PITCH ADVISORY SERVICE

Sustainable cricket in Luton

Above: Girls are one of the project’s target groups via the Lord’s Taverners Wicketz programme Inset: Phil Jeggo inspects a grass pitch

A non-turf pitch project is addressing excessive grass pitch use to help grow cricket-playing opportunities. Here’s an update on its progress

PHIL JEGGO,GMA REGIONAL PITCH ADVISOR, CRICKET SOUTH

The outcome of multiagency work in Luton – including the Playing Pitch Strategy 2014, Luton Borough Council’s Vision for Cricket 2018–2020 and the subsequent GMA-led Pitch Inspection Report 2018 – highlighted the need for capital investment and pitch advisory support in the Luton area to promote cricket facility development.

Cricket East, Luton Borough Council and Team Beds and Luton applied for ECB funding for the delivery of a non-turf pitch (NTP) programme in the town. Since then, seven pitches and two outdoor net practice facilities have been installed at cricket sites, alongside eight mobile batting cages.

The NTP project was set up to address the excessive grass pitch use to help grow the game in the Luton area, which included the use of NTPs for midweek games and Hatters League cricket. The project has also been instrumental in developing the region’s youth leagues and allows increased access to informal play opportunities.

BAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT

Key target groups are women and girls, people from South Asian communities and lapsed players. For example, the Lord’s Taverners Wicketz Programme, delivered in partnership with Cricket East, has set up year-round community-based Wicketz hubs in Luton that give

To ensure the sustainability of the programme, the clubs, individuals, leagues, ECB and Borough Council are working together to ensure that these key cricket facilities are reestablished and improved.

For example, a deepaeration pitch programme is helping to correct issues found in two of the cricket squares assessed, and this practice is set to continue and extend across all pitches this year.

ALLIED FRONT

We are also looking at ways in which the local cricket community, alongside Cricket East and Luton Borough Council, can work together for decision-making and accountability purposes, and to increase investment through donations, grants and asset transfers.

Ongoing training and access to adequate equipment will also help provide the knowledge and skills to help raise pitch standards.

disadvantaged children aged eight to 15 an opportunity to play cricket to improve their health and wellbeing.

During 2018, I visited and assessed 13 grounds and carried out subsequent revisits in 2019 and 2021 to monitor cricket squares’ playing performance. My aim was to identify problems that existed across cricket square sites that might benefit from an NTP and also to engage with the local cricketing community.

Volunteers from the two main leagues and council staff were subsequently offered GMA training and the plan was implemented by programme partners.

Our key challenges were working within the limits of local authority finance and manpower, understanding the cricketplaying demographic needs in the area, the unofficial use of NTPs that could lead to vandalism, and project delays due to COVID-19.