CRICKET club supporters are being urged to help fund a new LED scoreboard and ground equipment for a new generation of players.

Plans were recently approved for Farnworth CC to install a two-lane artificial surface practice facility along the western boundary. But the new facility blocks the old scoreboard, which cannot be moved.

The battery-powered board is decades old and quickly becoming a relic the club is keen to replace.

Club captain and head coach Simon Booth said the range of new equipment “will be the way forward” for a new generation.

He said: “The current board has been here since year dot basically. It’s battery powered, uses magnets and is just getting a bit too old to be honest.

“We really want to be able to relocate the scoreboard so that it can be seen and also portable - it is about time we had an upgrade.”

In addition to the new LED scoreboard, the club hopes for an outfield mower, a wicket mower and new covers - which will add up into the tens of thousands of pounds.

But if the club can raise £10,000 - spread among 100 supporters - it will receive matched funding of £10,000 from Sport England.

Simon said: “We will be putting the training facility in on the week commencing May 24, so it is imperative that we move the scoreboard then really.

“The new facility is one of the biggest projects in the club’s history, but the major issue of the scoreboard being blocked means it is vital we get a new one put in.

“Everything we have been given in the forms of grants and loans, we have spent. There is not a bottomless pit of money and we need to raise it in some form.

The deadline for the club’s Crowdfunder is Tuesday, May 25 - in which the £10,000 raised by 100 supporters must be achieved.

For more information, visit Farnworth Cricket Club’s Facebook page or website at farnworthcricket.co.uk