13-07-2025
Baptist bowled over as fourth Bradford club to get generous gift off Park Avenue
BOWLING Baptist have become the fourth Bradford District club - and the second from the Timothy Taylor's Craven League - to have been given outdoor nets that have been moved from Park Avenue.
The others are league rivals Hepworth & Idle, Steeton (Aire-Wharfe League) and Bowling Old Lane (Bradford Premier League).
Nasa Hussain and Mo Hussain, equality, diversity and inclusion officers for the Bradford Premier League and Yorkshire County Cricket Club respectively, were at the centre of the official opening of the nets at Baptist's Scotchman Road ground in BD9.
Nasa, who received the British Empire Medal in the recent King's Birthday Honours list and is the groundsman at Park Avenue, said: 'The nets are in good nick considering they have been sat at Park Avenue for two years.
'They are a little bit longer (than most outdoor nets) but the good thing is the tunnel netting in the middle and they are very robust.
'We had them for five years at Park Avenue, and they did get a battering there because they were free to use, and they are still going strong now.
'The bowlers gets the chance to have a longer run up and, like the ones at Bowling Old Lane, they are set higher than the surrounding ground.'
Nasa added: 'The ECB (England & Wales Cricket Board) funded these nets at Park Avenue and when they put the dome in there the decision was made to recycle these nets to clubs.
'Then there was the decision of which clubs would get them, and a little group of four or five people was set up to decide where they would go - everyone had the opportunity to put in for them - and these four clubs were the lucky recipients.
'They are community facilities, but it is up to the clubs to manage them.'
Mo Hussain, who skippered the Manningham Mills team at Scotchman Road for a decade from the 1990s, said: 'I was the lead then on the application for the new clubhouse and it was a no-brainer for me when Bowling Baptist applied to have the nets moved from Park Avenue.
'Baptist are at the heart of the South Asian community and there is a real passion for cricket here in this hotbed.'
A girls' squad from Great Horton Church Cricket Club were coming down the use the nets minutes after they were officially opened, with Mo saying: 'You can come here on a Sunday, a Monday, a Wednesday and there are different formats being played.
The Great Horton Church girls (left) got to use the new nets at Bowling Baptist Cricket Club on opening night. (Image: UGC)
'I can remember it being like this 15 to 20 years ago and to see it being developed is fantastic, and they will get well used, as they would be if these nets were in Girlington or West Bowling as the passion for cricket is so rich.
'The numbers of Asians in the recreational game are growing and these facilities are only going to encourage and galvanise that.'
Baptist's director of cricket Shazaid Yousaf, who has put in a lot of the legwork to get this project off the ground alongside community development officer Tariq Shiraz, said: 'We have a very good turnout tonight, although it has been a bit of a difficult season so far for our first XI in the Craven League.
'However, our second XI, third XI and Under-18s are doing really well and a facility like this will give our players, particularly the younger ones, extra momentum and extra motivation to get more practice in.
'We are hoping that every team will use it and we are in a good catchment area for schools.
'We are hoping to have U9s and U11s next season and gradually build up from that in succeeding years, so one of the nets has been marked out for juniors.
'We also have a good relationship with Great Horton Church CC, and that continues to blossom.
'We don't want to be fishing in the same pond as them as the catchment area is so close, but we will work very closely with them and there is scope to have a girls' team down here.
'We have a lot of space down here which isn't utilised at the moment, and the plan is to continue to expand.
'The ground is gradually getting back to where it used to be.'
