Sookholme hosts Nottinghamshire cricket fixtures

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club are playing first-team home matches away from Trent Bridge for the first time in more than a decade.

The two 50-over matches against Warwickshire on Saturday and Glamorgan on Sunday take place at Sookholme near the former mining village of Welbeck.

They played Durham in a match at Cleethorpes in 2004.

Director of cricket Mick Newell said the two matches will be "a festival of cricket".

"We want people to enjoy what they see, and that might lead to us carrying on doing this in the future," Mr Newell said.

"It's very much part of our thinking to have some time away from Trent Bridge, no doubt about that.

"We want to give head groundsman Steve Birks every opportunity to prepare his Test pitch for this summer's Ashes game, which is hugely important for England and Notts in terms of how it's hosted."

He added: "Twenty20 cricket is such a money-spinner that is not likely to move from Trent Bridge because that is the only place that can hold 7,000 to 10,000 people.

"But in other types of cricket like this, and possibly four-day cricket, there is no reason why we can't move games away from Trent Bridge."

Crowds of 4,000 to 5,000 are expected if the weather is good, a club spokesman added.