A BUNDELLA paddock has become the next Lord's cricket ground, boasting a new English pitch and attracting boastful local crowds.
In 2019 Bundella-based players, who had previously been competing for the Premer Lions Club in the Premer and District Cricket competition, began investigating the prospect of bringing live cricket back to their home town.
Motivated by the desire to play in front of their family and friends, the players came across one problem - the former concrete pitch was hidden in a stock reserve.
While they found the perfect setting for a cricket oval on the property, Tamalie, it was already commissioned as the Tamarang Polo ground, hindering their chances of pouring a concrete slab for a pitch.
But quick witting investigative skills of some members saw them fundraise about $5000 to import modern English cricket infrastructure.
"We had a couple of meetings and threw a couple of ideas around and two of our members came across a product from England that was a plastic rubber composite that you just roll out on any surface and have an instant cricket pitch," player Andrew Campbell said.
The pitch had a red carpet debut last Wednesday (April 27) when the Bundella Cricket Club took on the Premer Institute of Sport, with the locals falling four runs short of a dream hometown appearance.
The seven or eight a side tournament, dependent on available players, will see another three matches played on the Bundella pitch.
Not only has it kept players busy during a quiet harvest but Mr Campbell said the new sports facility had major benefits for the local community.
"There would have been probably 40 people watching from the community and lots of families and children," he said.
"It was very successful and there is no reason we couldn't have a weekend match.
"It was fantastic for the community to get out and about and come down and catch up with everyone else in the district and just realise that everyone is in the same boat."
So how was the English pitch for our Aussie bushies?
"It was different," Mr Campbell said.
"There were a few demons in there but it made it exciting for both teams."