DESERT SPRINGS RESORT ANNOUNCE DEVELOPMENT OF CRICKET GROUND

Date of Release: 25^th May 2017

DESERT SPRINGS RESORT ANNOUNCE DEVELOPMENT OF CRICKET GROUND

 

Desert Springs Resort, Europe’s only international award-winning luxury family resort and championship desert golf course, in the Almanzora region of Almeria, Andalucía in south-east Spain, has today announced the construction of a dedicated cricket ground with an eighteen (18) wicket square.

 

The cricket ground, being constructed to ECB standards and specifications will be ready for play in February 2018 and will be open all year round. To be complimented by a Marquee pavilion, sightscreens, scoreboard, sprint strips, and associated facilities, this will provide an outstanding facility to practice and play cricket all year round and, in particular, out of the English cricket season. The cricket ground will provide opportunities for festivals and tournaments covering all formats of the game, appealing to cricketers of all ages and abilities.

 

This marks further expansion of existing cricket facilities at Desert Springs Resort following the opening of the Cricket Academy in 2013. The Academy has been host to school, college, university, club and professional first class cricket teams for out of season training camps, team building and bonding, players re-habilitation and in the run-up to important matches and competitions. Visiting teams have included; Lancashire CCC, Sussex CCC, Glamorgan CCC, Middlesex CCC, Somerset CCC, Yorkshire CCC, Solent University Cricket Club, Durham MCCU, MCC Women’s Young Cricketers, Trent College, Radley College, Blundell’s School and Whitgift School.

In 2015, the Academy was host to the England Cricket team Pre-Ashes Training Camp and most recently, between 16^th – 19^th May, hosted the England ODI team for a 4-day training camp prior to the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy Tournament.

 

Future expansion of the cricket facilities will see the introduction of an indoor swimming pool, state of the art gym, physiotherapy rooms and classrooms for educational purposes.

 

 

Desert Springs Resort and Matt Root, father of England Test Captain Joe Root, are jointly funding investment for the development project.

 

Matt Root remarked;

“It has been a long-standing ambition of mine to create a warm-weather cricket training facility in Southern Europe, so I was delighted to seize the opportunity to invest time and resources into the Desert Springs Cricket Ground.

 

The resort has already hosted a variety of teams from schools to full international squads, who have used the resort for net practice and fielding drills. The addition of an international standard pitch with a square of 18 grass wickets will enable us to provide organisations with intense pre- and off-season match practice in addition to an extensive range of other cricket and fitness training facilities.”

 

“Simon Coaker, Sales & Marketing Manager for The Almanzora Group Ltd. said;

“Across the world, all forms of 
the game of cricket are evolving
 and developing with increasing popularity for men, women, disabled and all age-groups, and the demand for an all year-round European Cricket Training destination, to benefit cricket as a whole, exists.

Being host since 2013 to amateur teams through to most recently the England Cricket team, and in recognition of the extremely positive feedback received, has led to the next and most logical step, that being the expansion of our current cricket academy facilities to develop a world-class cricket ground that will enable visiting players to enjoy competitive matches.

Desert Springs Resort provides Clubs’ with an alternative option to that of having to incur the expense of travelling long haul to the UAE or further to escape the UK’s winter in search of a warm-weather climate to complete their training camps on a world-class grass ground with the leading academy facilities in continental Europe.

Everything a cricket team requires will now be provided for from a cricket ground with the best possible playing surface and associated facilities for first and non- first class matches and training camps for premier leagues, clubs, universities and schools, resort accommodation of the highest standards, full catering services, a host of other activities such as golf and tennis, a fully equipped Sports and Fitness Centre… and the dedicated services of our highly experienced staff.”

Joining the team at Desert Springs Resort is past Sussex County Cricket Club Chief Executive, Zac Toumazi, who will be assisting with the implementation of the strategic objectives of Desert Springs Cricket.

 

“I am delighted to be joining Simon Coaker and the Desert Springs team at this very exciting time to help deliver the further development of the cricket facilities. The addition of the new cricket ground will ensure Desert Springs Cricket is taken to the next level and will ensure that it establishes itself as the ‘go-to’ resort for cricket training and development. I am pleased that I am able to continue my involvement in cricket with such a great team, in an amazing location and at such an exciting stage.”

 

 

• For details of Cricket, Golf & Sports Training Camps, Corporate Golf Events and Meetings at Desert Springs call 01242 680 116 or visit the website, desertspringsresort.es
• To find out more about the Desert Springs Cricket Academy visit the website: http://www.desertspringsresort.es/home/sport-camps/cricket-camps/

 

NOTE TO EDITORS

About Desert Springs Resort

Opened in 2001, Desert Springs Resort quickly established an international reputation for outstanding quality, attracting discerning golfers, international elite amateur teams and professionals, as well as major international events, including two Spanish Amateur Opens and most latterly the 2015 & 2016 PGA Europro Tour Championships. Desert Springs Resort will be host to the European Tour Qualifying second stage between 3^rd-6^th November 2017.

