Keith Ellerton's dream is for the Allansford Cricket Club's six new turf wickets to be the best in the region.
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The club president has been planning an overhaul of JF McLean Oval for the last two years - a $45,000 project which began in earnest a month ago and will be completed on Thursday.
Up to the end of the 2018-19 Warrnambool and District Cricket Association season, Allansford's ground had four turf wickets.
But these, Ellerton explained, were "basin-shaped", meaning any time it rained he and his wife, Leonie, would have to spend hours with buckets and ice cream containers scooping water out.
A local contractor was employed to rip up the soil and replace the existing material with 105 cubic metres of black clay sourced from a neighbouring farm.
Ellerton and a handful of other volunteers then laid 450 square metres of Santa Ana Couch grass over the top of the new base, which has a rise in the middle, allowing water sitting on covers to flow off with ease.
"If we're going to become a force again in the cricket association, we need a great wicket," Ellerton said.
"And it's going to make life a hell of a lot easier as well."
But the job isn't done yet.
Ellerton said the wicket - out of action until the first week of October - would require a further 100 hours of volunteering to fully roll and mow the surface, water it, and encourage root growth.
"It's not something you can just turn up and use," he said.
"You can't underestimate the work of volunteers."
Ellerton, who has been with Allansford since 1975, winning a division two WDCA flag in 1979, said he was proud of JF McLean Oval.
He said the club received glowing comments from passers-by about its white picket fence, with former Australian test cricketer Ray Bright once driving in for a proper look on his way past.
"It's an idyllic setting and the fence really makes it stand out," he said.
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