Welcome back to the Sunday Service with Church and Vickers - we hope you’ve all had a peaceful cricketing week.

This week, Mark and Hector are joined by a legend of the 'turf management' game. 

Having begun his grounds career back in 1996, this man has worked his way up the ladder, and is now a Test match-level Head Groundsman - marshalling his charges at Chester-le-Street since 2015. A 'Professional Groundsman of the Year' award back in 2017 - an award covering groundswork across all sports - is a good indicator of his prestige within the industry.

Vic Demain joins the show to chat all about turf management - from producing Test match pitches, to just how much work goes on during the winter months. With more cricket than ever on the cards, Vic also looks ahead to a huge season with Durham CCC.

Also on the episode, Church and Vickers continue their new segment - “Whose cricket book is this?” - and Churchy delivers a sermon remembering a farcical end to a rather big semi final 34 years ago.

A huge thank you to Vic Demain for joining us on this week's show for an incredibly insightful conversation - we hope to catch up with him (time permitting!) this summer.

Another big thank you goes to our friends at Newbery Cricket, who have announced a SECRET SPECIAL prize for the months of February and March.

Genuinely, this is one that you won't want to miss out on - with hints of; classic, iconic, and 'seriously good' wrapped into one fantastic prize.

You can check out the premium equipment that Newbery has to offer here: https://newbery.co.uk/

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Make sure to get in touch, we want to hear your cricketing thoughts and guest suggestions:

Email us at: sundayservice.pod@yahoo.com

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Episode ID: 1000756571136

GUID: Buzzsprout-18884720

Release Date: 22/03/2026, 14:30:00