Club builds a fence for community

Building a picket fence is a term often used to describe a batsman content to score in singles, but the Narrikup Cricket Club is taking the concept to a whole new level.

The club has begun a project that they believe is an Australian first, which will involve the creation of a unique picket fence made from old cricket bats and will require assistance from the entire nation.

Having put the call out to clubs around Australia recently, the tiny but growing club requires an estimated 2500 bats to finish the fence around their ground.

The creation of a cricket bat gate a few seasons ago inspired the project and has been the source of game-day banter as players must enter and leave the ground through the gate or be fined.

Narrikup Cricket Club committee member Tony Poad said he wrote a letter to Australian fast bowling great Dennis Lillee six months ago and recently received an endorsement from the man himself.

“He was ranting about it, he thought it was a great idea,” Mr Poad said.

“The idea is for every little club to donate two or three bats; there will be a plaque put on them and sealed to preserve them.

“Anyone travelling around Australia can drop in and walk around and find the bats from their home ground.

“It will hopefully become a tourist attraction once the word gets out.”

Mr Poad, a builder by trade who has never played a game of cricket but joined the club behind the scenes when he moved to the area, said the project would be the latest redevelopment to the ground, which has undergone a clubhouse extension, oval upgrade with new pitch and irrigation and the creation of new practice nets.

“We have done a lot to our ground in a very short time, mostly off our own backs and hard work, and the whole community has become involved,” Mr Poad said.

“I like to think our club has brought our small community, which was slowly dying, back together.”

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