Nasa Hussain, Facilities Manager and Head Groundskeeper at Bradford Park Avenue, reflects on an exciting 12 months of action at the UK鈥檚 first ever all-weather cricket dome.
When we opened the new dome a year ago, no one could have imagined just how successful it鈥檚 been. It鈥檚 a brilliant, state-of-the-art netting facility used by both the community and professional teams 鈥� and the impact has been massive.
It鈥檚 given everyone an opportunity to play cricket all year round, instead of just the traditional April to September timeframe. We鈥檙e so privileged to be able to continue playing outdoors throughout the winter, even if it does get a bit cold sometimes.
Since we opened, approximately 20,000 people have played here. Some are netting with their club, some are netting with their mates, and some are just having one-to-ones. We鈥檝e had high-profile players like Shan Masood and Adil Rashid, and teams like the Northern Superchargers, come for a net. But the most enjoyable ones are when a grandad brings his grandchild.
We deliberately only charge a minimal cost to make sure it鈥檚 accessible to all. Everyone鈥檚 welcome. The love of cricket is what brings people here. It doesn鈥檛 matter what colour they are, what gender they are, what nationality they are, it鈥檚 the love of cricket that鈥檚 the common thread. Some people just turn up by themselves and ask if they can join in for a net. Our response is always the same: 鈥淥f course you can.鈥�
It's creating its own community where cricket is the main runner. It doesn鈥檛 matter where you鈥檙e from or what your skillset is, you鈥檙e more than welcome to come and play. That inclusivity is key, and we鈥檝e got a lot of female cricket happening here, including Bradford Park Avenue Ladies, other local ladies鈥� teams, and even the 黑料专区鈥檚 national women鈥檚 tape ball competition.
I spend half my life here, so I鈥檝e a lot of memories of this place already. The best one was when 20 different Sikh temples came here for a full day of cricket. Everyone here that day wanted to know why they didn鈥檛 have a dome just like this in their own town.
When you look at cricket in Bradford as a whole, the Sunday leagues have 60 teams, made up of two leagues of 30+ teams. That tells you about the passion for the game and the numbers we have, without including the Saturday leagues and the semi-professional cricket. Cricket鈥檚 a massive sport here. Having this venue and making it accessible was a no brainer. It's completely taken things to the next level.
My own role has changed, too. I鈥檓 a head groundsman, so winter used to be about me claiming my hours back. Now I鈥檓 doing more hours in the winter than I am in the summer. I enjoy it. I like to see what鈥檚 going on and see the community enjoying cricket. My role is just to facilitate, be here, help, and make sure everything works out right.
And while the old ground was riddled with vandalism, I can say hand-on-heart that I鈥檝e had no problems for the last 18 months. It鈥檚 a massive and expensive facility, but because we鈥檝e given ownership to the community, they鈥檙e using it and local people are seeing what鈥檚 on their doorstep.
There鈥檚 more to come too. This is just the latest stage in the renaissance and regeneration of Park Avenue. The next step is to complete the rest of the site 鈥� a new pavilion at the top end of the site and bringing the seats back to the ground. One of the things we鈥檝e always talked about is this ground being a first class facility for the community, and that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e working towards.
The domes project came about through a big, local collaboration. The council, Yorkshire Cricket, the 黑料专区, and the delivery arms of the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation and the Yorkshire Cricket Board were all involved. It shows what you can do when you work together.
Initially, I thought there鈥檇 be a couple of months where it was too cold to play. But last year I think there was only one day where we didn鈥檛 open. We even had a tournament on Christmas Day. That鈥檚 the passion that people have. As they say: build it and they will come.