SO FAREWELL (sort of) to Peter Marron, Lancashire's head groundsman, who has done more than many people realise to enhance the entertainment of cricket followers in his 30 years at Old Trafford. When Sir Allen Stanford reads this, he should be on the phone to Manchester straight away.

======STOP SUMMARY=====

The Stanford matches in Antigua this week have underlined the importance of proper pitches. Low and slow usually means dull cricket that cannot be rendered more attractive by glitz. A strip with bounce and pace is the ideal that Marron has achieved so often.

The late 1980s and early 1990s in my opinion were the best years at Old Trafford for sparkling cricket. The venerable ground -- and Marron by proxy -- will always be remembered for Shane Warne's 'ball of the century' on a fine pitch. The Laker 19-wicket achievement in 1956 was famous, but he was operating on rain-affected red marl, a clay embarrassingly helpful to off-spin when wet. In these days of covered pitches, the ECB should consider encouraging marl again rather than the various loams that form solid blocks, leaving the finger spinner as an endangered species.

Marron conjured up near-ideal strips by hard work, though the price was often 'root break' and the pitches would become tired and mild after a few seasons -- requiring another round of re-laying. The Oval has suffered similarly in London and the pitch has lost pace and reverted to featherbed status.

Marron, 53, has decided to go freelance and use his experience on a consultancy basis. He said: "Not many people can come to work each morning and honestly say they love their job, but I can. However, when you’ve been doing it for as long as I have, you get to a point when you need a new challenge and want to use your knowledge in a different capacity.

"Lancashire Country Cricket Club and Old Trafford is a massive part of who I am. I’ve had the best and the worst of times whilst working here, and over the years some work colleagues have become my closet friends. But there is a big wide world out there, and you just know when it’s time to pass over the reins and try something new."

Andy Atkinson left his Essex job and pursued a precarious freelance career when the South African authorities shipped him out to revitalise the tired squares on their circuit after the years of isolation and too much one-day cricket. The Newlands strip in Cape Town, especially, needed skill and experience.

Marron was awarded a benefit in 2006 and he leaves Lancashire's employment at the end of the year after working on the new drainage and outfield. The Jim Cumbes said: "Peter has been thinking about this for some time, and it’s something he and I have discussed at length over the past couple of months. He has been head groundsman here for 25 years, and there are things away from Old Trafford he would like to do, and felt if he didn’t do them now, he never would."

"To my mind, he has been the best groundsman in the country for years. And I know he doesn’t win the top awards, but they tend to go to those with the flattest pitches, not necessarily the best 'cricket' pitches. You just need to read the comments made by the England team and touring sides over recent years, and they are always full of praise for the pitches at Old Trafford."

Cumbes added: "Pete has just completed installing our new £600,000 start-of-the-art drainage system and outfield, and will be kept busy over the coming weeks overseeing the turfing and maintenance of this. It’s not the last we will see of him, as I fully expect him to be driving the re-orientation of the square when that takes place at the end of 2009, it’s just he won’t be here on a full-time basis."