NORTHWICH Cricket Club has scooped a major cash windfall to fund its resurgence as a major force in Cheshire.

Last week the club announced a sponsorship deal worth £54,000, money which will be used to breathe new life into its on-field fortunes.

Charlton Homes came in with the first amount of £27,000 and grant organisation Sportsmatch duplicated the figure to give the Moss Farm club the perfect Christmas present.

It gives Northwich the green light to re-launch their junior section for the first time in nine years and set up the kind of community structure top clubs in Cheshire thrive on.

Although the club still languishes in Division One East of the Cheshire Cricket Alliance below all its neighbours, development officer Simon James can see fortunes turning full circle again.

He said: "It's a major plus to get an award of this much, it's one of the highest given out in the last 12 months. It's not every Christmas you can celebrate getting £54,000.

"We may have a great ground but we're still at the bottom of the pyramid, but we want to be known as the town team again.

"We've got coaches in place at the club which will allow us to bring juniors through. The majority of the current team came through the junior ranks 10 or 12 years ago, including myself, so we've really missed not having a junior section.

"We're looking for players, but of course there's a gentleman's agreement in cricket that you don't pinch from other clubs, but we will get our future seniors coming from the juniors. It's the focal point of any community club."

Northwich's new Moss Farm home, which hosted senior cricket for the first time in 2000, will be furnished with facilities including new practice nets and artificially turfed training pitches.

They will also run England and Wales Cricket Board coaching courses, host school visits and hold a Kwik Cricket Festival at Moss Farm in the summer.

Players and members, old and new, are invited to an open day at the ground on Saturday, January, 27.