit the wicket to be used a number i. of times.

.oo.oi As far as playing football on an area which normally has cricket wickets there can be great S difficulties because the type of soils used, when wet, can become extremely sticky and muddy and as, for example with the Australian Rules football, the centre of the arena, where the wickets are normally located, is a major part of the playing area this can be lead to the game being less satisfactory than could be the case.

Also there are other areas in sporting arenas, for example run ups, which are often made of a synthetic material, and jump pits, which are often sand filled, and which, to a degree at least, prevent the use of the whole of an arena.

For example, in major international games, it could be a requirement that the jumps run ups will be in the main stadium but the finals of a filed sport ot sports, such as Soccer are also to be played on the same arena.

13, 1997 -4- It will obviously be necessary, in order to play the field sports, to remove the run ups and to replace the area with turf which has properties identical to the remainder of the arena, so players are not running from one turf area to another where the areas have different properties.

There are also areas where other areas of an arena, such as baseball mounds, may have to be removed and replaced with turf.

In general terms, the object of this invention is to provide means to overcome or to minimise disadvantages which have previously occurred where multiple use of a particular area or the whole of a sporting arena, is required.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method of laying a cricket wicket comprising excavating an S:elongate trench in a playing field surface, preparing and 20 pre-sizing one or two slabs of turf, inserting lifting means directly into the slab or slabs from the top of the slab or slabs, filling the elongate trench with the one or two pre-prepared slabs of turf by lowering the slab or slabs into the trench, and removing the lifting means.

o oo In order that the invention may be more readily understood ooo* we shall describe a number of embodiments of the "invention. Some of these will be described in relation to the accompanying drawings, in which: o o o oo \\melb-files\hme$\MCooper\Keep\Speci\31358.0o.doc 13/07/04 Fig I shows a helical screw which is used to lift the wicket components; Fig 2 is a plan view showing the screws located in the wicket component; Fig 3 is a partial perspective showing the screws of one row connected to a lifting rod We shall firstly describe the invention in relation to cricket wickets.

As mentioned earlier cricket wickets are normally made of a heavy black clay soil (although different materials can also be used) and, conventionally, the area of the arena which is to carry wickets, normally the centre of the arena but, in some cases, also part of one side, is selected, excavated and the clay soil is placed therein, rolled and grassed.

This area may be large enough for a number of wickets to be formed and used over a season.

In the first form of the invention we form a cricket wicket and in order that the invention may be more readily understood we shall describe a number of embodiments of the invention as applied to such wickets.

A standard cricket wicket is 22 yards or 66 feet long and we may produce a wicket that is made of two components each of 40 feet long, 8 to 10 feet wide and between 100 to 500, preferably 400 to 500 millimetres thick which components, of course, together can provide the full length of the wicket with portions extending from each end thereof. Each component so formed would be of the order of 15 tonnes in weight.

\wp51\spec\stwick.wpd\AT\May 13, 1997 6 Alternatively, we can provide a single member 80 feet long, which would be of the order of tonnes in weight.

In this present invention the wicket, shown schematically in Fig 3, is made mixing with the black clay soil 20, or other soil from which the wicket is to be formed, a reinforcing material 21. The reinforcing material of choice is Netlon (Registered Trade Mark) elements which are relatively small elements of a plastics mesh material, but other reinforcing materials, such as fibres or the like, can be used. The use of reinforcement is known in the sports turf art.

The wicket is formed and turf 22 is grown on the surface thereof. This may be done by locating the clay 20 and mesh elements 21 which form the root zone in a shaped container of the required size or could be done by forming a relatively large area with the required material with a barrier, such as a plastics sheet lying between the bottom of the soil and the surrounding soil or by laying the material on a concrete slab.

This material is compacted and the turf permitted to grow so that the roots of the turf system move into the root zone and, together with the reinforcing elements, provide a stable component.

As mentioned above, this element is either 40 or 80 feet long and normally 8 to 10 feet wide and whilst not self supporting, nevertheless has a relatively high degree of stability.

Whilst we have described the material of the wicket portion as being of the clay soil mixed \wp51\spec\stwick.wpd\AT\May 13, 1997 7 with reinforcement, depending on the application, there can be an upper layer of unreinforced material and this could be only a small portion of the height or could be more substantial.

When it is required to locate the wicket is it necessary to first form the area in which the wicket is to be located, by removing turf and part of the root zone to the depth of the wicket portions. It may be desirable to place an impermeable barrier material in the excavated area, as will be described further later herein. The wicket portion(s) must then be carried to the required area and be located in position.

There are a number of ways in which this can be done.

In the first of these is illustrated in Figs 1 to 3 of the drawings. In this, we use a number of lifting members, which can be metal rods formed into helical screws 10 which have eyelets 11 at one end thereof. These screws can be screwed into the upper surface of the wicket to permit lifting thereof.

