Bill Gordon earns pitch honour

Bill Gordon, the groundsman at The Oval, has won the Groundsman of the Year Award in both the four-day and one-day categories. Steve Birks from Trent Bridge was runner-up for four-day pitches and shared the same position with Philip Frost for his one-day surfaces.

Commendations went to Frost, Neil Godrich (Derby), David Measor (The Riverside) and Andy Whiteman (Grace Road) in the four-day pitch category, while Lawrence Gosling (Hove), Sean Williams (Bristol) and Steve Rouse (Edgbaston) were commended in the one-day category.

Richard Sula at The Parks took the award for UCCE pitches with Craig Thompson at Durham Racecourse named as runner-up. Micky Stewart and Christian Dunkerley were awarded the outgrounds prize for their work at Scarborough with Mark Wakefield from Kidderminster earning the runner-up award.

"We have seen an excellent overall standard of pitches in both four-day cricket and one-day cricket in 2007," said Alan Fordham, the ECB head of operations. "We are delighted to announce these awards which recognise head groundsmen who have prepared the best pitches this season, and we also give credit to all groundsmen for their work during what was a particularly difficult season with the weather.