The silent issue threatening cricket clubs across the country

The sum of which their buildings were covered was significantly lower than what it should have been, meaning one incident or even damage over time could bring their club crashing to the ground

There is a Somerset cricket club in a small rural town surrounded by hills with views across the rolling countryside. It was founded in 1885 and now runs teams for seniors, boys, girls and are also a club on the All Stars programme.

Cricket is thriving in this part of the world and this club is greatly responsible for that.

The Cricketer are unable to name this club, however, because they have been the victims of one of sport's biggest problems at grass roots level. They were not fully insured.

The sum insured for their buildings was significantly lower than it should have been, meaning one incident could have brought their club crashing to the ground.

The figures were staggering. The rebuild cost for which they were originally insured was £451,000, however after a professional valuation this figure rose to £1,920,000.

If the club were subject to arson – like the unfortunate Olicanian CC – or even suffered damage from a storm that required repair, they would have nowhere near enough cover to ensure the costs are taken care of.

Luckily the club were an ExtraCover Insurance customer and the Yorkshire based insurance brokers got to work.

"The club have since acted on our advice and we were able to negotiate a reduced rate with the insurer so that their new policy did not quadruple their costs." Said Mark Dearden, Sports Development Manager at ExtraCover Insurance.

"They are now fully covered for the full value of their buildings."

^{Stock photo - images are not of the club referred to in this article}

While the Somerset club were fortunate that they realised their shortcoming before any serious damage was done this is a problem that cricket clubs up and down the country are affected by, often without even realising.

"Clubs often never get their buildings professional valued, rather at some stage, possibly decades ago, someone will have drawn up an estimate.

"Underinsurance can be devastating to some clubs and it is so important to get an accurate and professional rebuild cost. It's OK someone down the pub saying they could rebuild your pavilion for £50,000 but when it actually comes to it, it could cost £10,000 to clear the site, you could add another £10,000 to get all the planning permissions, building regulations & Architects drawings, then there is only £30,000 left to build a £50,000 pavilion.

"And even then the pavilion will probably cost well over the initial estimate to rebuild anyway.

"The constantly rising cost of buildings has always been an issue and with inflation over many years this issue has worsened."

It is so important that clubs are adequately insured. ExtraCover Insurance can now offer building valuations at a substantially reduced rate making the process that much easier.

There are even fewer excuses now to not fully protect your club.

Contact the dedicated ExtraCover Insurance team if you would like a quote or would like a review of your cricket club insurance

Call free on 0800 289 301 to speak with Mark, Helen or David or email extracover@marswool.com

Click here to visit the ExtraCover Insurance website