Owzat! Calderdale cricket club wants new nets to help boost fortunes
Plus, Halifax Town secure place in first round of FA Cup with win at Southport
Hello and welcome to The Calderdale Lead.
I hope you’re all having a good weekend so far. The sunny weather may have felt a little unseasonal (in a good way!) for October but it certainly brought plenty of people out in Todmorden yesterday.
I spent time just having a walk around the town and the brilliant Centre Vale Park and it was great to be able to enjoy the outdoors and see the turning of the season without getting drenched!
It’s a sport-heavy edition today with news of a Calderdale cricket club wanting to improve facilities at their ground by installing new practice nets.
Lightcliffe CC have put in planning permission for the new three-lane practice facility.
Plus, Halifax Town secured a place in the first round proper of the FA Cup with a convincing 3-1 win at Southport yesterday. We’ve got reaction from gaffer Adam Lakeland below.
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So, on with the news…
New £50k practice nets will help Lightcliffe CC grow youth and senior sides
By John Greenwood
Lightcliffe Cricket Club is seeking planning permission to replace its existing two-lane practice nets with a £50,000-plus three-lane enclosed equivalent at the Till Carr Lane ground.
A supporting statement with the application – submitted to Calderdale Council this week – from cricket specialists total-play, describes the proposed system as “effectively an indoor practice area built outside.”
total-play (TP) was founded by David Bates, former head groundsman at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club and chairman of the First Class Grounds Committee, according to the report.
Increasing numbers of players at senior and junior level taking part in the sport which, coupled with the existing nets being at the end of their life, means the changes are needed and will help the players of all ages improve, it adds.
Specialists total-play (TP) have been invited by the club to provide build specifications for the improvements.
Total-play’s statement says: “They are an aspiring club and require a new off-field practice facility for the further development of junior and senior cricket sections.”
An England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) approved three-lane 35m enclosed facility will meet the demands of the club, “providing a safe, performance-led facility in which to hold warm-ups, coaching, drills, skills and net practice,” say the supporting papers.
Synthetic playing surface carpets and shock pads will be fitted atop a dynamic porous base developed by total-play.
Total-play’s base design will result in “high levels of performance being maintained despite continuous use”, say the papers.
More than a dozen clubs in the region – including in Bradford, Kirklees and Leeds – use total-play designed nets.
Retained and created habitat will result in a ten per cent biodiversity net gain as required and there will be no impact on any heritage settings, say other supporting statements.
Lakeland pleased as Shaymen book FA Cup place with comfortable win
By Andrew Greaves
A brace from Will Harris and a header from Josh Hmami were enough to book Halifax Town’s place in the first round proper of the FA Cup.
The Shaymen beat Southport 3-1 in an entertaining encounter on Merseyside and it was a performance that pleased boss Adam Lakeland.
And he was chuffed to avoid a potential banana skin again Southport, who play a division below Halifax.
Lakeland said: “We definitely deserved to win the game.
“First-half, it was just a proper cup tie wasn’t it? But I thought as soon as we had that two-goal advantage, we had control of the game and if anything, we probably should have scored another one and killed it off.
“It was always going to be a difficult game and a banana skin for us, and I’m just pleased we’e managed to get the win and progress.”
After a slow start to the season, Town have now won six on the bounce in all competitions.
And Lakeland said: “We look like we can create chances and score goals in every game, which is really important in games like this when you’re maybe not quite at your fluent best, but you’ve still got goals in you.
“Because if you haven’t, in games like that, you lose them.
“We’ve got good players, we do a lot of practice and repitition on the training ground, patterns we run through, players being in the right areas.
“The quality of the individuals we’ve got, and the confidence and belief we try and instil in them too, it’s probably a combination of all those factors.”
The draw for the first round proper of the FA Cup takes place at around 6.40pm on Monday and the number to look for is 61.
That’s it for this edition of The Calderdale Lead.
I’ll be back in your inbox on Wednesday with another edition.
Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for reading!
Andrew