By Kerry Larsen

The future of local cricket looks healthy following the announcement of a $32,000 grant from the Gambling Community Benefit Fund to the Douglas Cricket Association.

The funding is a major coup and will go towards upgrading pitches, practice nets and equipment at Port Douglas Sports Complex and schools in the Douglas region.

The acquisition of funds by the DCA was made in an attempt to help juniors progress to the senior level, attract top-quality coaches and retain the talented junior player base within the region.

And with the recent success of the Muddies senior teams, the funding will go a long way to inspiring our talented junior cricketers to become senior Mudcrabs.

“Our juniors have always been strong, but the local facilities were never up to scratch,” Douglas Cricket Association vice-president, Steve Doble said.

“As a result, we were losing the junior player base to Cairns clubs.

“Now with a bit of funding, we can improve the whole club’s facilities, from seniors down to juniors.”

At the end of the 2007/2008 season, the seniors almost exited the Cricket Far North competition with the club’s committee about to shut the doors, but were saved at the last minute with an injection of new blood.

With the addition of new players and sponsors to the club, the Muddies C-grade side made it to the finals in 2008/2009, which resulted in senior club creating new B-Grade and a C-Grade teams for the 2009/2010 season.

Both senior sides have been in finals the past two seasons, with the B-grade flag won in the 2009 /2010 season.

“With the turnaround of the seniors, the juniors can now expand and the kids have some where to play as they move out of the juniors,” Doble said.

And with the amount of juniors and new players coming to the club, an A Grade team is next in the sights of the seniors committee, hoping to enter the top grade within the next two Cricket Far North seasons.