Ginn's tonic for Tassie's winter chill

Cricket Tasmania is continuing its quiet revolution in Hobart, this time via the installation of a marquee to cover new practice wickets at Hobart's Blundstone Arena, designed to provide better training conditions for players during the freezing winter months.

After an impressive on-field turnaround last summer in which the Tigers reached the Sheffield Shield final and the Hurricanes the decider of the KFC Big Bash, off-field moves are being made to ensure results continue to improve.

"It's 45 metres long and 25 metres wide," general manager of high performance, Drew Ginn, told cricket.com.au of the new marquee, which was installed this week.

"The netting will go in today or early next week, and once that's complete, Marcus (Pamplin, head curator) and all our curators have a plan that the turf will be ready in a week or so, so it's bloody exciting.

"We'll have it set up so there's nine lanes, and we'll have three nets going all the time basically."

As well as protecting the players from rain and cold weather, the marquee is effectively designed as a hothouse to ensure temperatures stay high enough to continue grass growth. In finer weather, the white curtains of the marquee can be rolled up to better allow air and sun in, while the roof is clear to ensure as much natural light as possible infiltrates the set-up.

While cricket clubs in England and New Zealand are actively utilising the marquees, it is a first for a state in Australia, and Ginn and CEO Nick Cummins spoke with Tigers legend Michael Di Venuto prior to installation to gauge its benefits at Surrey, where the former Australia rep is head coach.

"Our Under-19s coach Shannon Tubb had mentioned this idea five or six years ago, and it was laughed at by certain leaders who thought it was a crazy idea," Ginn said.

"We feel like we've got a good situation with it. The area is pretty protected from wind so it means we can keep the sides up, which keeps the soil aerated.

"They've had some complications in the UK when they've had to keep the sides down all the time to protect from severe weather and they've had issues with condensation, and we're yet to know what that might be like here, but we're trying to mitigate against all that."

Ginn, a former Olympic gold medal winning rower, began at Cricket Tasmania in June 2017 in a newly-created role that was established following a wide-ranging review, led by former Australia captain Mike Hussey, after several seasons of disappointing results.

The winds of change have blown swiftly through the organisation since, and when head coach Adam Griffith approached Ginn and others to revisit the marquee idea, they were receptive, with one disclaimer – he needed to consider the cost.

"So he decided not to take the team on the Maroochydore pre-season tour," explained Ginn, "which basically allowed us to pay for it."

The initiatives are continuing on the Apple Isle, with hydronic heating under the practice square the next step in their redevelopment of facilities.

"It's basically the same thing used in concrete slabs in some houses over in Europe," Ginn said. "It's not a big thing in Australia but we've spoken to some people down here in Tassie, and Marcus, our curator, has got great advice and done up a plan that we think we can do it cost-effectively.

"If it works at the Beach Street end we'll do it at the front wicket on Derwent Street as well, and eventually we'll go centre wicket as well."