ECB chair opens Black Country's first cricketing 'Field of Dreams' in Willenhall

England cricket chief Richard Thompson believes the Black Country has its first “Field of Dreams” following the opening of a new £1million facility in Willenhall.

The all-weather cricket dome is the third such complex to open in the country and central to a project aimed at making the sport accessible to millions more people.

Located at Sporting Khalsa Football Club, it features three full-length lanes and can also be used for match play.

It was officially opened on Tuesday by Richard Thompson, chair of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), who wants cricket to become the most inclusive team sport in the country.

He told the Express & Star: “We can’t fulfil that ambition without domes.

“Once you have a dome, you have a hub, you have somewhere you can go and play.

“Cricket is a game which needs facilities. Once you have this, it is the field of dreams. People are going to come. We know this works.”

England’s first indoor dome opened in Bradford in 2023 and was described as a “revelation” by Thompson.

The ECB’s aim is for 40 facilities by 2030 and more are planned for the West Midlands, with potential sites being looked at in Birmingham and Worcester.

Tuesday also marked the official launch of the new £45m Building Belonging in Cricket Fund, which will use money from sales of The Hundred teams to invest between £50,000 and £1m into grassroots cricket projects across England and Wales.

Projects will need to be focused on growing the game and benefit women and girls, disabled participants, people with lower incomes or ethnically diverse communities.

“Since we opened our facility in Bradford I became determined the dome project must be the basis of what we do to take cricket from the grassroots to the next level,” explained Thompson.

“The fact people can come here and play cricket, 12 months a year, seven days a week, is an absolute revelation.

“We can only do it with these facilities. If we get to 40 domes, that is two or three million people who would never have played cricket before, that get the chance.

“We want to put more in this region.”

Khalsa’s Noose Lane home was earmarked as a potential dome site after the club’s chairman, Raj Gill, contacted the ECB directly and expressed an interest in building a cricket facility.

Construction has taken around 18 months and once it is fully operational, the venue will be open to clubs as well as community groups and schools.

Staffordshire Cricket Board also played a key role in the project and its development director, Jason Britton, believes the dome will help make up for the shortfall of facilities in the region.

He explained: “As a cricket area we cover Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Walsall. That is 50 per cent of our population in Staffordshire.

“But in terms of cricket clubs, we only have 25 per cent of the space. There just aren’t enough places to play. This gives us something we can use every day, all year round.

“It is going to be a massive boost for cricket clubs but also the community.

“This will provide an incredible, different opportunity for people who want to play the game.”