Rick Carman hasn’t been enjoying the weather much this year.

And while it would be stretching it a bit to say that it’s knocked him for six, it’s fair to say that it has caused him almost as many problems as Trent Boult and Tim Southee caused England’s batsmen in the recent Test in Auckland.

You see Carman, as well as still turning out for Stroud 4ths at the age of 70, is also the club’s groundsman at their impressive Ryeford home, and the combination of rain and snow – the latter courtesy of the Beast from the East – has not done anything to help his preparations for the new campaign.

“The weather’s been awful,” he said when he spoke to The Local Answer this week. “The winter has been horrible and it’s been a real struggle this Spring.

“Normally we’d be on the pitch with the roller in early March but we’ve only started work on it in the past couple of days, it’s just been too wet.

“Last year it was really warm for this time of year and the wickets were really hard – they were like you’d expect them to be in August. This year it’s totally different.”

And while that may not be good news for either top-order batsmen or the quicker bowlers, there will be some players who will surely be rubbing their hands when Stroud’s West of England Gloucestershire Division campaign gets under way in May.

“You’d think the medium-pacers will enjoy the conditions,” added Carman, who is in his third season as the club’s groundsman.

Carman receives plenty of help from Terry Gardner but admits there is “still a bit of trial and error” when it comes to preparing the wickets.

“We’re hoping the wickets will be slightly better each year,” he said. “If the first team are at home we’d hope they’d get 230 or 240 from their 50 overs.

“It’s a good wicket – there’s a bit in it for the bowlers to exploit, particularly the seamers in the early part of the season, but there are runs to be made if you can bat.

“Batsmen make hundreds there… although not always from our team!”

Carman was a batsman back in the day and was good enough to play for Stroud’s 1st XI although he was never a regular.

Originally from Sevenoaks in Kent, he headed north and west to this part of the world some 40 years ago and was soon a familiar face at Stroud Cricket Club.

“When I first started playing Jack Russell was my co-captain on Sundays,” he said. “He was only 16 and was playing at England age group level as well. He shared the captaincy with Gavin Little, who is the brother of golf professional Stuart Little.”

So what was Jack Russell like to play for?

“He was very keen,” remembers Carman. “He used to run from one end to the other at the change of overs. He wanted to change ends very quickly to keep the pressure on the opposition.”

Former wicketkeeper Russell, now 54, went on to enjoy a stellar career with Gloucestershire and England, of course, and while Carman’s career with Stroud never reached those heights, it has still been pretty noteworthy – he has only just relinquished the captaincy of the 4ths after three or four years in charge.

And even though he won’t be calling the shots on the field this season he has every intention of playing a full part for the team.

“I bat and bowl a bit,” he said. “I bowl little away swingers.”

It sounds like Carman may be a useful man to have in your side, particularly in the early stages of the season, and he more than anyone knows how the pitches are likely to play, of course!