Pickwick Cricket & Padel Centre, West Bromwich — four DuraWeave lanes sharing a building with padel

Each of the four lanes has full-length black internal wing nets, fixed roof netting and retractable outer wings, so the bays can be opened up or closed down depending on the size of the group.

Surrounding the whole setup is a full-size tensioned cage measuring 36m x 18m x 6m, built in white diamond mesh on bespoke steelwork fabricated by our sister company. A tensioned cage of that size turns the lanes into one enclosed environment rather than four separate nets — nothing escapes, and the space between the lanes becomes usable rather than dead.

Both ends of the lanes are fitted with black and white bowler’s-end and batter’s-end sight screens, with canvas screens suspended from lanyards so the centre works for red and white ball formats without reconfiguring anything.

The four lanes are laid in our ECB-approved DuraWeave in ‘Natural’ tan, with a specialist fielding and run-up surface measuring 18m x 7m alongside them.

Separating the fielding and run-up area from the lane surfacing is worth doing properly. The two take different traffic — one takes the ball, the other takes the feet — and specifying each for its actual job is what keeps both performing rather than one wearing out first.

‘Natural’ tan gives the centre a different character to our other DuraWeave installations. At Owzat Cricket in Alfreton the same system was laid to a green and black scheme; here the tan reads warmer and sits more comfortably next to the padel courts.

The remaining floor area was finished in custom surround carpet, integrating with the adjoining padel courts so the building reads as one facility rather than two sports sharing a shed.

Multi-sport centres are becoming the way these buildings get funded. Cricket alone may not fill a unit seven days a week; cricket and padel together can. Detailing the junction between the two — so the surfaces meet cleanly and the space flows — is what makes the combination feel deliberate rather than improvised.

You can design your own indoor cricket centre online with our facility builder, and see how the lanes, netting and surfacing come together before you speak to anyone: durantindoorcricketcentrebuilder.durantsports.co.uk

Every installation we have completed is plotted on our map. Tick Indoor Surfacing to see the rest: installations.durantcricket.co.uk