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The Brumbrella was a large pitch covering used at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham, England from 1981 to 2001.〔''Cricket: Spectators conned by embarrassing lack of cover'', Jack Bannister, Birmingham Post, 9 July 2001〕 Its name is a portmanteau word derived from "Brum"—a nickname for Birmingham, reflecting its location—and "umbrella", reflecting its function in protecting the pitch from rain. The Brumbrella was praised and criticised - its speed of deployment helped groundstaff protect the pitch quickly, but as a flat protector, it was prone to "sweating". It was deemed to have contributed to the Edgbaston pitch's deterioration, and its demise was hastened by legislation against flat covers. It was briefly replaced by "Son of Brumbrella", but today the groundstaff rely on manpower to manoeuvre the covers onto the Edgbaston pitch. ==Description== The Brumbrella comprised a flat rainproof covering which was mechanically unrolled across the playing surface to protect the pitch and most of the outfield from rain. The motorised roller was intended to allow the cover to be rapidly deployed in bad weather, and then removed when the weather improved, so play could continue as quickly as possible, but this was not always achieved: The original mechanism, a large section of North Sea oil pipeline wrapped with a tarpaulin and weighing some 6 tons, was installed in the winter of 1980 having been designed by Terry Rutter of Sports Ground Consultants. The £43,380 cost was met by the Warwickshire County Cricket Club Supporters' Association.〔''Cricket: Brumbrella lends county shelter'', Birmingham Post, 21 February 2001〕 It was first used during a heavy rain shower in England's second One-day International against Australia on 6 June 1981.When the surface water had been removed by the roller wrapped cover, Umpire Dickie Bird met cover designer Terry Rutter on the pitch and said "let's get them back on shall we"?〔 It was prone to malfunction once the cover fabric had been changed, notably suffering damage on the first day of the 1990 Edgbaston Test match, which prevented its use for the duration of the five day match.〔http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/153149.html〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Brumbrella」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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