DEANE and Derby Cricket Club's facilities have been boosted an impressive new practice area, thanks to investment from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Sport England.

The Great Lever club have had two new netting areas installed for club members to hone their batting and bowling skills.

The two-bay synthetic practice facility – which had a total project cost of £42,441 – has been funded by a grant of £25,000 and a £12,000 interest-free loan.

The ECB’s grant aid programme aims to finance capital projects to improve facilities and to contribute to sustaining and increasing participation.

Deane and Derby, whose first team play in the North Manchester League, was identified by the Lancashire Cricket Board and the ECB as a club of strategic importance in the general development of the game.

The club's welfare officer, Ahmed Mulla, said: “We were delighted when we were awarded the grant because we urgently needed to upgrade our coaching facilities.

"The new synthetic practice area is top quality and to ECB specifications.

“The new facility will enable us to introduce a much more structured coaching programme through our ECB-qualified coaches and it will benefit all age groups.

"The pitches also provide a safe environment for the development of junior cricketers.

"In recent times the club has made good progress and we have achieved ECB Clubmark and Focus Club status.

"We have two senior league teams, under-19s, under-16s and under-10s teams and over 60 young cricketers.

"We have developed good contacts at the local schools and they have the opportunity to use our ground and facilities.

"We aim to increase the number of youngsters at the club, including girls.

“In midweek we stage Metro League matches – which are also played on Sundays – and we would welcome more teams to play in these popular midweek fixtures.

“We are extremely grateful to the ECB and to Sport England for their generous support as we could not afford such a top quality facility from our own resources.

"We consider ourselves fortunate to be able to go ahead with the project especially in view of the difficult economic climate in the last few years.

"We regard the grants as an investment in the cricket at the club for the future and there will also be long-term benefits for the local community.”

The nets areas are designed so one of them will specifically benefit the practice of fast bowling while the other is more designed to help hone the talents of spin bowlers.

They will be officially opened at the Chelsea Road club's fun day on Sunday, May 3.

ECB’s national funding and facilities manager, Bruce Cruse, said: “Investing in worthy projects like this one allows cricket clubs to make their facilities as welcoming and accessible as possible to members, players and spectators.

"Having high quality facilities accessible to the community will be key to sustaining participation in grassroots cricket over the coming years.”

Sport England’s director of property, Charles Johnston, said: “This new non-turf pitch will give plenty of cricket opportunity for more people to be coached and encouraged to play the game.

"We are confident that ECB’s strategic approach to investing in high quality sustainable facilities will help cricket to attract and retain many new participants and create more opportunities to develop sporting talent.”