The Altona Sports Cricket Club has found itself on a sticky wicket.
The club, based at PA Burns Reserve, plays in the Western Suburbs Churches and Community Cricket Association which uses synthetic pitches.
However, to play in a higher standard competition and, more importantly, hang onto to its junior players, the club wants to move to a competition and a ground with turf wickets.
“We started a junior program three years ago and we’ve found we’ve lost a lot of talented juniors to turf clubs and we’re pretty passionate about our junior program,” said Altona Sports Cricket Club vice-president Tom Harrison.
Most club competitions and all elite junior and senior cricket is played on turf and Harrison said this was why Altona Sports juniors who wanted to develop their skills and play at a higher level, had to leave.
But while the club wants to move to a ground with turf wickets, finding one has proven difficult.
“There’s just no turf grounds around that we could use or that’s what we’ve been told,” said Harrison of discussions the club has had on the matter with Hobsons Bay council.
Converting the pitch at PA Burns Reserve from synthetic to turf has also been ruled out, as the competition Altona Sports want to move to, the VTCA, have said the ground is too small.
Harrison said the club would continue to work with council on finding a new home, saying there were a number of grounds nearby that didn’t appear to be fully occupied.
A council spokesperson said grounds were allocated in order to maximise use and participation across a variety of sports and that officers had met with Altona Sports Cricket Club to discuss the issue and would continue to do so.
Cade Lucas
