Shipston on Stour Cricket Club has received a financial boost thanks to a fund backed by a legend of the sport.

The club is a recent beneficiary of the £75,000 Gigaclear Rural Sports Club Fund, supported by former England cricketer Darren Gough.

The fund aims to support rural sports teams in the 26 counties covered by Gigaclear's full fibre network.

Read more: Father Brown cast filming at The Fleece near Evesham

The club, founded in 1834 and based at London Road, applied to the fund to buy removable netting.

This equipment will go towards giving their youth teams better resources to train with.

Club secretary Dave Murphy said: "We’re really grateful to Gigaclear for its support of grassroots rural sport clubs through its fund.

"The removable netting will help save the loss of cricket balls into the adjacent field on matchdays and will can also be adapted into training equipment as a fielding and batting net to help us coach our youngsters.

(Image: Gigaclear)

"Developing youngsters from our local area is vital for the survival and future of our club."

Fund ambassador Gough said: "Since launching the fund, it has gone from strength to strength, providing valuable support where it is needed most.

"It’s great to see so much kit and equipment being sent out to rural sports clubs such as Shipston on Stour Cricket Club and I wish them every success in the coming season.

"I believe the fund is helping make a difference to players now and to the rural sports teams of the future.”

More than 2,500 homes and businesses in Shipston can now access Gigaclear’s full fibre network, offering ultrafast broadband speeds reaching up to 900Mbps.