SPCC Hybrid Wickets

Aim

We are looking to install another two hybrid wickets for the 2027 season!

Who are we?

We are St Peters Cricket Club, based in the heart of Brighton at Preston Park. 

Founded in 1883, we are the largest amateur cricket club in Sussex, with over 500 members across our men's, women's and junior sections.

Why are we crowdfunding?

At the start of this year we installed our first two hybrid wickets at Preston Park. They've been a real success — both have held up well across a full season, and one was rated 18/20 by an independent umpire, the highest pitch rating we've had at the club.

A hybrid wicket plays like a normal grass pitch. It's around 95% natural turf with about 5% synthetic fibres stitched into the surface, so it still seams and spins as you'd expect. The fibres hold the surface together, which gives more consistent, more predictable bounce — better to bat on, and safer for everyone. They're also far more durable: hybrids recover faster and take considerably more playing hours than natural grass, which is why the ECB has made them part of its 2025–28 plan for increasing playing capacity at recreational clubs. 

The trouble is that two isn't enough. We host over 100 games a season at Preston Park, and with only two hybrid strips available they've so far been used mainly by a few of our men's teams. Everyone else — our women's teams, our juniors and our lower men's sides — is still playing on a square that struggles to recover between fixtures, which means worn pitches as the season goes on and quality that depends on which fixture happens to land first.

We'd like to add two more, so that far more of the club can play on them. We know the surface works because we've played a full season on it. This is simply about having enough of it to go round, so a good wicket isn't something only a couple of teams at St Peters get to enjoy.

How we’ll spend the money raised

The full project costs £16,800. Sport England has offered £7,500 through the Movement Fund — on the condition that we raise £7,500 ourselves. The club is funding the remaining £1,800 from its own reserves.

Community impact

St Peters has been part of Brighton since 1883. We play in Preston Park — a free, open public park in the middle of the city — so anyone walking past on a Saturday can watch good cricket for nothing.

Over 500 people play for us across our men's, women's and junior sections, in more than 100 home games a year, making us the largest amateur cricket club in Sussex. A number of local schools also play their fixtures here, so the square serves children across Brighton who have no other access to a proper grass wicket.

Better wickets matter most to the people currently getting the worst of them. Our two hybrid strips have so far mainly been used by a few of our men's teams; two more means our juniors, women's teams, lower sides and visiting schools get the same quality of surface — and more consistent bounce makes the game safer, which counts for most with younger players.

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 5th November 2026 at 5:03pm