Picking at the seams: Romanticism returns to Valentine's Park

AROUND THE GROUNDS No 1: Ilford

No county clings so steadfastly to the traditions of festival cricket as Essex, and although Ilford Week is no more - blame four-day cricket for that - there will still be an air of prosperous times past when Valentine's Park undergoes its annual transformation into a first- class venue this week.

The municipal park ground, where Essex take on neighbours Kent from Thursday onwards, has attracted various descriptions, not all flattering. Some call it "the south of England's biggest canine toilet"; others, somewhat more poetically, "an oasis of green in a metropolitan hinterland". Peter Edwards, the county's general manager, places himself firmly among its admirers. "It really is very attractive, especially when the azaleas and rhododendrons are out," he said.

It is a ground of traditions, too. First-class cricket was first staged there in 1923, when Essex met the West Indians. In more recent years, both John Lever and Graham Gooch played their first serious cricket there. Lever, who would regularly take hatfuls of wickets on his own patch, is now chairman of Ilford Cricket Club.

Upkeep is shared by the club and Redbridge Borough Council, although the county staff maintain the playing area - an upshoot of the 1989 debacle at Southend, when Essex were deducted 25 points because a club-prepared strip was deemed not up to standard. Wickets at Ilford have since been less sporting, although short boundaries enliven the entertainment, as does an outfield that not infrequently betrays evidence of its winter life as a hockey pitch.

Logistically, Ilford week is a minor nightmare, requiring almost everything bar the pavilion to be transported from Chelmsford. Capacity is nowadays less than half the 13,000 once admitted in 1949, but Essex still expect to entertain one of their best crowds of the summer.