Four Victorian clubs receive a boost

Craigieburn Cricket Club, in partnership with Hume City Council, will receive an upgrade to their playing field and the installation of a new turf wicket table at Victor Foster Reserve, which will see more men, women and junior teams gain access to turf cricket.

East Malvern Tooronga Cricket Club, with the support of the City of Stonnington, will see Dunlop Pavilion increase its capacity to cope with the growth of their junior girls, MILO in2CRICKET and MILO T20Blast programs.

Mildura Settlers Cricket Club will work with Mildura Senior College to upgrade their turf wicket and construct much needed shading alongside the school cricket ground.

Kingston City Council has led a significant pavilion redevelopment project at Gerry Green Reserve to ensure that the main pavilion can meet the growing user needs of Parkdale Cricket Club. The growth of junior girls’ cricket and girls’ football in the region has driven the needs for the pavilion upgrade, and has attracted funding from the Victorian Government.

The four projects are to be funded in partnership between Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria, with successful applicants receiving from $10,000 – $40,000 to assist with the construction and refurbishment of practice facilities, grounds and cricket pitches, and change room facilities. Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria also partner with the Victorian Government to fund community facility projects through the Community Sports Infrastructure Fund.

Last season there were 454,657 club and community cricket participants across the country, which was a 9.5% increase on the previous season.

Cricket Australia Executive General Manager, Game & Market Development Andrew Ingleton said that the growing participation meant improved facilities was essential.

“If you combine this with a total cricket participation across Australia of more than 1.3 million people, providing quality facilities to our participants and volunteers is now more important than ever,” Ingleton said.

“With the sharp rise in women and girls cricket leagues around the country, this funding is not just about improving facilities but also creating more inclusive clubs so that young girls can play cricket in safe, fun and friendly environments.”

In 2016/17, Australian Cricket will invest more than $1.5 million through the National Community Facility Funding Scheme into improving community cricket facilities across the country.

Cricket Victoria CEO Tony Dodemaide said:

“Cricket would like to acknowledge the ongoing investment from Local and State Governments to improve cricket facilities, which is complemented by our National Community Facility Funding Scheme.”