After eight years without competitive cricket, Torr Park came back to life through an unlikely partnership: an historic cricket ground without a club and a growing cricket club searching for somewhere to call home.
South Liverpool Cricket Club discovered Torr Park almost by accident. What followed was months of work, cooperation with Wirral Council and the local community, and ultimately the return of competitive cricket to Eastham.
Liverpool Echo cricket correspondent Tom Evans told the remarkable story in May 2025, just days after South Liverpool played their first competitive match at the ground, which with Tom’s permission, we reproduce here.
A club looking for a home
A 172-year-old village cricket ground without a club, a fast-growing club without a home… it’s a match made in heaven for Eastham and South Liverpool CC.
A journey which began with a scroll on Google Earth had its first major milestone on Saturday, when South Liverpool’s 2nd XI took on Caldy’s 3rd XI at Torr Park.
It was the first competitive match in the Wirral village for eight years – the club’s cricket development officer, Azam Udayar, hopes it’s the start of something special.
Since forming in 2018, South Liverpool have made waves in the Love Lane Liverpool Competition’s 3rd XI leagues, winning their Sunday league at the first attempt before switching to Saturday cricket.
They earned promotion to the 3rd XI Premier Division in 2022 and have finished second and third since then.
But as a nomadic club – currently renting space at Northern’s Moor Park – they are limited in how far they can go.
A Discovery on Google Earth
The Club that Brought Cricket back to Torr Park
So Udayar was tasked with finding a home. Last February, (2025) he was speaking to Wirral council’s Ally Noonan about the Bebington Oval, when something caught his eye.
He says: “She was telling me the bottom pitch at Port Sunlight might be available, so I was on Google Earth looking at that, and I just saw what looked like a square in Torr Park.
“I pushed the time back to 2012 and the square was there, then pushed forward to now and it disappeared.
“I asked what it was, and Ally said it was no longer in use. So I just said can we have it? She said obviously it will take a lot of work.
“Go For It”
“Straight away I spoke to Jason Gooding, who is the director of neighbourhood services for Wirral, and he was so helpful – he just said “go for it”.
“I went down to take a look and it didn’t look like a cricket pitch, it was knee-high with grass”.
“Nobody had done anything with it because they were using it as a dog park.”
The pitch used to be home to Eastham CC, which folded in 2017.
Seeing Beyond the Long Grass
But Udayar saw past the grass – and whatever the dogs had left – and saw potential.
He and the club set to work on the ground, and on renovating the old clubhouse.
Groundsman Stuart McCall, who already works with Birkenhead Park, Maritime and Oxton on the Wirral, came on board to finish off the square.
Cricket returns to Eastham
And last week – just 15 months after Udayar’s first enquiry – cricket returned to Eastham.
A T20 friendly was held to make sure the pitch played well, before the historic visit of Caldy.
South Liverpool made 237/6 in 41 overs, with half-centuries for Abhishek Appankunju and Akhila Mohanan, setting up a 135-run win.
But the real victory was being there at all.
“It was playing really well, better than I thought,” said Udayar.
“It kept low a few times but that’s expected, it’s the first game in eight years.”
Even that will not be the end of the journey.
In common with other nomadic sides in Merseyside, most of South Liverpool’s 76 members are from the South Asian background community.
Part of the furniture in Eastham.
The club does not currently have a junior section. But as it grows, and gets the rare opportunity to put down roots, Udayar’s vision is of becoming part of the furniture in Eastham.
He says: “We want junior cricket, so the idea is to fill a junior section with children local to Eastham.
“And we’re going to try to recruit coaches locally. That will form a pathway for players to come through.”
Thanks
Udayar is keen to thank the league for their support, along with Ally Noonan, Jason Gooding, Matthew Humble, Darran Marquis, Carl Davies and Mike Penny from Wirral council, Lancashire Cricket Foundation’s Paul Morris, and David Allan and Stephen Bailey from the Eastham Village Preservation Association.
The EVPA welcomed the club in its latest newsletter, delighted that the field was now a “field with a purpose”.
Udayar adds: “The locals are loving it – some of them are quite emotional to have cricket back there.
“And what they’ve said in their newsletter was very moving for us.”
What Happened Next
A full season of games has been played at Torr Park with the ground was used for the South Liverpool 2nd XI matches. The team finished in a very pleasing third place in their league.
Following an expensive professional renovation at the end of the 2025 season, the square gained the seal of approval from the Cheshire County Cricket inspectors. On the 20th September 2026 the square was again repaired, refreshed and further improved. A verticutter was used to slice into the underlying ‘thatch’, fresh seed sown and a dressing of marl has been applied.
Competitive cricket continued; South Liverpool CC has established Torr Park as a genuine second home; the water supply was restored; and plans for the ground and pavilion continued to develop. Work will continue on the outfield with fresh seed being sown on the bare patches left by the efforts to rid the outfield of the pernicious coltsfoot infestation.
We are looking to establish both a Ladies team and a Junior section. If you would like to be a part of the future of cricket in Torr Park, get in touch!
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