As illustrated in Fig 2, the screws are placed in rows across the wicket and the eylets are arranged longitudinal of the wicket. The eyelets 11 are parallel and longitudinal to the wicket.

In order to accurately locate the screws, we may provide a jig which can sit on the surface of SThe wiket portion andof which has spaced apertures through which the screws can pass with the jig being removed after the screws are positioned.

The screws can be located by hand or we can provide a rotating hydraulic driver for these.

The screws can be located by hand or we can provide a rotating hydraulic driver for these.

\wp51\spec\stwick.wpd\AT\May 13, 1997 8 In one arrangement, we provide rods 12 each of which is adapted to pass through the eyelets 11 of one transverse row. The rods can then be connected to or located on a lifting frame which, in turn, can be connected to a crane or other lifting device.

The arrangement is such that the screws are sufficiently close together to provide a good support for the wicket and to prevent any damage to this when it is being moved.

Because of their formation, the damage to the wicket by the screws is minimal, there is only a S small entrance aperture and each screw forms an helical path in the wicket as it is being inserted and these paths tend to close after the screws have been removed and the wicket rolled.

In an alternative form, the screws can be connected relative to a frame and there may be means associated with the frame to effect rotation of the screws.

The size of the screws can vary, depending on the application but in one form they may be of the order of 100 to 150 mm in diameter and be 2 or 3 complete spirals long but they could be of a larger diameter with fewer spirals but effectively a similar length of contact with the material of the wicket.

In a second embodiment, we may provide a frame which is adapted to overlay the wicket portion and which has cross members or the like, which are apertured and through which anchor rods may be driven into the wicket.

\wp51\spec\stwick.wpd\AT\May 13, 1997 9 These anchor rods are passed into the wicket portion at an angle to the face thereof and are preferably along the two sides of the wicket portion so there is minimal disturbance of the central portion of this, although to give the required support, it may be necessary that rods are spaced across the wicket.

The frame may be provided with lifting lugs and it may be lifted by one or more cranes or to a road frame which is larger than the wicket portion being carried and has, at its corners road wheels, which are preferably caster wheels to permit the frame to be accurately positioned.

S In either embodiment, the wicket portion can then be moved into position above the excavated portion in the arena, and, depending on the form of lifting device, the portion is accurately located at which time it can be simply lowered into the required position.

It is preferred that whatever is used to lift the wicket operates on a low flotation system so S'there is effectively no likelihood of damage to the surface of the area. This is not so critical e• where the arena is made of a sand/reinforcement material but in conventional arenas, the load of normal vehicle tyres can cause substantial damage to the surface of the arena.

A low flotation system can be provided by using tyres which have a low pressure and a large footprint but it may be preferred belt arrangement to provide a large area of ground contact.

The belt we use is smooth, as there is sufficient friction between the belt and the arena surface to avoid the necessity of any form of ribbing or the like. As a rule of thumb, the area of the belt is preferably about 1/8th of the area of the wicket portion to provide a pressure of the order of 13, 1997 on the surface. We have found in other applications that this force will not damage even relatively soft surfaces.

The belt arrangement can be used in a number of different ways. In the first of these, there can be belts both ahead and behind the wicket portions, there can be belts on either side thereof or there can be a single belt which is located below the portion when it is being carried.

Each of these can be advantageous in different applications. The leading and trailing belts S minimise the width of the belt/carrier assembly but can cause problems in location as the ooe.oi S.wicket portion would need to be taken to one side of its required position, the belts rotated through 90 degrees and then the assembly moved to its required position. The arrangement oae i with the belts on either side permits the wicket portions to be moved over the required position.

The underneath belt is the best arrangement for overall space but may need the wicket portion to be lifted therefrom. One way in which this can be done is to provide an arm, pivotally connected to the carrier beneath the wicket portion, substantially centrally thereof, which arm is divided so that it can rotate about its pivot and about a further pivot in the central region thereof to locate the wicket portion where required.

It may also be possible to carry the wicket portions to the required position, provide means whereby the portion can be lifted from its carrier and then remove the carrier and lower the portion. One way in which this could be done is the provision of legs which can be brought 13, 1997 11 into contact with the ground to enable the wicket portion to be lifted while the carrier is removed and then lowered.

It may be preferred that some form of water permeable barrier may be located in the bottom of the excavation where the wicket portion is to be located. Such barrier can ensure that contamination of the soil of the wicket portion with the sand of the arena is minimized. It may also be preferred that the arrangement be such as to provide a perched water table or root pruning chemicals be used to inhibit the movement of roots through the junction between the wicket portion and the lower part of the excavated surface of the arena.

