Funding for Wentworth, CYMS Cricket Club to help whole community: Donato

On Thursday, member for Orange Phil Donato handed out $20,580 in funding for Orange CYMS Cricket Club for a second pair of "all weather" training nets and $3000 of funding for ground maintenance equipment for Wentworth Golf Club.

Mr Donato said ensuring sporting facilities were up to scratch was "so important" for many different aspects of the community, from helping individuals to bringing people closer together and building ties.

"Having facilities or improving facilities across the whole range of the community is really important," he said.

"If you've got decent facilities in encourages people to participate up to a level and a standard where people are happy to go and use."

He said sport not just helped physical health, but also played a "really important factor" in mental health.

"It's really important and underpins a lot of really positive and community things like teamwork and things like community spirit and things like that."

Mr Donato said the all-weather cricket nets would be a boon to an Orange sporting club, and would help the region's growth in cricket participation.

"CYMS is one of the biggest cricket clubs in Orange along with Orange City and they've got a number of players from juniors to seniors, men and women, boys and girls," he said.

"Having that level of amenities and number of nets allows people to do more."

"It really helps develop players and skills because you've got more nets so can spend longer batting, developing and honing your skills."

He said the new nets would pair with the Cricketing Centre of Excellence due to be opened next month, and would help continue Orange's proud tradition of producing excellent cricketers.

Mr Donato added funding for Wentworth was about attracting people to different sports.

"It's about ensuring we have a really good level of facilities ...if you've got a good level of facilities it encourages people to get out and use them," Mr Donato said.