Lord’s is mourning the passing of Mick Hunt, the ground’s head groundsman for 49 years and an unmistakable presence behind the scenes. Hunt joined the staff in December 1969, took over from Jim Fairbrother in 1985, and finally put the heavy roller away in 2018, leaving a record that includes 81 Test pitches, more than 80 men’s and women’s limited-overs games and eight World Cup finals spread across formats.
“In the long and rich history of this wonderful ground it is hard to believe that anybody has done more to maintain its beauty than Mick Hunt,” wrote Angus Fraser, the former England and Middlesex seamer who now works at Lord’s. “To say that Mick was a character would be an understatement. He was an absolute legend. He cared deeply for the turf he looked after for 49 years, and did his utmost to ensure it looked and played immaculately, no matter the importance of the game that was taking place.”
Hunt’s love affair with the famous slope was practical, not sentimental. He rose before dawn, walked the square, and—by his own admission—measured success by “how little anyone mentions the pitch”. That low-key approach faced its sternest test in 2012, when the Olympic archery competition left the outfield pock-marked and the square hidden under protective sheeting. England’s Test against South Africa began only 12 days after the closing ceremony. Hunt’s team re-laid roughly a third of the outfield, rebuilt the central strip and, almost against the clock, produced a surface graded “very good” by the match referee. South Africa won by 51 runs; Hunt collected the ICC’s groundsman-of-the-year award soon after.
Colleagues recall smaller dramas too: covers blowing off in a summer squall, rogue foxes carving furrows at mid-on, and the moment Joe Root marked Hunt’s final Test in 2018 by handing him a signed bat on the pavilion steps. Those memories sit alongside quiet winter mornings when Hunt, alone with his mower, chased the straightest of lines.
He never courted attention, yet he became part of the Lord’s experience—the gentle hum of machinery during a net session, the knowing nod to members who wondered whether the surface might crack late on day four. Without fuss, he preserved the ground’s reputation for balance: enough grass for the seamers, a true pace for the batters, and, in August, just a whiff of turn.
Middlesex CCC, who play their home fixtures at Lord’s, have lowered flags and will wear black armbands in their next match. Players and supporters have flooded social media with memories—many stressing how Hunt offered a quiet word of advice about stride length, footholds or, simply, the weather.
Hunt once told visiting schoolchildren that groundsmanship “isn’t magic, it’s patience”. It is a craft that, over half a century, he turned into understated art. Lord’s now faces the difficult task of preparing a pitch without the man who knew every blade.
Funeral arrangements will be announced by his family in due course. For now, the ground he tended stands as his lasting tribute.