Where two wicket portions are used to form a single wicket, it is also preferred that a physical barrier be provided between the two portions so that the roots from one portion do not pass into the other portion. It may also be preferred that a barrier could be provided around the periphery, again to control root growth.

Once the wicket is located, it can simply be rolled and mowed to provide the required surface and used during the season or for what portion of the season it is required.

When it is desired to replace the wicket the reverse operation can be effected, that is the frame can be relocated into position, screws or anchors relocated and upward pressure used to separate the wicket portion from the surrounding. This may cause some damage to the wicket portion but this is not generally of great importance because this can be corrected later but, provided the barriers are correct, there should be little damage.

\wp51\spec\stwick.wpd\AT\May 13, 1997 12 Once the wicket portion has been removed then squares of turf can be located where the wicket has been removed and provided the squares are compatible with the surface, can provide a surface which is effectively identical to the adjacent surface of the arena. SquAyrs (the types of these squares made by us) are normally formed using a sand root zone used with a reinforcing material, such as Netlon elements and, provided the turf located therein is the same as the turf in the remainder of the arena, in a very short time after location, it will be very difficult to ascertain which was the area occupied by the wicket. The area can be used effectively immediately after the removal of the wicket and the replacement of the turf.

e However, once again, before locating the squares, it may be desirable to place physical barriers in position so that when the next cricket season commences the operation can readily be o:oo• repeated.

Indeed the operations involved in inserting and replacing wicket portions is such that the operation can be done during a season if the arena is required for another purpose. Thus if.

during the cricket season, a football match is to be played on the arena or, say, the area is to be used for some other reason, such as a concert, it is feasible to replace the wickets for the football match or the other event and to subsequently replace the wicket for further use during the season.

Also, the use of the invention enables a single wicket position to be used for all cricket matches on the arena, the particular wicket being replaced when affected by wear.

13, 1997 13 Whilst we have described certain forms of handling the wicket portion it is to be understood that various other forms can be used.

For example it is feasible to provide a belly or straddle lift (which are sold under the name Tami lifts) which can straddle a wicket portion, connect to this, lift it and to transport it to the required position.

As mentioned earlier it is preferred that whatever piece of equipment is used to locate the 0 wicket portions is adapted to provide a low pressure per unit area on the surface of the arena to eeoee S minimise any damage thereto. A belly lift can be provided with belts, as previously discussed to provide such an arrangement or low pressure tyres can also be used. This will be described further hereafter. If the arena is a modern type using a reinforced sand root zone this can o readily cope with substantial loadings but if it is an older type using an other soil surface then it is undesirable to apply high loading thereto. This can be overcome by controlling the loading applied thereto.

In this case it may be preferred that the lifting arrangement incorporates connections to the edges of the wicket portion and they may be connected therein simply by providing frame elements which can be located on either side of the wicket portion and being movable inwardly to hold the portion. These frame members may have portions which may extend beneath the wicket portion. If so, it will be appreciated that the excavation to which the wicket is to be fitted must be wider than just the width of the wicket portions so as to enable the frame to be removed.

13, 1997 14 There can be alternative forms of pin or the like connections. For example we could use "fish hook" like devices which move through an arc and pass downwardly and upwardly into the wicket portion to hold this and when they are removed they are rotated in the opposite direction. In this way the devices follow an arcuate path so they do not move basically laterally outwardly relative to the wicket portion.

Alternatively members which can flex in one direction can be used and these can be driven in from the side of the wicket portion and become effectively rigid but can be removed and S received in portion of the assembly by rotation in the opposite sense.

S

We have mentioned the normal arrangement where the root zone has sand and reinforcement and in many newer arenas this is mounted on top of a sand layer which, in turn, is located on top of an aggregate layer and beneath the aggregate layer there are drains to effect draining of the arena.

g 0 Generally, there may be water sensors adjacent the bottom of the sand layer and there can effectively be automatic watering systems associated with the arena.

Because the sand enables relatively rapid delivery of water, watering becomes critical as can the addition of fertilisers but, properly manipulated, a surface can be provided which will drain rapidly in the wettest of conditions and yet can readily be controlled to ensure optimum healthy growth of the turf. The material of the wicket is, of course, not as porous as the surround but the watering can still be controlled.

\wp51\spec\stwick.wpd\AT\May 13, 1997 Various modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention.

For example, whilst we have described the wicket portions as being formed with reinforcing material, as an alternative or a supplement we could use a solid base or the like, which is either of a porous material or has apertures therethrough which provides the support for the wicket portion and which is what is carried by the delivery system. In one form, the base could be of porous concrete. In such an arrangement, the base is located in the bottom of the excavated portion and continues to act as a support for the wicket and, at the same time, acts to prevent S• or limit root growth into the adjacent areas. This base can, if required, maintain the full profile of the remainder of the arena.

