Hampshire CCC Hover Cover

Stuart Canvas has installed a new Hover Cover at The Ageas Bowl, the home of Hampshire CCC. The hover cover is a new edition to the 15,000 seater venue located on the outskirts of Southampton.

“We are extremely proud to install a Hover Cover at the Ageas Bowl, the ground provides world class playing facilities for both County and International games. The addition of a Hover Cover will provide the Head Groundsman and his staff with a leading solution to pitch maintenance. Which will bring value to the club during this year’s Cricket Wold Cup and beyond.” Edward Stoddart Chief Executive at Stuart Canvas Group.

The Hover Cover is an innovative solution to pitch covering that has revolutionised the way that major cricket ground around the world protect their pitches. The Hover Cover uses the same principle as a hovercraft to float across a cricket pitch into place. This allows the cover to be easily moved in any direction with minimum effort. This unique design eliminates the risk of damage to the playing surface made from transporting traditional heavy covers into place.

The Hover Cover also reduces the time a square can be completely protected from the elements, it can be deployed within three minutes. Traditionally when a cricket game is paused due to rain it would require a large amount of manpower to deploy large test sheet to protect the square. The Hover Cover allows for square covers and inflatable tubes to be carried on the side of the Hover Cover which then can be easily and quickly deployed. Air circulation can also be used to speed up the drying process.

The Hover Cover was originally developed in 1998 by Stuart Canvas and its design has been refined to become even more efficient. Each Hover Cover is tailor-made to each cricket grounds own requirement, dimensions are adjustable dependent on the cricket pitch. The average dimensions are 80ft-105ft long and 15ft wide.

Stuart Canvas Cricket can provide cricket clubs both large and small with a wide range of cricket ground equipment, including flat sheet covers in a variety of sizes and materials, mobile cover, sightscreen, batting cages, electric scoreboards and indoor practice netting facilities.