Howzat! Robins Oval wins big at state cricket awards

The Maitland Park oval was named Community Facility Project of the Year by Cricket NSW.

The win comes hot on the heels of Maitland council completing a $1.9 million upgrade to the facility in 2023, which included a refurbished grandstand, change rooms and a new canteen, amenities building and storage area.

Cricket NSW manager Hunter-Manning Gary Fisher said Robins Oval stood out because of recent upgrades as well as its aesthetics.

"This is the inaugural Community Facility Project of the Year, so the investment not only by the city council, but Cricket NSW and the state government through the T20 Legacy Fund meant that this facility came to fruition over the past few years to what it is today," Mr Fisher said.

"It's a state-of-the-art facility, what appealed to the panel that judged on this was the aesthetic nature of the venue, we're at a beautiful venue around here and council has complimented that so well with what they've done with the facility."

The $1.9 million facilities upgrade was completed in 2023, with funding of $1.5 million from Maitland City Council, $150,000 from the NSW Government and $200,000 from Cricket NSW.

Maitland mayor Philip Penfold said the improvements made to the facility were a long time coming.

"For too long the user groups have had to be accommodated in substandard conditions," he said.

"The improvement of the change rooms, the restoration of the historic grandstand and bringing that up to standard is important because we want to maintain a heritage focus in Maitland, but also the improvements to the change rooms mean we have a better female-friendly facility as well.

"This is our premier cricket facility and it's embarrassing to the clubs and to be honest it's an embarrassment to the council the condition it was in prior, so we're very glad to have been finally able to get it to this point and an award like this I think really brings attention to and acknowledges the work by council staff and its contractors on delivering this project."

Cr Penfold said he is grateful for City United Cricket Club and the ground's football users for their patience in bringing the facility up to standard.