Inside Farington: Lancashire Cricket’s new dual‑use ground set to transform the County game

The twin ovals of Lancashire Cricket’s second home have turned from brown to green as head groundsman Matt Merchant and his team prepare for the 2026 season.

With 18 wickets a piece, each full-size square at the new Farington ground covers an area matching that of Emirates Old Trafford. Sited on green belt land in the heart of Lancashire between Lostock Green and Leyland, the venue will serve as a hub for Lancashire Cricket’s first team, women’s and academy squads, also providing capacity for community and youth matches.

Farington is “a modern, dual-use cricket facility combining professional-level infrastructure with community access”, states Lancashire Cricket on its website.

“Hosting high-level men’s and women’s cricket (from first teams to U13s) it is also a home for local cricket clubs, youth and recreational players,” it adds.

One of precious few new cricket facilities created recently, Farington accents sustainability, long-term community engagement and inclusivity, embracing a dramatically contoured, triangular pavilion, practice areas, indoor dome and 750 fixed seats lining each oval.

The scope and drama of the venue is already drawing praise from those who’ve viewed it. “I was blown away,” stated Jon Dibben, chair of Members’ Representative Group (MRG). “You feel in the middle of the countryside. There are cows just over there.”

In fact the quadrupeds were among the very first to view the facility, Head Groundsman Matt Merchant recalls. “We arrived one morning to find that ten cows had strayed from the field next to the ground and gone walkabout. Luckily, they didn’t manage to inspect the squares.” Security to prevent entry by such non-paying spectators will no doubt have been tightened up.

Expectations were high that cricket would be played on both the Community and County squares in 2026, but weather and project scheduling played a hand in thwarting those ambitions, Matt reports.

“We won’t be using the Community square this year as handover in late October/November meant we were too late to prepare the pitches for this season. Community cricket is due to start in 2027 now.”

The County square meanwhile will host practice sessions and Academy warm-up games due mid to late June.

Run-up to handover proved a tricky time for Matt himself, as what transpired to be two extremely painful herniated discs pushing on the sciatic nerve ended with a back operation. “I’d been in pain for nine months,” he recalls, “and couldn’t stand up. I’d been diagnosed with sciatica but another referral and investigations showed I had herniated spinal discs, one with a cyst attached.”

Fortunately, Matt’s recovering well and full on once more following a prolonged period of Emirates Old Trafford deputy head groundsman, David Shortt, heading the team.

Shifting responsibilities are afoot however. “Dave has taken over as head groundsman at Emirates Old Trafford, while I’ll come off the tools to oversee both sites,” he explains. There’s the staffing up to tackle too. When we spoke, Matt was preparing to advertise for two full-timers to bolster the Farington team.

“Harry Morton and Les Stephens, who looked after the Old Trafford nets, are based at the new site, with Harry becoming head groundsman at Farington. While we’ve filled one of the positions at the Emirates ground, we need another staff there really.”

And Lancashire’s existing outgrounds in Southport, Blackpool and Sedburgh School are still in play and requiring upkeep.  “Sedburgh’s staging two men’s and women’s 50-over games on 21 July,” says Matt, before going on to explain plans to increase boots on the ground from the current 10-strong retinue.

“On top of another two staff for Farington this year, I’m looking to add a further two in 2027 to bring the total there to six full-time.”

But Lancashire’s present position in cricket’s second tier “is not where we need to be” admits Matt, who points to a lack of concerts at Emirates Old Trafford lately as one reason the club hierarchy is scrutinising expenditure.

Farington will not be staging big ticket affairs, due in part to planning constraints on the green field site, but may well be available for “weddings, funerals and wakes”, he adds.

Spectator seating capacity at Farington currently stands at 600 in front of the pavilion facing the County square and two seating areas either side of it facing the Community square.

The strikingly designed triangular pavilion lies at the touch point of the two ovals.

“If two games are underway at the same time, you can watch them both. The 18 County strips are the same spec as Old Trafford, as are the middle six of the Community square, with lighter loam, suited for club cricket, laid either side of them,” Matt explains. “The idea is that second team games can use the middle six strips when needed.”

Hybrid surfaces feature on each square – “six GrassMaster stitched wickets on each square. We chose them for their longevity. Footholds are more resilient and they provide greater traction.”

Lancashire is no stranger to hybrid technology though. “The Old Trafford nets have four stitched wickets and there are three on the main square – laid before 2019,” Matt confirms.

In excavating the site, 2m of topsoil were stripped off to create the bowl, most of which was reused to contour the site. The County outfield is constructed with 100 mm gravel overlaid with 300 mm of 70:30 rootzone, Matt continues. Land drains at 3m spacings lie under the Community oval, with sand banding and 50mm rootzone. Each oval was sown with Barenbrug ryegrass mix.

Aside from the usual seeding and topdressing, Matt plans to korrow off the strips every three or four years. Meanwhile, the much needed dry spell earlier in the year allowed the team to get out and cut the outfields, with the new Dennis ES 36 electric mower tending the squares and the nets. “Then the rain returned.”

Matt is applying tried and trusted fertilisers at Farington. “They’re the ICL products we apply at Old Trafford and we had good results – Sierrablen 19-5-5 slow release granular in spring, followed by GreenMaster 11-5-5 cold start granular and liquids too.”

The second home is currently robotless, Matt says. Infinicuts, the Dennis, a Toro five unit ride-on, ride-on rotary and an Autoroller (with a second on order) kit out the ground.

“We may get robots for the banking, once Wright Landscapes have completed their work, scheduled for December, and handed over to Lancashire County Council, which will look after that side of things.”

Planting is still underway, including trees, shrubs, wildflower mixes and perimeter hedging. “Hopefully the site will encourage wildlife diversity (though not cattle preferably!) with a contractor coming in twice a week, eight hours each day to keep everything under control.”