Pontarddulais Cricket Club

Swansea, Wales

Dura-Sport and Pontarddulais Cricket Club – A relationship built on solid foundations. 

It is over 25 years since Dura-Sport first visited Pontarddulais Cricket Club and subsequently constructed their original triple lane practice facility. 

Hundreds of thousands of deliveries from adults, juniors and bowling machines later and the club, by their own admission, had definitely had their moneys worth from a facility installed back in the mid 1990’s. 

Having constructed the original facility, Dura-Sport were approached by the club to provide advice and design options for what they presumed would have to be a new build facility. 

This proved to be far from the case. 

Upon inspection, investigation and testing of the facility, the results showed uniformed compaction and drainage across the entire existing foundation. 

The original cage structure also passed with flying colours, with the steelwork unaffected by corrosion and remaining structurally sound with no replacement of any aspect of the cage deemed necessary. 

Therefore two major elements of a non-turf cricket practice facility: The foundation and steelwork, had both stood the test of time and neither would need to be replaced as part of the project. 

Once the existing synthetic components had been removed it became evident that the original tanalised pressure treated timber edge board was also still intact, despite years of sitting in soil and traditional Welsh weather!

So with a foundation, edge detail and cage structure all intact and stable, discussions began regarding a refurbishment rather than a new build. 

Even when traditional batting and bowling ends were a popular choice in the 1990’s the club had opted for full length woven practice pitches, centralised within each lane and surrounded by sand filled needle punch grass. 

The same configuration was therefore agreed for the refurbishment, with a few material upgrades and enhancements following technological advancements. 

The standard shock pads were replaced with DSi-layer superior wider, thicker dual layered pads in order to protect the foundation from disturbance. The woven surfaces were replaced with DSi-weave superior spike resistant wilton woven cricket carpets of additional density and strength, confirmed in an ECB test laboratory as the strongest and most durable cricket carpet available. The club opted for the unique loam coloured carpets in order to replicate the look, feel and performance of a well prepared natural grass pitch. DS Evograss natural looking synthetic grass was installed alongside and between each pitch to define each playing area and a new heavy duty netting system was installed to prevent cricket balls from escaping between lanes. 

The project was completed on time and well within the clubs original budget due mainly to the significant amount of materials which could remain in situ, allowing the club to further enhance the facility with the addition of ball stop netting and sightscreens.

Over 25 years of industry experience and facilities such as at Pontarddulais Cricket Club standing the test of time over that period allows us to confidently provide and qualify the extended warranties we offer as a company on facility foundations, edge detail, steelwork and synthetic components.