Yorkshire County Cricket Club president Ray Illingworth has opened Bradford & Bingley's £160,000 outdoor nets.
The facility has enabled the club to improve cricket playing and coaching facilities by taking much of the coaching off the playing area.
The nets have five practice lanes, with each lane divided from adjacent lanes by longitudinal nets.
The inner dividing nets can be withdrawn to create a large playing area. This will be particularly useful for coaching junior cricket and for playing short games.
The ECB have contributed to the nets by means of a grant and loan, and further awards have been made by Biffa from landfill tax funds and Bradford Council through their B-active initiative.
YCB director Andrew Watson and contractors NottsSports were present at the opening, along with former Sports Minister, Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe, the MP for Shipley Philip Davies and JCT600 Bradford League president Keith Moss and chairman Graham Reid.
The guests were welcomed by the cricket club president Ian Morrall, who said: "A recent survey shows that fewer than one in ten school children play cricket and there are more than 5,000 school children in the Bingley area without a cricket field.
"If we can revive interest in the game in the Bingley area through this facility, we shall preserve cricket for future generations.
"We are grateful to the ECB for encouraging us in a time of recession."
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