DROITWICH Spa CC chairman Mike Wallis is urging the general public to head down in their droves when the doors are swung open to one and all.

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 Droitwich Spa and they are encouraging the community to come out in full force on Saturday, July 12 to catch the fourth day of the first Test between England and India at their ground.

Droitwich Spa have put their own spin on the event, inviting the local community to enjoy the Test as well as watch the first team’s clash with Pershore and get a taste for the game.

And Wallis hopes that the day will show there are many aspects of the club that people can get involved in.

“We want to use the day to try and attract new members and get more people in the town interested in playing cricket,” Wallis said.

“We’re offering people the chance to go in the nets and face the bowling machine and get the chance to bowl at some of the players. It gives us a chance to show people what are club does and what our facilities are like.

“We’ve lost a few senior players in the last few years so we’ve got a lot of older juniors playing in the main team. While it’s good to give youth a chance, they’re still finding their feet so we’re consolidating our position in mid-table but we could do with attracting a few more senior members.

“We want to show that cricket is open to anyone even if you’ve not tried it before. And as a local cricket club, there are so many aspects people can get involved with, not just on the playing side but also on the social side.”

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 Droitwich Spa 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