Gold Standard Cricket from Blackwater.
Apr 2nd, 2007 | By Island Pulse | Isle of Wight News From The Island PulseGround has been broken on former agricultural land at Blackwater on the Isle of Wight, to construct a £1 million Gold Standard Cricket Ground.
Plans were submitted last year by the IW Cricket Board and approved in November by the Isle of Wight Council, to turn the farmland at Blackwater owned by businessman Brian Gardener into a Cricket Ground that will propel Island cricket into the big league.
The Blackwater County Cricket Ground will have a substantial pavilion, sight screens and electronic scoreboard and the IW Cricket Board envisages it only being used for cricket, approximately 48 matches a season.
Its hoped the £1 million project will enable the Islands top teams such as Ventnor who have won the Southern Electric Premier League Division 2 for three seasons in a row but have been denied promotion through their sloping Steephill ground, to play at a higher standard.
As building work is already underway the Blackwater Gold Standard Cricket Ground could be open in time for the start of the 2008 season.
Isle of Wight Cricket Board website HERE
Members of the Isle of Wight Planning Committee voted in favour HERE
Island Pulse
