'Legends' tickets raise £6,750 for Children in Need

A Luxury package for two people to experience a weekend of world class cricket at Trent Bridge and meet living Nottinghamshire legends Sir Garfield Sobers and Sir Richard Hadlee has raised £6,750 in a Children in Need auction.

Notts CCC handed Children in Need the superb prize of the chance to meet the great men at the fund-raising Weekend of Legends next summer complete with a full hospitality package for the cricket and accommodation.

It came up for auction on Terry Wogan's breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 on Wednesday morning and was eventually snapped up by cricket-crazy Cardiff trucker Simon Evans.

He said: "I'd heard the prize was going in the auction the day before and thought it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet two of the best players ever as well as see some excellent cricket.

"I've never bid for anything like this before and probably never will again but now it's done I can't wait.

"It's going to be a fantastic weekend and it's great that the money will be going to such a good cause."

The 39-year-old from Rhiwbina in the Welsh capital said he is still trying to work out how to break the "good" news to his wife.

"She'll probably go absolutely spare when I tell her," he said.

"I gave her a quick call to say I'd be going away for a weekend at the end of June but she doesn't know quite how much it will cost yet."

Simon revealed that although he is absolutely crazy about the game, he has only ever attended one match before in the UK.

"I've seen games in Australia and New Zealand but I play every weekend for my club Bedlinog in the summer so I never get the chance to watch any matches," he added.

"I'm definitely going to have a weekend off next summer though and as my wife has no interest in the game and I've got a spare ticket, I've suddenly become very popular amongst my mates."

Trent Bridge's Weekend of Legends is an event designed to raise funds to help pay for a planned £1.8 million re-fit of the historic Test match ground's Victorian pavilion.

The event comprises of two games over the weekend of June 30 and July 1 next year.

The first will be an invitation match between two teams of current world stars selected by Nottinghamshire Knights, Hadlee and Sobers.

The second day will see old rivalries renewed when former stars take to the field as the England Masters go head to head with their Australian counterparts.