ONE of the most important sporting facilities in rural Ipswich is set to become even more valuable.
The Ivor Marsden Memorial Park at Amberley has five fields, AFL goal posts, sightscreens, practice nets and a fully functional clubhouse used for cricket, Aussie rules and softball training.
Cricket Ipswich president Simon Emmerson sees first-hand how widely the facility is used between September and March.
“The more cricket that is played here, the better,” he said, overseeing games on four fields as we chat.
“The cricket family all comes together and makes it great.”
Men’s, women’s, Taverners and junior representative cricket teams regularly play at the venue.
However, the recent upgrade of the facility’s major wicket on Baxter Oval has provided a timely boost.
“It’s come a long way,” Emmerson said.
“They’ve done up that wicket out there on Baxter Oval. It has come up great this year as you can see in the runs being scored.
“It’s a lot better than what it has been.
“It hurt a bit earlier in the year not having Baxter in action.”
With assistance from Queensland Cricket, the pitch that had served the sport so well for many years received a major overhaul.
“They basically took all the top off, about 100 mill out, and totally cleaned out all the rubbish soil … and then rebuilt it, levelled it, made it slightly wider, put down a new turf that Queensland Cricket has been doing some trials with.
“It’s got a really good strong root system that’s proven very successful.”
The main wicket is named after former Ipswich and West Moreton Cricket life member Norm Baxter, who gave a lifetime of service to the sport.
“We’ve been fortunate,” Emmerson said.
“We’ve invested about $15,000 into the project but Queensland Cricket has probably saved us 25 thousand in the work they’ve done.”
However, it is what’s coming that has Emmerson most excited in the foreseeable future.
“Our big project that’s about to start hopefully between now and Christmas will be the lights upgrade on Baxter [Oval],” he said.
“So those lights are not likely to be usable for this season but for next season, we will be able to play T20 Max [matches] on it.
“That will be very exciting.”
Emmerson said the adjacent Ray Walker Oval was next on the maintenance list this month, ensuring it remains a wicket offering balanced opportunities for batsmen and bowlers.
In his third season as Cricket Ipswich president, Emmerson said the main advantage of Ivor Marsden was having five fields in one venue, “especially when you start looking at carnivals”.
“There’s not a lot of places around that you can put everything together in the one place,” he said.
Recent state championships played at Ivor Marsden featured the 12-13 years girls and under-15 years girls.
The under-12 boys are set to play their titles in mid-December before the Les Kinnane and Mel Bulow junior carnivals are staged in January.
Emmerson said that meant six state tournaments would be played at the venue across six months “which is great for Ipswich”.
Queensland Cricket also hosted their Multi-Cultural Championships over a six-week period at Amberley earlier in the season.
As curators, including Presidents Award winner Kevin Howgego, Marty Tottle and latest Cricket Ipswich life member Mick Homberg, continue their highly valued work, Emerson offered a smile of satisfaction.
“It’s terrific,” he said.
“It’s nice to have everyone back here playing cricket.”