MOUNT Ambrose Cricket Club have made a bright start to their Cornwall Division Four West campaign and secretary Marcus Rodgers is hoping their success carries over off the field as they swing their doors open to the public this weekend.
Last year's victorious Ashes summer attracted 310 clubs nationwide to take part in the ECB Club Open Days scheme, with double the number already signed up this season.
One of those clubs is Mount Ambrose and they are encouraging the community to come out in full force on Sunday July 6 as they bid to put themselves on the map.
Mount Ambrose have put their own spin on the event, combining it with their annual six-a-side tournament to try and attract new members to the club.
And with 400 people expected to pass through the gates during the day Rodgers hopes the Open Day can help the first team's fine start to the season, with them currently sitting fourth in the table.
"It seems a really good idea and hopefully people will like what they see and get more involved with the club," Rodgers said.
"We'd like to see families come along to the day as we've got a decent youth section and if we can get more younger people to take up cricket and families involved then all the better really.
"The six-a-side tournament allows people who may not normally be cricket players to get involved in the sport and you never know maybe a few of them will be converted and want to get involved.
"Hopefully we can use this to raise our profile because we're having a new pavilion built at the moment. Maybe volunteers can see what's happening in the club, know that we're there and come up, join in and help in whatever way they can."
Former England captain and the ECB's managing director of cricket partnerships Mike Gatting is fully behind the scheme, adamant the ECB Club Open Day allows Mount Ambrose to showcase what they do in their community and encourage others to help out.
"The ECB Club Open Days opens the doors (to the public) and can attract some new volunteers, players or even just social members," Gatting said.
"It also puts the club itself on show to the community so people know that it's there, and hopefully they can attract new sponsors.
"People can go down to the clubs, see how much fun it is and what they do for the community – getting children involved or simply helping adults expend some energy – and they can see that it's a great place to be part of."
The ECB Club Open Days, in partnership with Waitrose, is a nationwide initiative that aims to help boost grassroots cricket participation by encouraging cricket clubs to open their pavilion doors and welcome guests from their local community for a day. Find out when your local Club Open Day is and pop along by visiting www.ecb.co.uk/clubopendays
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