Resort accommodation is provided in the apartments, townhouses and villas available for holidays and short breaks at Desert Springs Resort. Meals are served in the resort’s Croc Restaurant, part of the family-friendly Crocodile Club that is geared up for a wide variety of leisure activities and the award-winning El Torrente Restaurant at the Club House.

 

Visiting crickets benefit from resort gated security and full management and services that ensure all aspects of a guests stay are taken care of. These include airport transfers, food hamper deliveries, and both resort and off-resort restaurant reservations.

 

Desert Springs Resort is easy to reach from the UK, thanks to three international airports. They are: Almeria Airport, 40 minutes by car; Murcia Airport, 80 minutes by car, and Alicante Airport which is a drive of less than two hours. Airlines currently flying to the region from the UK include British Airways, EasyJet, Monarch, Ryanair, Jet2, and Fly Thomas Cook.

Accommodation is provided in the apartments, townhouses and villas available for   holidays and short breaks at Desert Springs. Meals are served in the resort’s Croc Restaurant, part of the family-friendly Crocodile Club that is geared up for a wide variety of leisure activities and the award winning El Torrente Restaurant at the Club House.

 

The Desert Springs Resort & Golf Club

Facilities already completed and in use at Desert Springs Resort include:

• The Indiana course, a par 72 -18-hole USGA specification golf course, designed by former Great Britain and Ireland Golf Team Captain Peter McEvoy who was inspired by the desert courses of Arizona and California;
• a golf academy whose PGA qualified teaching professionals cater for several international teams, for the women’s elite squads of the Golf Union of Wales and for many of the English County Union’s elite squads; PGA European Tour, PGA Europro Tour and LET players.
• two tennis courts, two paddle courts, beach volley ball and two football pitches – one is a full-size grass pitch; the other is designed for five-a-side games;
• a Cricket Academy with facilities that comprise; twenty-four (24) grass wickets with nets, one artificial wicket with nets, a full length artificial grass wicket, a Professional Bola Bowling Machine with 28 ball feeder, a slip catch cradle and a specific area which provides outside space for facilities such as a free weights gym, stretching mats and a medical area;
• a Spanish colonial style Golf Club House with a lounge, bar, restaurant, locker rooms, TV and reading rooms, and a Ralph Lauren Golf Boutique;
• The Crocodile Club which provides family fun at the heart of the resort with pools, equipped sand play areas, a kid’s battery powered John Deere Gator circuit and a games room as well as a Jacuzzi, sun lawns and a pool bar;
• a health and fitness club and spa.

 

Awards

Desert Springs Resort was awarded Best Golf Resort for Groups in Europe by the 2016 European Group Travel Awards (EGTA). The Indiana Course at Desert Springs Resort has also been recognised as the 6th Best Golf Course in Spain, based on the reviews of players who rated the course on the Leading Courses website. Out of the 345 courses present on this ranking the Indiana Course at Desert Springs occupies 6th place with a score of 8,8/10, and awards Desert Springs Golf Club with the “Outstanding” badge. This distinction is only given to the best 10 courses in the          country.

Desert Springs Resort has been awarded the Daily Mail Best Almeria Award and the Bentley International Property Awards for the Best Spain Development and Best Architecture, as well as the Spanish National Madera Verde Prize for Environmentally Sensitive Development & SICTED award for the distinction of “Commitment to Tourism Quality”.

El Torrente Restaurant has received the New Millennium International Gastronomy   Award for the Tourist, Hotel and Catering Industry. This award was created by the Trade Leaders Club with the aim of distinguishing companies from all countries, for the outstanding quality of their products or services.

The climate of the Almanzora coastal region

Desert Springs takes it name from the region’s desert microclimate, which is unique in Europe. It has the warmest winter weather on the continent with an annual average of more than nine hours of daily sunshine and maximum daily temperatures of between 16°C (60°F) and 30°C (86°F) throughout the year.  Annual rainfall is less than 200 mm. The Almanzora coastal waters are among the cleanest and warmest in Europe, attracting both fish and diving enthusiasts.

 

Reader enquiries:

Simon Coaker The Almanzora Group Ltd Sales & Marketing Manager The Manor, Boddington, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL51 0TJ Tel: +44 (0) 1242 680116 Mob: +34 678 235 716 Email: scc@almanzora.com www.desertspringsresort.es