Across the seventeen boroughs that comprise the county of Middlesex, you will see more diversity than anywhere else in the country.
Some boroughs are fortunate to benefit from extreme affluence, whilst others struggle in poverty, yet the desire to play the game of cricket exists strongly in all of them.
Providing local residents of those diverse communities with facilities that allow them to satisfy their hunger for the game is a huge challenge, however after many years in the planning, this week, Lutfur Rahman, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets, one of the capital’s most densely populated yet economically and socially deprived boroughs, broke soil on the installation of an eight wicket turf cricket square – the first all-turf cricket facility to ever be laid in the borough.
The project, sited at the eastern side of Victoria Park will provide Tower Hamlets Cricket Club and other community users with a high quality, purpose built, fine turf pitch – one that they haven’t previously had in the borough.
The City of London is now the last local authority in the country not to have any fine turf cricket provision, with Islington only having one ground which has a fine turf square, although this is not available for community use.
Victoria Park’s new cricket square installation has been the result of an enormous amount of hard work from many parties involved – Middlesex in the Community (MITC - Middlesex Cricket’s charitable foundation), the ECB, Tower Hamlets Council and its partners, Tower Hamlets Cricket Club, Capital Kids Cricket and the London Cricket Trust, to name but a few.
Next year will see further investment into this ground at Victoria Park to install a non-turf pitch (NTP) alongside the new square for additional capacity for junior match play, as all parties look to grow the game and provide and enhanced playing experience for all.
The Council and the Club are also believed to have grand plans to erect permanent sightscreens and a small bank to provide an intimate cricket ground experience for the players and clubs who use this site.
The new ground will become home to Tower Hamlets Cricket Club, who, with support from MITC, moved to play in a new league in collaboration with Essex in the Community, and they will benefit from the new facility along with community partners and teams from across the East London Cricket League, the Victoria Park Cricket League, the Northeast London Cricket League and the Middlesex Junior Cricket Association competitions.
MITC are excited to be acting on their 2024-2034 Facility Strategy Action plan and working with ECB for their significant capital investment into facilities and infrastructure in deprived and diverse communities.
MITC are committed to supporting the local authority officers and the community groups within the London borough of Tower Hamlets to further promote the game on fine turf and non turf pitches in recognition that there is an undersupply of facilities for cricket in the area, and demand heavily outstrips supply. This will entail reorientation of existing NTPs in Victoria Park to ensure safer and improved play experiences for all users, installation of new practice facilities in Stepney Green, and putting new NTPs in the grounds across the open park spaces in the borough, including in Millwall Park - subject to planning permission.
The team at MITC benefit from a wonderful network of support through each department that all have cross over in this site and borough - it’s a truly connected piece of cricket development.
A large proportion of Tower Hamlets residents are British Bangladeshi, and the passion for cricket, Bangladesh’s most popular sport, is enormous – which has been a big motivation for the installation of the new facilities.
Josh Knappett, Facilities and Project Lead at Middlesex in the Community commented:
“The latent interest in cricket in this borough is second-to-none, but it has been severely under-supplied with both facilities and with traditionally operating cricket clubs.
“This has been a big project that’s taken a long time to get here, and we’re very excited. This is a site that’s going to have a long-lasting impact to grow the game for men, women, boys and girls in this area.
“We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who has helped bring this project to fruition, and we’re extremely proud at Middlesex in the Community to have played a part in making this dream a reality.”
Shahidul Alam Ratan, founder member of Tower Hamlets Cricket Club, and CEO of registered charity Capital Kids Cricket, who work in partnership with Middlesex in the Community on both the Club’s community outreach programmes and school delivery programmes, commented:
“The Club (Tower Hamlets CC) has needed a ground since the day it was founded.
“We were campaigning since day one, but there was no movement whatsoever, because the council was entirely focused on football. But in the last two decades, cricket has become the most popular sport in Bangladesh, and it's started to shift the interest.
“A lot of people play cricket in Victoria Park in the summer, but we don't have that safe environment for young people, or for women and girls to come and play.
“If, as a club, and as a local authority, we can offer a controlled zone, and a safe space, that will be a game-changer for the local community.”
Tower Hamlets Cricket Club has a fantastic track-record of developing players who go on to forge careers in the game, with Ratan estimating that at least 30 former Tower Hamlets players have secured coaching careers in the game. These include the likes of Shakeel Ahmed, who spent five years as a community coach with Middlesex before returning to Capital Kids Cricket as one of the charity’s Development Managers, and Tanvir Ahamed, who was named as Middlesex Coach of the year in 2022 and won the ECB’s Pride of Cricket Community Coach of the Year award in 2023.
Knappett adds:
“To my knowledge, there aren't many clubs in Middlesex, or probably even nationally, that have had the same level of engagement for ongoing careers within cricket.
“They've had a phenomenal track record of players coming through, then staying within the game, and continuing to give back to their local community.”
So finally, for the first time ever, after years of effort, residents of Tower Hamlets will be able to realise their cricketing passions, thanks to the hard work of many committed parties.
Middlesex Cricket would like to thank all those involved in this incredible project.
