Purton Cricket Club has endured a difficult time in recent seasons, with a wealth of talented young players leaving for pastures new. B0ut club captain Mark Gardner hopes the Ashes win will light a fire in the hearts of budding enthusiasts of the sport, and rekindle a few old flames too.

Gardner’s Purton enjoyed an influx on new faces after Michael Vaughn led England to victory in the best Test series in history in 2005, and he is hopeful of seeing the same result after Andrew Strauss & Co pulled off the most famous of successes on foreign soil last week.

“In 2005 we found a lot of youngsters were coming in, and it will hopefully do the same again,” he said.

“We found before we had a lot of seven to 13-year-olds getting interested. Really we want 16 to 25-year-olds, like any club. Let’s hope ex-players might see this and come back to the game.”