22.08.23
If you’ve been inspired by the recent Ashes series and want to give cricket a try – or just rediscover your love of our national summer sport – Cardiff Council has some exciting news for you.

Backed by KP Snacks, the council has supported the installation of five new all-weather community pitches across the city, with more planned over the next two years.

At the official launch of the initiative, in Llandaff Fields, stars from the Welsh Fire Hundred team were on hand to help people get to grips with the game and prove cricket is for everyone.

Alex Hartley, part of the England side that won the 2017 World Cup and now starring for Welsh Fire in the Hundred, joined team-mates Steve Eskinazi, Alex Griffiths and Tom Abell to show off the new pitch. “This is such an exciting time for grassroots cricket across Cardiff,” she said. "Having top-class facilities like this can really motivate more people to give cricket a try and get active in the process.”

The initiative is part of KP Snacks’ ‘Everyone In’ campaign which aims to champion balanced lifestyles through inspiring and enabling more people to get active and involved with cricket. The company is also the official team partner of The Hundred.

In addition to the Llandaff Fields development, it has funded four other new or refurbished pitches across Cardiff which will be maintained and run by Cardiff Council:

•  Blackweir Fields, off North Road
• Pontcanna Fields
• Sevenoaks Park in Grangetown, and
• Heath Park/Cathays High School

Sites have been chosen to make them accessible to the maximum number of people and to bring cricket to people who may not have previously had access, or whose facilities had degenerated over time. More will be installed over the next two years in collaboration with the England and Wales Cricket Board, Cricket Wales and Cardiff Council.

Cllr Jennifer Burke, Cardiff Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Sports, said: "Taking part in sport brings so many benefits for the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities, and the investment in these new non-turf pitches will help us to get even more people playing cricket in Cardiff’s parks, even when the weather’s not playing ball.”

Kevin McNair, of KP Snacks, said: “We’re aiming to help thousands of families across Cardiff become more active and we’re building on this with our new community pitch initiative which invests in local communities and improves access to cricket across the region.”

The cricket initiative follows a decision made by the Council in June to make a significant investment across Cardiff that could see the Lawn Tennis Association refurbish 29 courts at six parks in the city. See more here: https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/31683.html