Cricket Season 2015
27 Apr 2015
It has been an anxious wait for our team mates to hear about the season kick-start. Here we go!
We would like to share an important change in our Ground Location. We would be migrating from Harrow Recreation Ground to a new cricket field for the entire season of 2015 with an aspiration and a possibility to create this as home ground in the future. The change was due to the following cricketing reasons and the cost associated.
1. The quality of the cricket pitch preparation in Harrow Recreation (as we experienced and the feedback provided by many of our members and the visiting team)
2. The amenities and facilities provided at Harrow Recreation.
3. Additionally the cost of Harrow Recreation ground has gone up from £1,900 (2014) to £3,200 (2015).
While dealing with Harrow Council to explore the possibilities to obtain better pitch preparation and the facilities, we have also explored other additional options with nearby councils of Harrow namely, Brent, Hillingdon and Hertfordshire. To our surprise, we had quite an exciting and value added offers from other councils, also creating a professional channel for communication and dialogue. On the contrary, Harrow Council was neither able to meet our cricketing demands/expectation nor open for communication and dialogue. After reviewing all the options based (order or priority) on superior pitch preparation (used for league matches), excellent facilities (newly upgraded), significantly reduced cost and the convenience, the Core Committee along with the Captains have finalised the Vale Farm cricket playing fields within Brent Council as our venue for 2015.
Our new ground address would be Vale Farm North Wembley Cricket Ground, HA0 3QS.
Information about the new ground & its facilities
Located in Wembley, this cricket ground has been the “Home Ground of Wembley CC”. Wembley CC have been playing the Premier League for many years with their players including international cricketing greats such as Philip DeFreitas & Muthiah Muralidharan. The cricket pitch also has a Pavilion with dressing rooms, kitchen and a dining area which our team would have complete access to. The entire facility is under the maintenance of the Council and to that extent we are now guaranteed a reasonable quality of infrastructure. Also, the new ground would take additional 6 – 8 minutes’ drive from the Harrow Recreation Ground. The nearest Overground & tube station is North Wembley, accessible on Bakerloo line. The station to the ground is of the equal distance from Harrow-on-the-Hill to Harrow Recreation Ground.
Additionally, we have two other pitches with fully refurbished pavilion in the same campus. Being a new tenant of the Council, the Brent Council had provided us with an opportunity to experience the other cricket pitches during this season. They would take our feedback on the quality of the games and assured us to provide the pitch of our choice from the next season for all our games. The Vale Farm has 3 cricket pitches and we would be playing 10 games in the Pitch 1, 6 games in Pitch 2. Both these pitches have exclusive pavilions and Pitch 2 has the pavilion of County standards.
The ground can be accessed via East Lane & Sudbury Avenue. With an exclusive car-park to accommodate more than 50 cars, I am sure there is no more stress in finding parking slots (refer blue box) for the cars. As this ground is an exclusive cricket pitch (Yellow Box) we would be privileged with a serene perimeter of trees (Red Box) and closeness to nature. The Pitch 2 (with green marking & Yellow box) is adjacent and has a separate car park for around 70 cars.
Apart from cricketing reasons, we have taken this decision with club’s long term future in mind and to provide a greater value for members. We strongly believe that the choice of our new ground location would be starting point to club’s aspiration to be in the league of quality cricket clubs. We look forward for the members to share their experience and feedback about the cricket infrastructure that would be playing on.
Season Start
Due to extended football season, there are changes in season start date. Our first game would be on 03rd May 2015 and the assembly time would be 9:00 am. We have been advised by the council that the pitch would non-conducive for a 8 am start and starting early would damage the pitch due to its wet condition.
Cricket Whites
We have received the Cricket Whites at London and should be in our possession in the forthcoming week. We hope to kick start our first game with our whites; we hope with lot of “first & new” happenings around the club, it can only accelerate the enthusiasm and passion to the next level.
Insurance
As we did in 2014, HWC has taken the insurance which will cover third party liability. This means that members need to have their insurance to cover for any sports injury.
Feedback & Questions
We look forward for the member’s feedback or any questions and we are happy to respond at the earliest. We look forward for more games and more fun. Happy Warming!!!