Nomads building bridges with Newstead

Last year’s victorious Ashes summer attracted 310 clubs nationwide to take part in the ECB Club Open Days scheme, with double the number already signed up this season.

One of those clubs is Nomads and they are encouraging the community to come out in full force on Sunday, 13th July to catch the final day of the first Test between England and India at their ground.

Nomads have put their own spin on the event, combining it with a village fun day and hosting a six-a-side tournament as well.

And Cantrill hopes the day will help attract new members to the club, particularly on the youth side as the club looks to get their junior section up and running again.

“This is our first year at our new ground in the village and we want to raise the profile of the club which is why we decided to combine it with the village,” Cantrill said.

“We were told that the village didn’t have a good integration with the former club at the ground and there had been a lot of vandalism to the facilities and we want to try and set-up a junior team to try and get the kids in the village involved in the club.

“This is a good opportunity to get the local community involved with the club and re-establish that connection. By getting players in when they’re young hopefully they build a really strong attachment with the club.

“And the teams involved in the six-a-side tournament are made of people who wouldn’t always play cricket so hopefully they enjoy themselves, want to stay involved in the sport and think we’re a good option to do that with.”

Former England captain and the ECB’s managing director of cricket partnerships Mike Gatting is fully behind the scheme, adamant the ECB Club Open Day allows Nomads to showcase what they do in their community and encourage others to help out.

“The ECB Club Open Days opens the doors (to the public) and can attract some new volunteers, players or even just social members,” Gatting said.

“It also puts the club itself on show to the community so people know that it’s there, and hopefully they can attract new sponsors.

“People can go down to the clubs, see how much fun it is and what they do for the community – getting children involved or simply helping adults expend some energy – and they can see that it’s a great place to be part of.”

The ECB Club Open Days, in partnership with Waitrose, is a nationwide initiative that aims to help boost grassroots cricket participation by encouraging cricket clubs to open their pavilion doors and welcome guests from their local community for a day.

Find out when your local Club Open Day is and pop along by visiting www.ecb.co.uk/clubopendays.