HAVE you ever fancied owning a cricket club?

Well, now’s your chance as Plush Cricket Club is up for sale as part of a beautiful 11-acre site nestled deep in the Dorset Downs.

Estate agents have valued the sprawling property, including a four-bedroom period country farmhouse, at a cool £975,000.

The property on Lower Farm comes complete with paddocks, while the entire cricket pavilion and pitch is also included in the lot.

READ MORE: When Plush CC were crowned Evening League Division Two champions

Reassuringly for cricketers in the area, the future of the ground itself is protected by a covenant stipulating its use as a cricket pitch or amenity land only.

Prospective buyers can purchase the cricket facilities on a freehold basis. The previous lease expired in 2019.

For player and groundsman Declan Chubb, the sale signals the beginning of an exciting future for Plush.

“It’s not for us to comment on the sale but whoever purchases the ground, and the land, it’s a very exciting opportunity to own one of the most stunning cricket grounds in Dorset,” he told the Dorset Echo.

“It’s exciting for the new owner to be part of the club’s history.”

Site owner Pete Hiscock explained his reasoning for putting the land and cricket ground up for sale.

“I’m in the process of getting a blue badge and I can’t earn any more to keep the place together, so I’m selling,” he said.

“I’ve got two or three people who want to buy the cricket club. There’s a hell of a lot of history there with my family and I desperately want it to carry on.

“I won’t do anything to harm the cricket. We’ve got one of the prettiest grounds around, in fact it was nominated for Wisden’s Loveliest Ground in 2002.

“It’s one of the loves of my life. I’m still president of the club.

“If somebody offers the right money for the rest, and the cricket club, it will go.

“The agents (Greenslade Taylor Hunt) want to sell the rest of the property first and then whoever buys that has got priority on the ground.”

But Mr Hiscock has a plan of action should his valuation of the cricket ground go unmatched.

“Unless somebody comes in and promises me that the ground is safeguarded, I would like to gift it to the village trust, which is everlasting,” he stated.

“The trust have agreed that they would put members of the cricket club on the committee and it would be for Plush cricket all the way through.

“If Plush were to fold, it would still have to be maintained as a cricket square and everything there.”

Plush currently field one team in Division Three of the Dorchester & District Evening League, and also play Sunday friendlies.