Working on Common Ground

Held in Hamilton, Bendigo, Shepparton, Traralgon, Mildura, Ballarat and Wodonga, the forums provided attendees with an opportunity to network, build relationships and ask questions.

The forums were attended by various Commonwealth Bank Bushrangers including Cameron White, batting coach David Hussey and head coach David Saker, legendary curator Les Burdett, local government representatives including the Mayor, members of the wider cricket community and Cricket Victoria staff.

The purpose of the Common Ground plan, which is a key pillar of Cricket Victoria’s new strategic plan, is to provide direction to facilities development in Victoria and articulate strategies for working together with all partners to deliver facilities that meet current and future needs.

By implementing a unified plan for cricket facilities development, Cricket Victoria aims to work together on common ground to ensure that cricket continues to strongly contribute to an active, healthy and inclusive life for all Victorians.

“Sport has the power to unite communities and brings together people from all walks of life,” Burdett said.

“It creates cohesion and hopefully the Common Ground plan can continue to fortify relationships built from sport.”

Each of the Common Ground forums also coincided with Cricket Victoria’s Diamonds in the Bush program.

Since 2003, the program has aimed at unearthing young talent across the state by conducting high performance coaching sessions.

“With increased resources this year it was great to be able to include a female component and re-introduce the coaching seminars to the program,” Cricket Victoria Education and Training Coordinator Neil Gray said.

“The talent on show from the girls in regional Victoria was exceptional and bodes well for us having two teams in the Women’s Big Bash League.

“The passion for the game was also evident amongst the coaches with the excellent numbers attending our seminars in the evening.

“I’d like to thank all of the Bushrangers, Spirit and ACA players and all my fellow High Performance coaches for their commitment and enthusiasm for the program and we look forward to making it even bigger and better next year.”