Cricket Coming To Pleasant Valley Park In Bernards Township

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Pleasant Valley Park in Bernards Township will soon echo with the sound of leather on willow after the Township Committee approved funding for a new cricket pitch pad.

Meeting on March 24, the committee authorized spending up to $59,377.54 to Phoenixville-based Keystone Sports Construction for the installation, leveraging a Bergen County Cooperative Contract to streamline the purchase.

The project answers a call voiced in the township’s 2021 Needs Assessment Survey, which flagged a cricket field as a missing piece of the local recreational landscape. “A Cricket Field was identified as a community need through our 2021 Needs Assessment Survey, part of the update of the Parks & Recreation element of the Township's Master Plan,” Director of Parks & Recreation Jennifer Gander noted in the resolution.

Construction will center on the existing side-by-side multipurpose fields #3 and #4, where a 10-foot by 66-foot concrete pad will be poured and topped with artificial turf specifically designed for cricket play. Gander emphasized that the fields will retain their versatility: “Fields will remain multipurpose and will be able to continue to be lined for soccer when not rented for cricket.”

The addition marks the latest step in Bernards Township’s ongoing effort to broaden athletic offerings and reflect the evolving interests of its residents.