The new state-of-the-art facility is located at Sporting Khalsa FC in the West Midlands and allows cricket to be played alongside the club’s existing football operations. It becomes the third ECB-funded cricket dome in England, following similar facilities in Bradford and Darwen, Lancashire.

The venue features three cricket lanes and will be operated by Sporting Khalsa FC, a Sikh charitable organisation that is expanding its community sports programme into cricket. The club recently received FA 3-Star Accreditation for its community sport provision and serves a large ethnically diverse population in an economically disadvantaged area.

The opening also marks the official launch of the new £45 million Building Belonging in Cricket Fund. Backed by proceeds from the sale of The Hundred teams, the fund will invest between £50,000 and £1 million into grassroots cricket projects across England and Wales.

Funding will be directed towards initiatives that help grow participation and improve access for women and girls, disabled participants, people on lower incomes and ethnically diverse communities, supporting cricket’s ambition to become the most inclusive team sport.

The ECB expects the fund to generate more than £150 million in total economic value by attracting additional investment from partners, including Government bodies. Projects eligible for support include further cricket domes, indoor cricket centres, sports halls, community cricket venues, multi-sport hubs, and large-scale non-turf pitches and practice facilities.

Applications will be managed through Recreational Cricket Boards, with the fund focused on delivering strategically important projects that can expand participation and strengthen cricket communities across England and Wales.

ECB Chair Richard Thompson said: “Our goal is to make cricket the most inclusive team sport and our third new cricket dome will open up access to hundreds of thousands of people in the West Midlands.

“We’ve already seen from Bradford and Darwen what a difference facilities like these can make, becoming community hubs and offering not just cricket but access to other activities as well.

“I’m delighted that through the Building Belonging in Cricket Fund, which is now officially open for business, we’ll be able to invest £45m from the sales of The Hundred teams into more grassroots projects like this, breaking down more barriers and supporting communities which currently lack the facilities they need to play and enjoy all the good cricket can give them.”

The Sporting Khalsa dome features three full-length lanes and can also be used for match play, transforming into a flexible space for coaching, matches, and community events.

The site was chosen to test the flexibility of working in a tight space in an urban environment. The club and Staffordshire Cricket Board have been key partners.

As well as the existing sites in Bradford and Darwen, advanced development of two more domes is also under way in Luton and at Farington, Lancashire, with partial funding from the Government. A pipeline of further dome projects is in development with Recreational Cricket Boards across England and Wales.

Jason Britton, Development Director Staffordshire Cricket commented; “The new dome is an excellent facility and it will serve both the local and wider cricket communities where the demand for the game sometimes struggles to find capacity in traditional indoor spaces. We are incredibly grateful to the ECB for the investment into Staffordshire and we look forward to working closely with the team at Sporting Khalsa to continue to grow access to the game.”

Rajinder Gill, Club Chair of Sporting Khalsa said; “Our goal has always been to provide a multi-sport facility that serves as a beacon for the local and our wider community and the cricket dome is another fantastic addition to our site. We would like to thank the ECB for the investment at Sporting Khalsa and we are excited to work in partnership with Staffordshire Cricket to fully utilise the facilities.”

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