Durant sightscreens - something suitable for every club

Every cricket club, even the smallest village, will have to provide sightscreens to ensure games can be played regularly.

They will range from small static ones to those which are far more modern and easy to move around – an important consideration as much for when bowlers switch their angles of attack as when it is time to store sightscreens away for the winter.

Drawing on their considerable experience of supplying clubs with sightscreens over the years, Durant Cricket have a wide range of options to choose from.

Indeed, the sightscreen range has evolved over the years depending on what clubs needs are.

The standard polypropylene sightscreens with a galvanised metal frame are 4.5m high they offer both a 4m wide and a 5m wide option. They do have overlaps, so if clubs want to put them together - which most clubs do these days - there is no gap in the middle.

Durant have tried to provide a range where if clubs want two at each end they are advised to buy 2M, but if they want a 5M they can, and the roller mesh sightscreen, which can be rolled up and down, is another option.

The lattes are removable, so at the end of every season, they can be taken out to avoid being blown over. Durant advise in windy areas even in the summer, when the wind gets a bit much, to take a few out so the wind can blow through.

This represents something of a catch-22 situation, as Cristian Durant, company founder explains.

"I don't think you'll ever get to the scenario where you can build something light enough that you can move, and the wind won't blow it over, which is why we've gone down this route," he says.

"We also sell extras or spare lattes so if they do get damaged we can just send another pack of lattes out.

"And with the frame being galvanised, you've got a long-standing product there that's going to last a good 10 to 12 years as long as you look after it."

The Durant range of sightscreens are sat on wheels to enable ease of movement, and these are 16-inch steel-centred rubber crumb wheels with a greasing point to enable clubs to keep them lubricated and moving.

Tips on how to do this are available on the website.

"We think we have a nice balance between something that is easy to move and something is substantial and does a good job," Durant says.

Durant feels that the three products cover all eventualities and there are options available whatever your club’s needs might be.

"We think we've hit the market with the three products that cover all eventualities really.

"Depending on what people want we think we've hit the price points, cost-effective wise there isn't much below us in price but also with quality with the wheels, the galvanised frame, the heavy duty base, the full bracing bars at the back and also they're hinged, so if you do take them down you can literally just push them up."

Some of the unique features of these sightscreens are the wheels, bracing bars, and heavy duty frame but the team are always looking for ways to improve the offering and develop new ideas.

But for Durant, wheels are hugely important and he explains that they’ve made other changes over the years to make sure their products remain an attractive option for clubs.

"Wheels are a big thing, that's always something you have to look at, as if they don't work your sightscreen isn't going to work.

"We also looked at the weight of the base, our base was a lot heavier than some of our competitors.

"We've also looked at the length of the bracing bar, that wants to get right up to the top or you will find the wind will in time bend the up rights, and just generally trying to look for that little bit more quality."

© Cricket World 2016