ASHFORD’S two leading cricket clubs have agreed to merge and form a Kent League superpower following an extraordinary general meeting held at Ashford Cricket Club’s Ball Lane headquarters.

The coalition was passed by a unanimous vote of Ashford Cricket Club members on Tuesday evening and will initially see Ashford move in with neighbours Old Stacians at their Goat Lea Park ground on Steeds Lane in time to play this summer’s fixtures.

The merged club will use the two well appointed grounds at Steeds Lane and field four league sides each weekend all playing in separate divisions.

With negotiations ongoing to sell Ashford’s 21-acre site at Ball Lane - their home since 1987 - for housing, the newly-merged club will eventually plan to move to a custom-built new ground.

Old Stacians’ members voted 23 to three in favour of the merger on November 30, but they still needed this week’s approval from the Ashford membership before the merger could be officially ratified.

The merged club will hold an EGM at Goat Lea Park on Wednesday, January 30 to elect officers and discuss its new name.