Cricket: Old Trafford plans may open door to Aigburth

Oct 15 2007 by Paul Edwards, Liverpool Daily Post

THE CRICKETING links between Merseyside and Greater Manchester look set to become ever stronger over the next few years as Lancashire’s vision for the redevelopment of Old Trafford takes solid shape.

Lancashire’s chief executive, Jim Cumbes, is hopeful that planning application for the ambitious £190million scheme will be presented to Trafford Borough Council by the spring and if approval is granted by the end of next year, building work could begin at the county’s 150-year-old home by the summer of 2009.

However, the plan is to build far more than just a few new stands. Lancashire have entered into a four-way partnership with the council, ASK Developments and Tesco to finance the construction of a world-class cricket ground capable of seating 25,000 people and in order to provide five wickets capable of being used for international matches, they will probably need to turn the square round 90 degrees, too.

Which is where Aigburth and possibly even Trafalgar Road come into the equation. The proposed work on the Old Trafford square is likely to limit the amount of cricket played at the ground pretty severely for much of one season and Cumbes believes that most of the four-day cricket would need to go to the out-grounds, Liverpool and Blackpool, and may also return to Southport, last used in 1999.

“We would want to keep our Twenty20 cricket here because we get crowds of up to 15,000 for those matches but I think that most of our home championship matches in say, 2010, will need to be played away from Old Trafford and we may decide to use more than three out-grounds,” he said.

Doubters may point to the fact that there are plenty of stages to go through before the constructors begin working on the ground but no-one should doubt the clarity or breadth of Cumbes’ vision nor, indeed, the financial strength of the partnership he has helped to put together.

Although the new stadium may only exist as architect’s plans at present, the hope is that members attending the AGM in March will be able to see a clear picture of what their beloved county’s new home will look like. Then there will be a tense few months as the county waits for planning permission, which the chief executive describes as “pivotal”. After which, all being well, the building will start. And while the proposed masterplan involves hotels, superstores and offices which should help to regenerate the whole area, both Lancashire and Trafford MBC are agreed on one thing – the cricket will come first.

“The club has to get what the club requires to stage international cricket because if we don’t get that, then there’ll be no planning permission for any other type of masterplan in the area,” said Cumbes. “Lancashire CCC is at the heart of everything and it’s all to do with building a world-class cricket ground. Unless we make that happen, nothing’s going to happen.”

But Old Trafford’s transformation into a stadium with 21st-century technology will probably begin as soon as next summer when a new drainage system is installed which should enable the ground to rival Lord’s in its capacity to cope with prolonged downpours.

Lancashire hope that work on this can start next August and have asked the ECB to schedule as many home games as possible for earlier in the season.

The possibility remains, however, that Chilton, Horton et al will be playing more than two matches away from Old Trafford next August and September.

If so, officials at Liverpool are only too ready to help out.

“We’ve been delighted to accommodate Lancashire at Aigburth in the past and we’ll be happy to welcome the county back whenever it wishes to come,” said club chairman Peter McEvoy.