The cricket field is sited on around six acres and is owned and managed by the local Parish Council. Contractors are hired to cut the outfield, but limited budgets means that the number of cuts per year and not fully sufficient to maintain the field in perfect condition.

David Williams said, “Our cricket club is doing really well in the Sussex league, currently in second or third, just shy of promotion and I wanted to help them in any way I could to perform to the highest standards. I wanted to ensure the pitch was in the perfect condition for match day. Our Parish council do a great job in supporting us, but we needed a greater spend to meet the grounds maintenance requirements. As I have some of my own grounds to maintain, I thought it would make sense to buy a new tractor and mower, to meet the needs of both myself and the cricket club.”

David purchased a new John Deere 3038 compact tractor on turf tyres and a new Trimax Procut 178 rotary mower - fitted with skid bars and a ‘Quatro’ blade system, which is claimed to leave a finish similar to a cylinder mower.

“I live close to the cricket pitch,” added David “ and so it makes it easy to drive from my own property to the cricket field, prepare the outfield for match day and park the tractor and mower back in my garage. I bought the tractor and mower from my local dealer, Burden Bros Agri who are specialists in this type of equipment and they have been very helpful. I had researched the market throughly before making my investment and all the professional groundsmen I spoke with recommended the Trimax Procut as being the best on the market.”

The Trimax Procut is a very versatile roller mower with front and rear rollers that ensure a high-quality, even finish. Specifications of the Quatro cutting system means that two more blades are added to the cutting spindle, giving two blades of a flat design and two blades with an upturn which creates a much finer cut than other mower designs. The 178 model has three spindles, each with four blades and has an overall cutting width of 1740mm (68.5inches). Height of cut can be easily adjusted from 10mm to 110mm and it only requires a minimum of 30 pto horsepower, so ideal for the John Deere 3038 Compact tractor.

“For the outfield,” commented David, “we normally set the cut of height to around one inch (25mm) and we get a very even cut - even though there are some undulations in the field where there used to be an old ditch. It’s nice also to see how the rollers leave a professional striping, so I normally cut it in a way that leaves a very presentable finish. The team at Burden Bros Agri have been very helpful with the set-up and installation, they really know their stuff and it has given me great confidence in knowing that I have invested in first-class machinery for the long-term. he concluded.