Adrian Morgan, assistant head groundsman at Lord’s, is the recipient of the ECB’s Achievements in Cricket Groundsmanship Award 2009, sponsored by Ransomes Jacobsen, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company.

Born in Griffithstown, near Pontypool in South Wales, he moved to Leicester in 1972 to work for Thorns Lighting. Looking for a new challenge in 1978, he saw an advertisement for “an interesting outdoor job” on the MCC grounstaff at Lord’s. He was interviewed by the then head groundsman, Jim Fairbrother along the lines of “when can you start?” In 1985 he was promoted to assistant head groundsman.

The presentation ceremony, held at the Weetwood Hall Hotel in Leeds, was co-hosted by the ECB’s Pitches Consultant Chris Wood and Head of Operations Alan Fordham. ICC match referee and former England captain, Mike Denness presented the awards and commendation certificates. The overall winner of the ECB Groundsman of the Year was Lancashire’s Matt Merchant, head groundsman at Old Trafford.