Tamworth's cricketers are now more flush for top-level training facilities.
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The new three lane net facility at the Riverside 3 fields was officially opened on Saturday, completing a $177,050 project that also incorporated the refurbishment of existing nets at Riverside 1 and 2.
The project was jointly funded by the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 Legacy Fund ($68, 500), Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program ($48,000), the Australian Cricket Infrastructure Fund ($40,00) and the local cricket community with the Tamworth District Cricket Association ($9,590), Tamworth Junior Cricket Association ($8220), Tamworth Veterans Cricket Association ($1370) and Tamworth Women's Cricket Association ($1370) all chipping in, and managed by Tamworth Regional Council.
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Speaking at Saturday's opening, deputy mayor Phil Betts said the facilities would be a drawcard for not only the Tamworth community but the regional community and would "grow cricket", and congratulated the cricket community on all the work they have done.
"It's really an example of collaboration between the federal, state and local government, but more importantly the cricketting community. [They] have done an enormous amount of leg-work to get this facility, which is a state-of-the art training facility that has opportunities that are going to be far-reaching for the future," he said.
It's a long way, as he recalled, from the "rabbit netting around a few pine posts" that served as the cricket nets back in his primary cricket days.
"They had holes in them everywhere and you were always chasing them (balls) down the river," he reflected.
Similar to those, the new nets have a few novel features including mid-pitch gates, which, Tamworth juniors president Damian Henry said will enable them to do things like one-on-one training and throw-downs.
He said the addition of a another three wickets for training will have a huge benefit for the players.
"There's plenty of them now so we don't have to beg, borrow and steal," he joked.
It means too that teams "can all basically train at once".
"Any day we can have everyone training at once as such," he said.
"[And] We can train basically 12 months of the year."
The opening of the new nets coincided with the start of the local season for both junior and senior players, well most anyway.
First and second grade was called off but third and fourth grade went ahead as did the Junior Blasters, Master Blasters, and primary and secondary competition games.
