As the dust settles, the luxury boxes are carted away and the last sparkler fizzles out, there remains a group every bit as deserving of MVP honours as the players at the Bermuda Smash Invitational.

They are the unsung heroes of the island’s top cricket events, the fuel that enables the collection of on-field stars who spectators come to see.

They arrive hours early and leave equally late, often without fanfare or passing concern.

It was Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar who said: “A good curator is worth his weight in gold and is the one who decides if it’s going to be a contest or a lottery.”

And curators are a rare and endangered species on Bermuda’s cricketing shores. The art is to breathe life into a pitch then orchestrate its perfectly timed demise over hours or days, whichever the format demands.

Grass grows, moisture meanders, clay cracks: they conduct this slow-motion symphony of decay so cricket can flourish.

That is why the assembled all-star BSI crew of Allan Douglas Sr, Calvin [Squala] Richardson, Reid Jones and Paul Carr were worth their weight in gold when torrential rain hit during the recent T20 tournament at North Field, National Sports Centre.

Anyone can mow a lawn but few can conjure a playable wicket when Mother Nature is determined to have centre stage to herself.

Even all-stars require a leader and that responsibility fell to Douglas, a sage with decades of practical experience in turf management since graduating from Penn State University. With aeons spent growing grass, analysing soil and rolling wickets under various conditions, the former Cup Match and international star knew the keys to producing high-quality play were patience and force in equal measure.

“We just have to work harder than the weather”, said Douglas on the Wednesday following the washout of Day Three on Tuesday.

“We play it by what Mother Nature presents and do whatever it takes to get it to where we want and need it to be.

“The guys are here. We just have to make sure everything’s in place, understand the circumstances, do what we have to do and go do it.

“The benefit that we have here at NSC is that management is willing to give us what we need to do the job properly and efficiently. It hasn’t always been that way, but with my nephew Steven now here as the facilities manager, we have the equipment and tools to create a first-class product.

“I think it was Ravi Shastri who once said, ‘Pitch curators are like chefs. Same ingredients every time but some can cook you a five-star meal and others burn the water’.”

To watch Douglas operate was to bear witness to a maestro at work, observing drainage patterns like other men saw fielding positions. A picture of calm when others panicked. Walking the perimeter, moving covers, density testing, telling the less experienced staff where water would sit in three hours, not where it was now.

His responsibility rested above the neck, whereas others took turns lifting and moving heavy objects.

While Douglas played chess with the elements, Jones and Carr provided much of the muscle and the memory.

As a youth, the former had been ordered by his father to go out to assist Somerset Cricket Club’s legendary groundskeeper Timmy Edwards in tending the grounds at the Cricket Lane institution. This, when playing sports, was his preferred alternative.

“My father used to send me against my desire, kicking and screaming, because I wanted to be playing cricket and swimming or having whatever summertime fun I could with my mates,” said Reid of the early years.

“He used to say, ‘You go help your cousin Timmy out and learn a trade’. So I would do as I was told, go up to Somerset Cricket Club and help my cousin Timmy Edwards. I never dreamt that one day I’d be the head groundsman at Somerset and be here preparing wickets for international competitions.”

Indeed, years of practice produced a love affair, while absorbing the teachings of other experienced heads, including Douglas, have facilitated Jones’ evolution into a master in his own right.

Early arrivals to BSI matches would have seen the former wicketkeeper/batsman operating the heavy roller when the clay was still soft, knowing exactly how many passes it would take to drive moisture down without killing the bounce. Too fast and the pitch might glaze. Too slow and it dies. Either way, the game would be compromised, something Jones would not allow.

He explained that there are marked differences in how pitches are prepared for Cup Match compared to T20.

“Cup Match cricket is played in an open format,” began Jones. “So we want to leave a little something in it for the bowlers.

“Twenty20 is more of a batsman’s game. People want to see high scores and a lot of runs scored. So it's more of a flatter track.

“The main difference between the two is that, for Cup Match, you might see a bit more green. A bit more grass on it. The wickets we’ve made here have less grass, cut a lot lower than you would probably find at Cup Match.”

Completing the quartet was Richardson, the all-rounder, able to fill in or take the lead if needed, with a resume beyond that of Reid and Carr but short of Douglas.

Comfortably in the twilight of his career after producing many a stage, whether league, Cup Match, or county, domestic and overseas, as an elder statesman Richardson could take a more leisurely approach, able to smile in the assurance that standards were being met.

“It’s been pretty easy for me because I’ve mainly just been here for game days,” said Richardson. “A lot of work was done prior to me getting here, with Reid, Dougie and Paul Carr doing most of the heavy lifting. They deserve the credit for all these records being set by the guys playing.

“But it’s been nice. It's always cool to come up here and work with these guys. Everybody knows what’s got to be done and just go ahead and do it.

“The rain has been a challenge this week, but trust me as we move into summer we’ll need more of it and be glad we got it. The key to dealing with the rain is having good covers that can hold up and the ones here have generally done the job.

“There has been one hill, which created a little problem [Friday] but by the time game time came at 11am we were ready to go.”

Still, there is little time to bask in the accomplishments of the past week, as Bermuda is set to soon play host to the Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Sub-regional Qualifier A later this month.