One of England's most densely populated boroughs is Towers Hamlets in East London. The British Bangladeshi community, who initially settled in the area in the 1970s, make up over one-third of its 320,000 residents, making it one of the most socially poor as well.A portion of the decades-long development of athletic facilities was unveiled to that community and the surrounding area last week. The borough's first fine-turf pitch was an eight-strip cricket square, which Mayor Lutfur Rahman unveiled at the eastern end of London's historic Victoria Park. It is expected to be operational by June.With the exception of its neighbour, the City of London, Tower Hamlets is believed to be the last borough in the whole of England to gain access to such a facility. There are three Non-Turf Pitches (NTPs) in Victoria Park - weather-beaten strips of tarmac and synthetic carpet that are in near permanent use throughout the summer months and, as often as not, through the off-season too, with the keenest players unafraid to dodge round football goalposts to get their fix whenever possible.But there's never been an investment in the borough quite like this. The new home ground of Tower Hamlets CC will be a publicly accessible facility, comprising a curated outfield, permanent sightscreens, and even landscaped grass mounds to frame the outfield, thereby encouraging spectators to gather and passers-by to respect the sanctity of what is intended to be more than just another shared patch of ground in one of London's most-popular parks."The latent interest in cricket in this borough is second-to-none, but it has been severely undersupplied with both facilities and with traditionally operating cricket clubs," says Josh Knappett, Facilities and Project Lead at Middlesex Cricket in the Community, whose community outreach scheme has been a key driver of this initiative. "This has been a big project that's taken a long time to get here, and we're very excited. This is a site that's going to have a long-lasting impact to grow the game for men, women, boys and girls in this area."Over the next two years, up to £150,000 is set to be ploughed into cricket in the borough by Towers Hamlets Council and its partners, among them the ECB, Middlesex Cricket in the Community, and London Cricket Trust. That money will go towards such projects as the renovation and expansion of the borough's existing NTPs, as well as a new set of all-weather nets in Stepney Green Park in Bow.

Source-Espn