Established in 1845, the Oval, home of Surrey County Cricket Club, was the first ground in England to stage international test cricket in 1880 and has played host to many other key historical sporting events including the inaugural Football Association (FA) cup final in 1872 and, in rugby, the first varsity game between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in 1877.
“It’s a unique sporting venue, steeped in a rich history of sporting excellence, and I’d like to think that the high quality and consistency of the playing surface over many years has played a part in helping to secure the Oval’s enduring legacy “says Martin Biggin, Deputy Head Grounds Manager at the iconic venue since 2013.
Martin, who joined the Oval’s ground-staff 15 years ago after working for the equally famous Wimbledon lawn tennis club, sees a direct link between utilizing high quality machinery and employing the best year-round maintenance techniques to deliver the highest turf management standards now required by elite sporting venues.
“The pressure to deliver is always there, so, when I visited the 2023 SALTEX event to begin the search for a greener, eco-friendly alternative to our older SPPS petrol-driven pedestrian sprayer, it seemed logical to start with manufacturer Techneat Engineering who designed the SPPS low ground pressure sprayer.
“I’ve used their equipment for 16 years now and, based on their reputation for build quality, performance and reliability, the decision to invest in their new battery-powered, electric Pro-Espray pedestrian sprayer to help us achieve future sustainability targets was not a difficult one.
“The Pro-Espray offers operators the flexibility of an 80L or 120L tank, 3m or 4m horizontal folding booms and low decibel / low vibration operation.
“We opted for the larger 120L tank and a 3m boom. Given that we segment our outfield into 6m bays, it’s then a simple calculation of 2 x runs per bay.
“The new machine has both forward and reverse settings giving us the option to either walk over what we’ve just sprayed or spray behind us as we move forward.
“Other advantages for the operator are that you can easily adjust the speed of the sprayer on the console to synchronise application rates, whereas with the older SPPS machine we were restricted to a standard forward speed of 4kph.
“Both vibration and noise are practically eliminated, with the vibration loss removing the pulsing sensation that we used to experience with the petrol-driven SPPS. The vibration loss also enables the Pro-Espray to deliver a smoother, continuous and tighter spray pattern improving its overall accuracy.
“Other improvements include a high-capacity, Li-on smart battery operated via an App on my phone, better tank agitation, and a diaphragm pump specifically designed to offer improved flow and pressure outputs.
“Not everything has changed though, and the Pro-Esprays’ control systems are still based on the companies engine-driven SPPS model, offering operator’s individual three-way boom section controls.
“The battery provides enough charge to enable the sprayer to run continuously for up to 5 hours – enough time to applicate 1200L of pre-emergence herbicides, liquid feed or wetting agents depending on the task in-hand.
“Advanced safety features include a built-in auto brake, emergency stop plus a resettable fuse to protect the operator. The main console is neatly constructed and easy to understand with fingertip controls for the key control switches.
“From an operator’s perspective, the move away from a clutch-driven petrol engine is a definite improvement, along with the option to select up to 3 different nozzle settings on the boom depending on the level of water volumes we need to applicate.
One year on since purchase I can confirm there’ve been no maintenance issues with the Pro-Espray. The level of aftercare from Techneat has been excellent to, with advanced warnings on potential issues being relayed to us before any problems actually arose.
“In summary, it’s a very capable, reliable sprayer and certainly merits consideration from any business looking at combining high performance with lower carbon emissions,” concludes Martin.
