Our top tips for Cricket Equipment Maintenance

Your cricket equipment has worked hard for you throughout the season, and as winter creeps in and the season draws to an end we’re here to remind you that regular maintenance is crucial to ensuring your covers and equipment are ready to work hard again for next season. Often, maintenance tasks are small and not as time consuming as you might expect. Follow our top cricket equipment maintenance tips for the end of the season and show your equipment some attention to ensure longevity and quality performance.

1. Close down your cover tops & mobile covers

We’ll start with your mobile cricket covers. These can be a costly piece of kit. Something you will not wish to repurchase every few months. Follow our advice to keep you cover tops and mobile cricket covers in top condition.

The cover tops will need to be cleaned with a damp cloth or sponge and some soapy water. Leave the covers to dry completely after cleaning. Once the cover tops are clean and dry, we suggest they be removed from the framework and stored for the winter. You should aim to store your cover tops off the ground, to avoid any damage by vermin.

We can provide bags to protect your mobile cover tops whilst in storage.

For the frame work, all nuts and bolts should be checked and tightened monthly. The gutters should be cleaned and the swivel mechanism on the swivel castor and bearings on wheel axles lubricated.

2. Be savvy with your Sightscreens

A good sightscreen tends to be relatively lightweight so it is easily manoeuvrable. Whilst this is great and convenient in season, it does mean it is likely to be effected in windy weather. We can provide stabilising pegs to assist in securing your sightscreen in wind.

With the winter approaching we suggest you clean the sightscreen slats with a cloth and some warm soapy water. Then allow them to dry and remove the slats from the frame in order to avoid the wind catching the screen.

General maintenance advice for all year round would be to lubricate the bearings on wheel axles and check and tighten all nuts and bolts on a monthly basis.

3. Avoid cage rage

Looking after your mobile cage and avoiding getting cage rage next season is easy. We advise removing the netting and storing in-doors, above ground. If removing the netting is not an option we would strongly suggest lifting the net and securing it approximately 0.5 metres from the floor for the winter to protect the next from wildlife.

Again, we can provide storage bags for these nets upon request.

General maintenance for mobile cages includes checking and tightening all nuts and bolts on a monthly basis, lubricating the bearings on wheel axles and checking and replacing cable ties (if broken).

4. Keep your flat sheets fabulous

Finally, here are our top tips for keeping your flat sheets fabulous on and off season.

Whilst the cover is in use, be sure to use the grab handles to pull the sheet on and off, and ensure the cover is weighed down when deployed. Never walk across the sheet in studded soles.

When the flat sheet is ready to be stored, clear any debris from the cover and use a gentle soap solution and mop to clean the flat sheet. Always make sure the flat sheet is dry before placing it into storage to avoid damage.

Again, store the flat sheet above ground to protect it from vermin. We can provide storage bags for flat sheets on request.

Cricket Equipment Maintenance Guidelines

Our maintenance guidelines are easy to follow, won’t take a lot of time and will help you to get the most from your equipment. They are to generally to clean your kit with some gentle soap solution and cloth and sponge. Following this, allow the kit to dry full to prevent water damage in storage. If possible, pack the kit into a storage bag and store above ground to prevent damage from rodents. Any nuts and bolts within your kit should be checked over and tightened on a monthly basis.

If you have any further questions with regards to maintaining your kit or any other enquiries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Stuart Canvas Cricket team on 01952 814 525, who have many years’ experience in this industry and will be happy to talk with you.