Notts duo support Clumber

4 April 2008

Will Jefferson

England Lions and Nottinghamshire batsman Will Jefferson will be joined by his county colleague Alex Hales in swapping their whites for overalls this weekend as part of NatWest CricketForce 2008, at Clumber Park cricket club.

They will be on hand to help unveil the new ground with a game against the National Trust on Saturday, along with other volunteers.

The NatWest CricketForce focus club are based on the National Park property near Worksop and are one of 22 community clubs in Nottinghamshire who have registered to take part in NatWest CricketForce 2008.

The scheme is the largest volunteering event in sport in England and Wales, with 85,000 volunteers participating in redecorating more than 1,350 affiliated clubs.

Clumber Park chairman Michael Beard said: “Our second ground has been in the pipeline for three years and as the project was near to completion, it made perfect sense to tie it in with CricketForce.

“The expansion will help us improve our sense of community by enabling our third and fourth XIs to play in the Park, and also provide a more flexible programme for our flourishing junior section.

“We’ve worked very closely with the National Trust and our sponsors to raise the funds to enable this to happen, and we’re very grateful for their support.

“Will and Alex will be helping us with things like painting the boundary fence, sightscreens and new scoreboard, as well as giving a spring clean to our pavilion on our first ground.

“And on Saturday afternoon we’ll be playing our first match on the new ground, with a Twenty20 game against the National Trust on an artificial pitch.”

NatWest CricketForce generates up to £40million for club cricket every year, creating better facilities and acknowledging the work and contribution of key volunteers with community cricket clubs.