IPSWICH Cricket Club has been selected as one of five nationwide 'Showcase Clubs' for next year's NatWest Cricket Force project.The Clayhall-based club are celebrating being the first from East Anglia to be selected since NatWest Cricket Force was launched in 2005.

Nick Garnham

IPSWICH Cricket Club has been selected as one of five nationwide 'Showcase Clubs' for next year's NatWest Cricket Force project.

The Clayhall-based club are celebrating being the first from East Anglia to be selected since NatWest Cricket Force was launched in 2005.

Natwest Cricket Force is an annual programme delivered by the ECB designed to increase volunteering within cricket clubs and to help improve their facilities at the lowest cost possible. Last year the scheme attracted a record 1,375 clubs, 85,000 volunteers and an estimated £35-40m in cash and kind.

The event takes place from April 3 to 5 next year and in addition to receiving the full backing and assistance of the ECB Cricket Force team, Ipswich will be visited by a 'cricket personality' on the Sunday of that weekend.

The club were put forward by Martin Taylor, Suffolk's cricket development manager, who was asked to nominate a club in the county worthy of being considered for selection.

Graham Denny, chairman of Ipswich Cricket Club, said: “It is a great honour for us to be selected as one of only five clubs chosen across the country.

“We have shown to the ECB in the past our willingness to enter into the project. This will be a great opportunity to get things done for the club that may otherwise have taken a number of years to complete.”

The club will be holding a launch night in conjunction with the ECB at the Holiday Inn in Ipswich on January 16 next year.

The honour follows on from Ipswich CC being selected as The Wisden Cricketer's Club of the Month for July earlier this year, although they were pipped to the Club of the Year title by Washington CC from County Durham.