By Richard Edwards
13 August 2024
A game of
cricket is generally only as good as the playing surface it takes place on. And
if there’s no wicket? Well, there’s no game in the first place.
Which is why
the ECB’s recently announced Grass Pitch Improvement Fund – backed by Sport
England and the National Lottery and totalling £5m over three years – should be
applauded.
The fund has
been set-up with the aim of tackling inequality – and provide money for the
improvement of unsafe or inadequate pitches in order to support the growth of
women’s and girl’s cricket, cricket in diverse communities, disability cricket
and cricket in lower socio-economic areas.
As many as
250 clubs and projects will benefit from the fund over the next 12 months, and
the fund is timely, given that the pressure on pitches and facilities in the
recreational game is higher than at any time in a generation.
In many ways
cricket has become a victim of its own success, with participation levels
rising, particularly in women’s and girl’s cricket, and facilities provision
struggling to keep pace. These trends are also taking place against a backdrop
of stretched public finances, and the maintenance of existing local authority
grounds tumbling down priority lists.
“This is
really driven by trying to tackle inequality and give access to good pitches,”
says Dr Iain James, Head of Facilities Services at the ECB, who has been
charged with overseeing the project. “The ECB holds the ambition of being the
most inclusive game in England and Wales. It’s targeted at these four groups.
It’s not necessarily for every club, it’s more about how we support those areas
of the game that really need it.”
The hope
will also be that it helps to bring fresh life to ex-local authority cricket
grounds that were once thriving community hubs and home to countless cricket
clubs, not just at weekends, but throughout summer evenings as well.
“I call them
phoenix grounds,” says James. “The grounds that have been let go by local
authorities and fallen into disrepair. There might be one or two out there –
potentially more – that we can bring back into play and help with the capacity
challenges in and around communities where demand exceeds supply.”
There are
plenty of clubs that can relate to that, particularly below first and second
team level, where sides aren’t just competing for league points, but for an
ever-decreasing number of pitches.
The chairman
of one pre-eminent club in the midlands, recently told me that his third team
were currently travelling over 50 miles on a Saturday to play at a ‘local’
grammar school in the absence of a ground that complied with the league’s
stipulations nearby.
For a
well-established club with sufficiently deep pockets to hire a ground on a
weekly basis this is an inconvenience rather than anything more dramatic. For
clubs without a permanent home, though, this is a scenario which could end in
the club ceasing to exist.
“Local
authorities obviously have obligations that they need to meet, and the
provision of sports’ pitches isn’t generally one of those,” says James. “That
obviously puts funding under pressure. Where there is high demand, they
maintain supply but it is a challenge. This fund is looking at where we can
help in these situations. This fund certainly helps to deal with some of the
consequences of under-investment.
So what
areas are covered by the fund?
It’s
not money that pays for pitch maintenance, year-on-year, says James.
But it’s for projects that lead to improvements in pitches – things like
resurfacing the top of the square to improve consistency of bounce or providing
mowers or rollers where they can make a difference.”
It will also
cover greater investment in hybrid pitches, which can also help to deal with
capacity issues by enabling clubs to play more matches on a single wicket over
the course of a season.
Projects in
Redbridge, in London, and Bradford are currently underway, with clubs in those
two areas set to early beneficiaries. Other projects will follow, with counties
having been provided with the funds to send their pitch advisors to potential
sites. They can then assess the work that needs to be carried out.
It’s a
holistic approach and one which could deliver a sizeable fillip to the sport up
and down the country.
How to apply