Wallan District Cricket Club can now ramp up their training and development of players, with new wickets in the cricket nets at their home ground at Greenhill Reserve.
Minister for Community Sport Ros Spence was in Wallan earlier this month for the official opening of the Greenhill Reserve Cricket Net Renewal and Expansion.
The project included construction of a new five-lane synthetic cricket net facility with one lane available for public use when not in use by the cricket club.
It replaces the existing four lane facility, which only provided for use by the club.
Greenhill Reserve is heavily used throughout the year by community sporting groups and hosts a range of activities and events including league football and cricket finals.
The Wallan District Cricket Club is the largest cricket club in Mitchell Shire and has been experiencing consistent membership growth.
Wallan District Cricket Club president Sam Mahony said the club had the highest number of junior male and female players in the shire, including the most female teams.
Due to the quality, condition and availability of the old cricket training nets, the club was struggling to meet the needs of their growing membership base.
“This redevelopment will make a huge difference to our club and will help us cater for our expanding women’s and girl’s programs,” he said.
The new nets are enclosed and have retractable internal netting that promote flexibility for training, including by other sports.
The new synthetic surface, which includes run-ups and pitches, will greatly improve on the quality of the old surface.
The $433,174 project received $100,000 through Sport and Recreation Victoria’s Community Cricket Program, $50,000 through Cricket Australia’s Australian Cricket Infrastructure Fund and $283,174 from Mitchell Shire Council.
Mitchell Shire Mayor Bill Chisholm said Mitchell Shire’s strong growth continued to place demands on sporting reserves, and projects that could enhance useability and increase access were vital.
“During the past two years, Council has worked closely with the Victorian Government to deliver significant improvements to facilities at Greenhill Reserve,” he said.
“There have been upgrades to provide competition standard lighting at both the main oval and the two netball courts, and the main oval changerooms have been completely renewed and upgraded to provide more inclusive and female friendly facilities for players, umpires and spectators.”
Cr Chisholm thanked the State Government, Wallan District Cricket Club and the Greenhill Reserve Committee of Management, who worked cooperatively with council to make the project possible.
“Council has identified the future Greenhill Recreation Precinct as a priority project for the upcoming 2022 State Election and are seeking an investment from the State Government to bring this sporting, recreational, and environmental precinct one step closer to being realised,” he said.
Community Sport Minister Ros Spence said the new nets would help support more people in Melbourne’s north reach their aspirations.
“With a big summer of cricket coming up, local community cricket clubs like Wallan District now have more opportunities to hit sixes and take wickets,” she said.
Matches in the Gisborne District and Seymour District cricket associations were cancelled on the weekend due to wet weather and flooding across the region.
