Three Bay Cricket Net Area, Walsall Cricket Club, Walsall, West Midlands

This project is to replace the current cricket practice facility with a fully enclosed three lane practice net facility.

The aim of the project is to support high level senior cricket, develop the clubs offer to an ever-growing junior section, and allow the club to make high quality facilities available for the wider community. To do this the club needs to improve its cricket practice facilities and particularly the non turf nets.

The current net facility is:
• Unsafe (due to lots of large holes in nets that have been repaired over and over).
• A poor quality surface, with variable bounce after DIY repairs over the years making the nets less safe as well as making practice less productive.
• Visually very untidy after years of wear and repair.
• Lacking capacity. Only having a two lane facility is insufficient for the growing number of junior cricketers, meaning the club recently had to hire outdoor nets at a local school for Friday night coaching. This has not only been a significant cost, but also means the juniors are not all in the same place and training as a whole club on these evenings.
The plan is to replace this facility with a fully enclosed three lane facility. This new facility will address all the problems above and, being enclosed, will allow the facility to be well controlled and looked after, ensuring a quality system for many years.

The project will benefit the local area through:
• The improvement and management of an area that is every year-issue for the club and the environs.
• The improvement of a popular and well used local sports facility.
• The increased financial stability and sustainability of a local fully accessed facility.
• Other groups seeing the club being successful in securing a grant and applying for funding to improve their facilities.
• Increased safety for playing members of the club.
• Increased safety for members of the public and passers-by.