Thousands of children in Nottinghamshire are set to benefit from extra cricket coaching thanks to an extension of the deal between Notts CCC and their official team sponsor PKF.

As part of the new two-year contract signed in the winter, the Nottingham-based accountants and business advisers are paying to train new cricket coaches - with the investment doubled thanks to Sportsmatch, the government funded scheme set up to help fund grass roots and community sports in England.

The money will go towards primary school inset days for teachers, partnership links at grassroots level with local cricket clubs and places on official UKCC coach education courses.

Said Notts Chief Executive Derek Brewer: “This represents a significant investment in grassroots cricket in the county and will be a major boost to schools and local clubs.

“Our cricket in the community scheme already goes out to more than 10,000 schoolchildren across Nottinghamshire and this can only help to extend the programme.

“The development of the next generation of cricket players and supporters is something we take extremely seriously and we are grateful to PKF for its continued support.”

Notts believe up to 250 schools could be involved in the inset days, with teachers attending two-hour sessions with Cricket Development staff and getting free bags of Kwik cricket equipment for their school.

And PKF is also offering to pay for a limited number of places on the UKCC1 and UKCC2 education courses, the official certificates for cricket coaches across the country - in return for candidates coaching at Notts events.

PKF Partner in Nottingham Paul Ellis said: “We were particularly keen to do something that built on our existing deal with Notts and this initiative to help train new coaches fitted the bill perfectly.

“Coaches really are the lifeblood of local cricket clubs. They are the ones who bring through youngsters and get them ready to play first and second team cricket, and anything we can do to help them is great.”

Pictured are PKF Corporate Finance Partner Paul Thompson, David Hussey, Mark Ealham and PKF Partner in Nottingham Paul Ellis.