THE dream of appearing in a Lord’s final may be over, but Mistley have another big date looming on the horizon.

The Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship Division One club, who lost in the quarter-finals of the Persimmon National Village Cup to East Sussex side Rottingdean on Sunday, will officially open their new pavilion extension next Friday.

A match between the two MCCs – Mistley Cricket club and Marylebone Cricket Club – is taking place at their New Road ground and well-known cricket broadcaster and President of MCC, Christopher Martin-Jenkins MBE, will perform the opening ceremony.

CMJ, as he is known in cricketing circles, will also be the club’s guest of honour at a celebration dinner that evening when former Essex cricketer Don Topley will be the guest speaker.

The club have played cricket at their picturesque ground, next to the village church, for over 250 years and are now recognised as one of the leading clubs in East Anglia.

In 2007 the club were chosen by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to be one of its Focus Clubs in Essex and were given the task of developing cricket for women and girls in the local area as well as continuing to provide cricket for men and boys. As a result of their efforts, the club were also chosen to be part of the Chance to Shine programme.

Mistley were awarded a grant of �135,000 from the ECB in partnership with Sport England which has enabled them to extend their pavilion to cater for the club’s rapid expansion. They also received a �50,000 interest free loan from the England and Wales Cricket Trust towards the total cost of the project of approximately �250,000.

Club chairman Martin Favell said they were delighted to be awarded the grant because an extension of the pavilion was essential after the acquisition of a second pitch.

He said the pavilion had been transformed with four new dressing rooms, toilets, showers, social area and bar and facilities for people with disabilities.

“We are extremely grateful to the ECB/Sport England for their most generous support because we could not afford such a major project from our own resources. We regard the grant as an investment in cricket at the club for the future benefit of the local community,” he added.