IT hardly looks the “green swathe” that poetically inclined cricket writers wax lyrical about, but the work carried out on Grappenhall Cricket Club’s Broad Lane ground towards the end of the summer should offer hope that next season will be better than the one recently departed.
The club won a £38,000 grant from Sport England’s “Protecting Playing Fields” fund to enable it to replace the outfield which had deteriorated over a number of years due to disease and wear and tear.
It meant “Grappers” had to play their last four games away from home – which did not help their unsuccessful efforts to stay in the top flight of Cheshire cricket. Finishing bottom of the Vivio Cheshire County League premier division, with just two victories all summer, they were duly relegated to division one.
But by next spring the new grass will have grown and, with improved drainage as well, the stage will hopefully be set for a revival and the club’s senior and junior teams will be able to play on a top quality surface.
