Haworth Cricket Club members are celebrating being chosen as one of 97 sports projects across England to receive a share of £5.5 million in National Lottery funding.

Sport England’s Protected Playing Fields fund has allocated £50,000 to the Haworth club’s West Lane ground.

The cash will enable it to make improvements to its cricket pitch, which is currently unplayable or very difficult for players to negotiate during bad weather.

The work will include levelling out the pitch and re-grading the surface, which will hopefully help to avoid match cancellations.

Kath Gower, assistant secretary and child welfare officer at Haworth CC, said: “We’re delighted Sport England has approved funding to allow us to upgrade our pitch surface.

“We’re thrilled to bits our application has been successful.

“The bottom half of our pitch is good, flat and drains quite well. But the top half is natural hillside, and it’s solid clay underneath, which holds the water.

“These improvements, along with the guarantee of protection for at least 25 years, means this sports facility can now be enjoyed by our community for many years to come. We want to be a full part of our community, and we don’t want to let people down.”

Sport England chairman Nick Bitel said: “We know how valuable playing fields are to communities throughout the country, giving individuals and teams somewhere to get active and enjoy sport.

“This fund allows us to maintain and protect these spaces so high quality sports pitches are available in the heart of communities.”

Today’s Haworth Cricket Club was founded as Haworth Wesleyan Cricket Club in 1887.

Its present West Lane ground was opened in 1951.

The club was crowned League Division One champions in September last year – the first time its players had achieved this distinction since joining the Craven & District Cricket League in 1984.