LANCASHIRE TO DECIDE OUTGROUND VENUE BY END OF JANUARY

Date: 14th January 2014

Jamie Bowman tells all in the Liverpool Echo

Lancashire face a tricky decision as they decide where to play their one home game away from Old Trafford next season.

One of Lancashire’s home Championship matches – against Nottinghamshire starting on July 13 – will be played at an outground, with the club still undecided as to where in Merseyside they will visit after talks with both Liverpool Cricket Club and Southport & Birkdale Cricket Club.

Both clubs are keen to host the game with Liverpool’s Aigburth Road ground regarded as the front runner due to their recent close association with the newly crowned Division Two champions.

In Lancashire’s County Championship winning season in 2011, skipper Glen Chapple’s side won four of the six games to be played there with the Aigburth pitch credited with playing a major role in Lancashire’s shock title triumph.

Mike Watkinson, Lancashire’s director of cricket, has pledged the final decision will be made by the end of the month with the county currently weighing up both venue’s cases. He said: “At this stage it’s pretty much a straight choice between Aigburth and Southport although Blackpool’s facilities have improved and they are a venue very capable of hosting a game.

“Liverpool have had a close connection with us for many years, they have helped us out significantly and they have some great cricketing facilities.”

Prior to 2011, Lancashire invested heavily in Liverpool’s changing rooms and pitch upgrading but of more concern to Watkinson has been attendance figures, which fell during last season’s four games.

“It is a balance between providing top class cricketing facilities, generating some revenue from the game and getting people in the ground to watch us,” said Watkinson.

“What we have done is sit down with Liverpool and chatted through how we best market the game and put bums on seats and we need to pull that plan together and decide how we take the situation forward.

“If we are taking cricket away from Old Trafford it is because we want to spread the word around the county so we need to make sure we have a good contingency of supporters whether they be members, youngsters or the local community who are coming along to enjoy the experience.”

Along with Aigburth, Southport’s Trafalgar Road was one of the alternative outgrounds used by Lancashire during their Championship-winning campaign of 2011, while the multi-million pound redevelopment of their regular home was completed.

Lancashire returned in 2013 for a game with Hampshire with crowd numbers boosted by the game taking place during a hot spell of weather and Watkinson confirmed the county have not ruled out returning there in 2014.

“Southport have only had a couple of games in the last decade so it is still quite fresh for them but they have a dynamic set of people in the club who are pushing very hard to make sure it is a great experience for the spectator. They have driven the revenue on site as best they can with a lot of corporate hospitality places and they have had games at the height of Summer which has made it a good experience for those who have gone along so we need to balance that against the superior cricket facilities at Liverpool.

“In the next couple of weeks we need to get things sorted out because we have the fixtures for Liverpool and Southport and Birkdale that the Liverpool Competition need to arrange, the opposition need to book hotels, we need to publish fixture lists and get our planning done and dusted. We met with the people at Liverpool recently and we have a meeting with Southport coming up so we will take it forward from there. What we want to do is to make sure both venues maintain an appetite in the future to host games."

By kind permission of Jamie Bowman and the Liverpool Echo