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Former Lord’s groundsman Mick Hunt, who served for 49 years, has passed away. Hunt’s profession included 81 Tests and eight World Cup finals.
Mick Hunt has passed away (Picture credit: AFP)
Former Lord’s groundsman Mick Hunt, who served the bottom for a whopping 49 years, has passed away.
Hunt joined the Lord’s groundstaff in December 1969 and was appointed head groundsman in 1985 after the retirement of Jim Fairbrother.
Hunt stepped down from the role in 2018, bringing to an in depth a profession that spanned 81 Tests, over 80 men’s and girls’s limited-overs games, including eight World Cup finals across formats and countless county matches for Middlesex.
Angus Fraser, the previous England and Middlesex pacer whose association with Lord’s Cricket Ground spans five many years, led the tributes to Hunt on the club website.
“Within the long and wealthy history of this glorious ground, it is difficult to imagine that anybody has done more to take care of its beauty than Mick Hunt. To say that Mick was a personality can be an understatement,” Fraser said.
“He was an absolute legend. He cared deeply for the turf he sorted for 49 years, and did his utmost to make sure it looked and played immaculately, regardless of the importance of the sport that was happening,” Fraser added.
Hunt’s final Test track got here during India’s tour in August 2018, though his hardest project arrived six years earlier after the 2012 Summer Olympics, when Lord’s Cricket Ground hosted the archery competition and needed to be restored for international cricket.
England’s Test against South Africa was staged just 12 days after the event concluded and with the venue having been under the control of the IOC, Hunt had little time to organize the track.
The duty was made harder by the necessity to returf almost a 3rd of the outfield after temporary stands erected on either side of the central strip were dismantled.
South Africa went on to win an exciting Test by 51 runs, with the track rated ‘superb’ by the match referee. In recognition of the hassle, Hunt was named the world’s groundsman of the yr.
March 08, 2026, 11:45 IST
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