By Callum Ludwig
The Hoddles Creek Cricket Club has been successful in receiving an $18,000 grant from Yarra Ranges Council’s Capital Development Grants Program to upgrade their cricket nets ahead of the new season.
The total project is valued at $64,080, so the grant will cover over a quarter of the total cost.
Hoddles Creek Cricket Club President Luke Hetherington said it was really rewarding to receive the grant from the club members who put their time into applying.
“It feels really good, we haven’t done a lot of grant applications before but now having wrapped our head around it, it wasn’t too difficult of a process and for the benefit of the club, the time was well worth it,” he said.
“The upgrade is really important because our youngest players have moved to Friday nights in the last few years, and so had to be moved off the ground to the nets to practice their skills, but the surface was uneven and there was not enough room.”
The ‘Blasters’, young seven, eight or nine-year-old players, and the rest of the Hoddles Creek Cricket Club will soon have a new even surface, more area in the nets and a gravelled surface around the nets to create a safer playing area.
Mr Hetherington said this is essentially ‘phase two’ of the upgrade.
“A few years ago we got a third pitch put in and retractable netting, and now it will be a much better facility,” he said.
“It’s an old tennis court area, and there was a lot of maintenance that had to be done and the balls were getting chewed up so it will be great to have.”
Hoddles Creek’s 1st XI will be competing in the Ringwood District Cricket Association’s A Grade (David Beatty Shield) competition in the 2022/23 season, having finished third last season and being defeated by Coldstream’s 1st XI in a semi-final.
Mr Hetherington said he has glad there will be less hoops to jump through this year after the last two Covid-afflicted seasons.
“Last April we were awarded Best Community Club in Victoria and I’m sure there were a couple of recruits who came across maybe wanting to see what we do differently. I’m a cricket purist as well so I am looking forward to having a full, proper cricket season, even if I’m getting a bit older and it might be a bit of a shock to the system to field for 70 overs again,” he said.
“I’d like to thank all our members for their assistance over the last couple of years getting through and it’d be I’m very appreciative of all our coaches and members for putting the extra time into making it happen. It will be good to have things like arvo tea back in the rooms, it’s that stuff that cricket is all about.”
