Chopra's £25,000 Business Appeal

Warwickshire opener Varun Chopra is appealing to Birmingham businesses to help him raise £25,000 to fund a new research nurse for Cure Leukaemia.

The talented 24-year-old - who last season became the first player in Warwickshire's history to score back-to-back double centuries - has teamed up with Birmingham-based charity Cure Leukaemia to help raise funds for much-needed specialist nurses across the Midlands.

As well as carrying the blood cancer charity's logo on his bat throughout the new season, Varun is looking for local companies to sponsor him as part of BBC WM's Red Alert Appeal.

He is appealing for businesses to pledge a minimum of £100 for every 100 runs he scores across all domestic competitions in the 2012 season. Last season he notched up 1203 runs in the LV County Championship.

Varun is the latest Warwickshire cricketer to pledge support for Cure Leukaemia; director of cricket Ashley Giles and coach Dougie Brown are both patrons, while the club itself has a six-year partnership with the charity.

Varun, who yesterday visited the Centre for Clinical Haematology at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said: "I am delighted to be able to support such a great cause as Cure Leukaemia; I know from Ash and Dougie what great work Professor Charlie Craddock and his team are doing. I am really hoping to reproduce my form from last season and raise thousands for the charity, with support from businesses across the Midlands."

The money raised by BBC WM's Red Alert Appeal will pay for nurses to carry out lifesaving clinical trials for blood cancer patients with drugs not readily available on the NHS.

The pioneering treatments administered by Cure Leukaemia, which is based at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, can offer a lifeline for leukaemia patients, who have explored all other options, and ultimately can save lives.

Companies who want to sponsor Varun should email info@cureleukaemia.co.uk.

Varun is pictured with Professor Charles Craddock, co-founder of Cure Leukaemia, at the Centre for Clinical Haematology in Edgbaston.