£400k Boost For NatWest CricketForce

The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced a major new £400,000 initiative with Build Center which will benefit hundreds of cricket clubs nationwide participating in the award-winning NatWest CricketForce initiative.

The project requires each participating club to make an initial payment of £100 from their own funds to activate a Privilege Account.  On activation, a further £400 will be added to the account at no charge to the club.  The club is then able to spend £500 at Build Center branches nationwide at preferential rates on materials and products required for NatWest CricketForce events.

ECB will invest £400,000 in the scheme which was formally launched at Old Trafford Cricket Ground today (Monday) and will be open initially to the first 900 cricket clubs to apply.

A total of 1,914 cricket clubs and an estimated 85,000 volunteers took part in last year’s NatWest CricketForce event – the biggest turn-out since the project was first launched by ECB in 2002.

NatWest CricketForce, which won a Sports Industry award in 2006, encourages cricket supporters, their friends and families to give back to their local cricket club by volunteering to undertake renovation work in clubhouses and grounds over a designated weekend at the start of each season.

ECB Managing Director - Cricket Partnerships, Mike Gatting said: “The key to NatWest CricketForce’s success has been the way in which it has engaged community-wide support – enabling cricket fans, the wider public and businesses and traders to actively help their local clubs.

"Build Center was one of the first companies to become an official supporter of NatWest CricketForce and this new initiative is a fantastic example of how businesses can help clubs regenerate their facilities and support ECB’s wider investment in the grass-roots game."

Build Center’s Head of Divisional Sales, Alan Bawden, said: “Build Center is proud to be an official supporter of NatWest CricketForce 2012 helping to support and develop local cricket clubs across the UK."