Facility to Help Widen Access to the Game
CRICKET in South Staffordshire has been given a huge boost with the opening of a new cricket dome.Click to see the BBC Midlands Today feature here
The facility, at Sporting Khalsa in Willenhall, is just the third of its type in the country, with others already in operation in Bradford and Darwen. Offering three lanes of cricket, the facility will be operated by Sporting Khalsa FC, a Sikh charitable organisation which is expanding its community offer into cricket, having recently been awarded FA 3-Star Accreditation for its community sport offer. It serves a large ethnically diverse population in an economically underprivileged area, providing opportunities for people from all backgrounds to play the sport.
The opening of the facility also marks the official launch of the new £45m Building Belonging in Cricket Fund, which will use money from sales of The Hundred teams to invest between £50,000 and £1m into grassroots cricket projects across England and Wales. Projects will need to be focused on growing the game and benefit women and girls, disabled participants, people with lower incomes or ethnically diverse communities, as part of making cricket the most inclusive team sport.
Jason Britton, development director at Staffordshire Cricket said: “The new dome is an excellent facility and it will serve both the local and wider cricket communities where the demand for the game sometimes struggles to find capacity in traditional indoor spaces. “We are incredibly grateful to the ECB for the investment into Staffordshire and we look forward to working closely with the team at Sporting Khalsa to continue to grow access to the game.” The Sporting Khalsa dome features three full-length lanes and can also be used for match play, transforming into a flexible space for coaching, matches, and community events. The site was chosen to test the flexibility of working in a tight space in an urban environment. The club and Staffordshire Cricket have been key partners.
ECB chair Richard Thompson, who officially opened the facility, said: “Our goal is to make cricket the most inclusive team sport and our third new cricket dome will open up access to hundreds of thousands of people in the West Midlands. “We’ve already seen from Bradford and Darwen what a difference facilities like these can make, becoming community hubs and offering not just cricket but access to other activities as well. “I’m delighted that through the Building Belonging in Cricket Fund, which is now officially open for business, we’ll be able to invest £45m from the sales of The Hundred teams into more grassroots projects like this, breaking down more barriers and supporting communities which currently lack the facilities they need to play and enjoy all the good cricket can give them.”
Rajinder Gill, club chair of Sporting Khalsa added: “Our goal has always been to provide a multi-sport facility that serves as a beacon for the local and our wider community and the cricket dome is another fantastic addition to our site. “We would like to thank the ECB for the investment at Sporting Khalsa and we are excited to work in partnership with Staffordshire Cricket to fully utilise the facilities.”
Pic - Gary Griffiths
Vid - BBC Midlands Today
Posted on Thursday 1st January 1970, in Latest News