Rather than simply support the base, and even in cases where support does not come from a base, we may, when forming the wicket portions, have partial or complete sides or possibly split sides, the bottom portion can be integral with the base support, where there is a base i support or could extend sightly under the portion, and the upper portion, which can be located thereon whilst the wicket portion is growing, and can be removed prior to the portion being located in the ground so that the side members do not extend upwardly to adjacent the ground surface.

It may also be desirable to provide the area in which the wicket portions are to be located with a fixed, solid base in the arena. This may be associated with the drainage system for the arena and may have ribs or the like which act to support the wicket portion and which define \wp51\spec\stwick.wpd\AT\May 13, 1997 16 drainage channels. Such an arrangement enables accurate location of the wicket portion or the squares of turf. This base can provide a full profile so that it provides the same physical properties as the remainder of the arena.

We have described the invention applied to a single wicket. It is possible in accordance with the invention to provide a number of adjacent wickets as is conventional in the art. However, one advantage of the invention is that this may be avoided to the benefit of the ground and the players thereon.

Whilst, for ease of description, we have described the invention as relating to a cricket wicket it will be understood that an effectively identical arrangement can be used for other applications.

For example when it is required to use the same arena forjumps or various field games, where run ups or alternative surfaces are required and for a game such as soccer, then a similar operation can be effected, with the run ups or surfaces are used to replace part of the arena rather than a wicket portion.

Thus it would be feasible, say, to use the internal portion of an arena for field games and then to subsequently use the whole of the arena for another sport, such as Soccer.

In this case the run ups and landing areas for the field games can be established in a manner similar to described for the wicket portions and when the field sports or other sports are \wp51\spec\stwick.wpd\AT\May 13, 1997 17 completed then these portions can be removed and replaced by squares of turf Also, the invention could provide means whereby a substantial area can be provided which does not have any joins or discontinuities. For example, if a golf green is to be returfed, even using SquAyrs other similar products will not initially give a completely continuous surface, if the process of the invention is applied, the surface will be unitary when located on the green surface.

\wp51\spec\stwick.wpd\AT\May 13, 1997

Claims (9)

1. A method of laying a cricket wicket comprising: excavating an elongate trench in a playing field surface, preparing and pre-sizing one or two slabs of turf, inserting lifting means directly into the slab or slabs from the top of the slab or slabs, filling the elongate trench with the one or two pre- prepared slabs of turf by lowering the slab or slabs into the trench, and removing the lifting means.

2. The method according to claim 1 comprising lining the base of the trench with a porous barrier.

3. The method according to claim 2 comprising lining the base of the trench with porous concrete. e* 20 4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims comprising supporting the sides of the trench with removable wall portions. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 comprising inserting a plurality of helical screws into the slab or slabs. 0 The method according to claim 5 comprising interconnecting one end of the screws to a rod.

7. The method according to either claim 5 or claim 6 comprising inserting the screws through use of a hydraulic driver.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein a frame is adapted to overlay the or each slab, the frame having cross-members which are apertured, and \\melb files\home$\MCooper\Keep\Speci\31358.01 .doc 13/07/04 19 anchor rods are driven through the apertured cross-member into the slab or slabs.

9. The method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the cricket wicket is transported using a vehicle having large diameter tyres at low pressure or a trenched or belted drive. The method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein a straddle lift is used to transport and lower the slab or slabs into the trench.

11. The method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein frame elements are displaced inwardly from either side of the slab or slabs to hold and support the slab or slabs, the excavated trench being slightly wider than the slabs to accommodate the frame elements and to facilitate removal of the frame elements. 20 12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the frame elements are removed once the slab or slabs have been positioned in the trench.

13. The method according to any one of the preceding 25 claims wherein two slabs are lowered end to end in the trench, each slab being approximately 12,000mm (40 feet) long, 2,500-3,000mm (8-10 feet) wide and 400-500mm deep.

14. The method according to any one of the preceding 30 claims comprising preparing one or two elongate slabs in a shaped container, the slab or slabs comprising a growing medium of substantial thickness to provide a root zone, the growing medium including black clay soil with which is incorporated a reinforcing material, establishing turf on the surface of the growing medium with the roots thereof extending into the root zone whereby the slab or slabs of turf are sufficiently established to enable immediate use H \MCooper\Keep\Speci\31358.01.doc 13/07/04 20 of the surface once the slab or slabs have been lowered into the trench. Dated this 13 th day of July 2004 STRATHAYR PTY. LIMITED By their Patent Attorneys GRIFFITH HACK Fellows Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia *o o go ooo* *o o *oo *oo *ooooo* \\melb_files\homeS\MCooper\Keep\Speci\31358.01.doc 13/07/04