Hawks vice-president Adam Walters said the club just needed three to four good, sunny days to lay the carpet and put finishing touches to the facilities at Russell Square.

Mr Walters said the club had put in the old nets, including laying the slab, themselves about 25 years ago but they were not the safest or appropriate for modern standards.

These nets, a project driven by Rob Dixon and Mark Simpson, had been about four years in the making with support from the City of Ballarat and the state government.

Russell Square is also home to soccer, junior football, masters football and touch rugby.

Mr Walters said the project would allow for more cricketers to be training, and training more effectively, once the nets were in action.

But the nets also aimed to benefit the whole community, not just the cricket club.

"We will have one net always open for the community - that's been important to us when we've gone through the whole process," Mr Walters said. "The nets in the way they've been made could also be used for football seasons as all the dividing nets can be rolled back."

The Hawks nets follow much-needed changeroom upgrades at Russell Square and also come seven years after a club-funded turf wicket was rolled out at the venue, allowing the club's top teams a chance to properly set up a home base.

East Ballarat's primary home turf had been at East high (now Woodmans Hill Secondary College) since previously joining Maryborough district competition in the early 1980s.

Mr Walters said the facility upgrades were important for people living in the city's east, which was often overlooked because it was not as much of a growth zone as suburbs west of Ballarat.

He hoped the nets would be in play "as soon as possible", given the likelihood of a couple of wet months ahead.

IN OTHER NEWS

Have you tried The Courier's app? It can be downloaded here.