WORK will begin this spring on an exciting £30,000 upgrade at Burnham Cricket Club, which could attract more youngsters and improve the training facilities by “500%”.

The money, from Sedgemoor District Council, will pay for a three-lane net, mainly for the junior section but also the seniors, giving the club an off-pitch training area for the first time.

Andy Birkett, club chairman, said he would be meeting contractors within the next week, with a view to work starting in early May and being completed later that month, shortly after the season starts.

He told the Weekly News: “It will be a fantastic facility for the juniors and seniors alike. It will be 500% better than what we have now.

“It will make a difference in so many ways.

“It will mean less use of the square, freeing up our groundsman’s time, and it will mean that we can practice and play a match at the same time.

“At the moment, we have no off-field practice facilities.”

The club has also used around £2,500 of its own funds to buy two sight screens.

It hopes to have a junior open day shortly before the season starts, which will provide an opportunity to explain the work taking place.

Andy said: “Last season, our junior membership was about 30 or 40.

“If you get that up to 50, 60 or 70 youngsters, you will probably convert three or four of those into very good players. It’s a numbers game.”