‘Stratford swamp’ needs repair
A cricket club whose boggy ground has been dubbed ‘‘the Stratford swamp’’ by its rivals is calling for the council to fix the field’s drainage issues.
The club had only been able to play a couple of home games this summer, Chris Drummond of the Stratford Cricket Club told the Stratford District Council Policy and Services Committee meeting on Tuesday.
‘‘The issue we have is the drainage of the park,’’ he told the meeting. ‘‘We couldn’t start playing cricket on the grass wicket in the allocated time due to the wetness on the pitch and the outfield.
‘‘This meant that all our firstround matches pre-Christmas were played away.’’
Drummond said the club was taking ownership of a wicket block problem that will cost $50,000 to repair, and between the two issues they only played ‘‘two, possibly three’’ games at home over the summer. They also had issues with water pooling in front of their upgraded nets.
However, there was little point spending the money if they could still not get out on a wet field.
‘‘The other teams, we hear them just in the background talking: ‘We’re coming to play on the Stratford swamp’.’’
Nathan McDonald from the Stratford Eltham Rugby Sports Club agreed the drainage and field rehabilitation works were ‘‘a must’’. A lot of surface water remains for several days after rain had stopped, he said.
‘‘In the past we’ve had games taken off us,’’ he said. ‘‘Two years ago we had a game set aside; it was taken off us because the field was too wet.’’
They also suggested moving the fields so that the cricket block is not played on during rugby season, allowing the cricket club to maintain the block.
The TSB Pool Complex, changes to the uniform annual general charge calculation and other core council services were also on the agenda.