A CRICKET club has been given amost £19,000 to repair its pitch which was damaged in this year’s floods.

Swinbrook Cricket Club, near Burford, was given the grant with National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Flood Relief Fund.

Its pitch was badly damaged after it was under water for more than nine weeks .

In February, Sport England launched the £5m Flood Relief Fund in a bid to help clean up and repair sports pitches and facilities and get them back up and running.

Swinbrook Cricket Club plans to use the money to replace the artificial wicket and practice nets’ surfaces, and a fence.

Chief executive of Sport England Jennie Price said: “The storms and floods devastated many sports facilities across England.

“We want to play our part in helping communities get back to normal, and we are delighted to be able to get this emergency funding to Swinbrook Cricket Club to help it get back up and running as soon as possible.”

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Swinbrook Cricket Club is a fantastic example of the sort of volunteer led sports clubs that we need to see expand right across the country.

“The club, which suffered significant damage during the recent floods, thoroughly deserve their award from Sport England.  A big well done and thank you to everyone involved.”

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