A SCHEME to get more people involved in the sport of cricket will see new facilities set up at nine sites across Bradford.

Funding from the England Cricket Board will see non-turf cricket pitches set up at seven sites in the District, including parks and playing fields.

And practice facilities will be installed in a further two sites.

The new facilities will be based on Bradford Council owned sites, and the authority says they will give residents a greater opportunity to access free cricket facilities. People will not need to belong to a sports club to use the facilities.

Work is expected to begin on the first facilities this Autumn.

Under the plans, new cricket practice facilities will be built at Myra Shay Recreation Ground in Bradford and Marley Activity and Coaching Centre in Keighley.

Non-turf cricket pitches would be built at

• Avenue Road Recreation Ground at Bowling Park

• Highfield Recreation Ground in Keighley

• Horsfall Playing Fields

• Northcliffe Park in Shipley

• Peel Park

• Wibsey Park

• Cliffe Castle Park, Keighley

A planning application for the Myra Shay scheme - a three lane public open access practice net facility, was submitted earlier this Summer, and a decision on those plans is due imminently.

£1.8 million ‘urban cricket centre’ - just the second facility of its kind in the UK, to be developed at Bradford sports hall

And more recently an application for the facilities at Marley - a four lane public open access cricket practice net facility, was submitted. A decision on that application is expected next month.

The work will tie in with the English Cricket Board’s South Asian Action Plan, a scheme set up to get more from the Asian community playing the sport.

Bradford has been identified as a “core city” in the plan, and an application to create a £1.8m “urban cricket centre” at the Parkside Sports Centre is another strand to the ECB’s investment in the city.

When asked when work on the new cricket facilities would start, a Bradford Council spokesperson said: “We expect that work will begin on the facilities at Myra Shay and other sites in the District in the Autumn.

“The England and Wales Cricket Board has provided funding for the installation of the practice facility at Myra Shay and Marley Activities and Coaching Centre and a number of open access Non Turf Cricket wickets for public use to provide additional club, recreational and informal cricket opportunities across the District.

“All nine sites identified will provide both significant opportunities for free to access recreational cricket and will provide free and accessible focused practice and some additional APT match provision to support club sport across the district.”

Both Marley and Myra Shay have been identified as sites for future “community sports hubs.”