Newtown & Chilwell Cricket Club has been shortlisted for an Australian Sport, Recreation and Play Innovation Award.
The Two Blues are one of two organisations nominated in the Sports Surfaces category.
This category rewards innovative solutions that allow greater intensity and durability of natural, hybrid, synthetic or hard sports surfaces to allow for greater usage, whilst embracing the principles of sustainability.
In 2022, the club raised the funds internally and through grants to completely replace the pitch at KFC/Stinton Oval, returning it to its former status as one of the best in the Geelong region.
This was done in part to accommodate the club’s inaugural women’s team, with both the First and Second XI able to play their first games on the ground in 2023.
Junior matches can also now be played on the re-laid surface.
“This nomination is further recognition of the progress the club has been making in recent times to reclaiming its place one of the giants of the GCA,” club coach Tom Meredith said.
“It comes on top of winning the Club Championship for the first time in two decades, winning important senior and junior premierships and having our two women’s teams both making finals in their first year in the competition.”
The announcement of the winner of the Australian Sport, Recreation and Play Innovation Awards will be made at the National Sports Convention Oration and Awards Presentations at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on July 27.
