Believe it or not, a village in Essex, England hasn’t seen any cricket for almost one year. Why?
In May 2025, a member of the public was struck on the leg by a cricket ball and after that, all cricket was suspended at Dawson Fields in Danbury, near Chelmsford. Prior to the incident, there were also reports of damage to two car windows and a roof tile on the Danbury Leisure Centre. The issue was also that every match there saw three to four balls hit into the car park, giving rise to safety concerns.
But now the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has taken the initiative to bring the game back to the village. It has decided to bankroll the construction of an artificial wicket as well as the perimeter fencing.
The parish council also played its role. The parish council actually owns the land, and it took a vote late last month. Of 132 votes, 100 went to the proposal of a synthetic wicket and 100m of 13m high fencing and netting — overwhelming support to all intents and purposes. According to Danbury Cricket Club secretary Rory Carlton, the 32 “no votes” were actually not against the return of cricket but actually against the proposal with netting.
“Following lengthy debate, it was agreed that the parish council would proceed with the proposal from the England Cricket Board to fund the resumption of cricket, including the funding for works to improve the pathway access as currently it is only possible for two people to pass if one of those stepped onto the field.
“It is resolved that the parish council would bring cricket back with the current design and go to planning for a decision, and if approved, would proceed, subject to funding from England Cricket Board,” Essexlive reported the parish council as saying.
Carlton, meanwhile, said: “We look forward to the return of cricket hopefully. If the question had been ‘do you want to return of cricket to Danbury?’ I think we would have had 100 per cent of the vote. I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t want cricket back, which is lovely to see and hear.”
It is understood that more and more cricketers, especially juniors, will be allowed to use the cricket wicket. The local club has since been playing 16 miles away in Rayne near Braintree.
