Grassroots investment for Leicestershire

There was at last some good news for Leicestershire as a new cricket facility was opened in the city centre. A boost to the recreational game in the city can only be of benefit to a beleaguered county.

Continuing to develop home-grown youngsters is central to the club's plan to haul themselves from the lowest point in their history, some details of which were revealed at a members' forum on Wednesday night.

The club's academy have an excellent record of developing first-class cricketers and recent products, James Taylor and Harry Gurney, are preparing for England's tour of Sri Lanka next month.

Taylor was back in Leicestershire alongside England Women's internationals Katherine Brunt and Sonia Odedra to unveil the new multi-purpose sports hall at Crown Hills Community College - a strategic centre of excellence for cricket and the only specialist sports college in Leicestershire with cricket as its focus sport.

The new building, funded by the ECB and Sport England, includes a £1 million state of the art cricket facility available to students from the college, the local community and talented young cricketers from across the East Midlands - one of which was once Taylor and he, Brunt and Odedra took part in the first coaching session at the new facility, designed to help nurture the latest crop of Leicestershire youngsters.

Any that make it to Grace Road will benefit from better showers - the most entertaining of the club's announcements on Wednesday night. Interim chief executive Andrew Boyce also confirmed a development of flats will be built on their ground as the first stage in a bid to drive non-match revenues.

Boyce will continue a review into the club's coaching structure, which is being revamped for the second time in as many years. Phil Whitticase has been removed as director of cricket having been appointed into the new role in August 2013.

Boyce will hand over the review to the club's new chief executive, for which there have been a reported 120 applications, with current Chance to Shine chief executive Wasim Khan a leading candidate as the club aim to strengthen their links with the Asian community.

Whoever is appointed will be tasked with reviving a county slipping dangerously close to the precipice but they retain the backing of the ECB, who are committed to retaining the current number of first-class counties until at least 2019 and whose investment in Crown Hills demonstrates their current support for Leicestershire.

"This is a fantastic facility which will be of enormous long-term benefit to the college and play a major role in engaging the wider community in cricket and serving the needs of local clubs," the ECB chairman, Giles Clarke, said. "It also represents a key part of our wider plans to engage more closely with the Asian cricket community at a national level and raise the standard of cricket facilities and pitches in urban areas."

Director of sport and assistant principal, Doug Keast, said: "The multi sports hall is twice the size of a facility normally provided by the Building Schools for the Future programme. There is no doubt it is playing no small part in developing the skill level of our students resulting in the success achieved by our girls' and boys' cricket teams.

"Crown Hills is proud of the fact that we are a strategic centre of excellence for cricket. We are working closely with Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket in the development of the game and all the Leicestershire age-group squads use the facility."