GEORGE DOBELL: Tim Packwood, who had served in the role since 2001, has told the club he wants to pursue opportunities elsewhere following the departure of three staff members
Worcestershire's head groundskeeper has resigned on the eve of the season.
Tim Packwood, who has been on the staff since 1989 and head since 2001, has told the club he wants to pursue opportunities elsewhere. Three of his staff are also understood to have resigned in recent weeks.
While the club are understood to have appointed a new head groundskeeper they are still looking to fill other vacancies. The first LV= Insurance Championship game at New Road this season starts on April 21 against Sussex.
Packwood has had one of the most thankless tasks in county cricket over recent years. With the ground suffering more floods than ever – and, crucially, more floods in Spring – his plans to inject more pace into surfaces have been thwarted time and time again.
New Road has been dogged by regular instances of flooding (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
The Championship surfaces in 2021 were, in general, desperately slow and lifeless and crated some stultifying cricket. In that context, it might not be considered such a surprise that Packwood has had enough.
The timing of his decision is intriguing, though. In leaving so close to the start of the season, Packwood has left the club's management in a tricky position. It may well have been an entirely intentional consequence.
On Thursday (April 7), the first day of the LV=Insurance Championship season, he tweeted to his Warwickshire counterpart, Gary Barwell, that it was "lovely to see how respected you and your team are by your club". In hindsight, it appears the words had an edge to them.
Worcestershire brought in consultants over the winter to help improve surfaces ahead of the season.
They had also utilised some hybrid surfaces in limited-overs cricket which produced excellent pitches.
As recently as April 4, Packwood tweeted pictures of the ongoing work on the ground and, on April 6, retweeted a club post asking for everyone to "come together" ahead of the season.
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.