MARTINSTOWN Cricket Club will start their pre-season fixtures against Milton Abbey School before hosting Southampton University Seconds.

The season will see the first team compete in the Dorset Funeral Plan Premier League while the Seconds will continue in County Division Five and Division One of the Evening League and the club are in the process of finalising an under-19 side in an ECB competition.

Club Captain Matthew Rimmer said: "It’s shaping up to be an exciting season at Martinstown Cricket Club.

“This winter the club have extended the pavilion and made other ground improvements, maintaining our ground as one of the best and most beautiful in Dorset. Our wicket is consistently one of the top-rated ones in the county as well."

“We have an ethos about being a friendly, family-based club that provides cricket-for-all.

"Owning our own ground means we can make sure subscriptions and match fees remain low, and all proceeds are reinvested back into the club, therefore we are always developing and improving.

"This is why we have risen from the bottom division to the Premier league, something all of us at the club are hugely proud of.

"I think that this makes us a real draw.”

The club’s youth section has been a beacon of success in recent years with silverware won on a regular basis and around 90 children per year having attended training sessions with the focus on having fun, learning and trying your best.

This was demonstrated this winter with both the under-14 and under-16 sides winning their respective indoor leagues.

One of the club’s main coaches, Steve Bishop, is running an Easter Cricket Camp on Friday, April 13 before the main baulk of youth training starts a week later.

Under-11 and 13s start on Wednesday, April 18 with the under-15 side starting on Friday, April 20 and the club have signed up to the ECB All Stars programme, an exciting initiative to introduce five to eight year olds into cricket.

The club are also delighted to announce that The Brewers Arms, Martinstown, are supporting this programme.

Anyone interested in joining the club can come along or contact club captain Matthew Rimmer via therealmcc@hotmail.co.uk.