Ribbon cut on new nets

LINTON Recreation Reserve’s new cricket nets were officially opened last Friday by Member for Buninyong, Michaela Settle, and Golden Plains Shire mayor Cr Gavin Gamble.

The updated three-bay facility was constructed at a cost of over $200,000 with half coming from from the Victorian Government’s Community Cricket Program, $72,500 via the Shire and $30,000 from the Australian Cricket Infrastructure Fund.

Cr Gamble said the infrastructure upgrade would benefit the community and allow the Linton Cricket Club to grow.

“These new cricket nets are a great addition to the community and for the Linton Cricket Club,” he said.

“They’ll make it easier for more cricketers to train and help increase junior participation. They are also important in welcoming more women and girls into the club.”

The new nets replaced the old ones which Linton Cricket Club president Kirk McDonald called “the doldrums,” and said the upgraded facility is already been well-used.

“We’ve been using it for just about six months so it was good for basically the entire two-thirds of the season,” he said.

“We’ve noticed about a 50 per cent uptake in the amount of people coming purely because of these new nets.

“At the old nets we’d have five or six guys whereas now we’re getting all our juniors every week and other people just coming out of the woodwork.

“We’ve now got a safe, even playing surface that plays true, the balls stay in the net, they’re not full of holes like the old one. It’s just such a huge improvement.”

Upcoming additions to the Linton Recreation Reserve include the construction of a new playground near the new nets and an overhaul of the oval’s playing surface.