A CRICKET club is celebrating its centenary in style.

The Philadelphia Cricket Club has been supplied with new kit by the Yorkshire Bank to mark its 100th birthday.

The sponsorship deal with the bank's financial solutions centre, in Newcastle, means the club's first and second teams and junior academy are kitted out for this season in the Foster's Durham Senior League.

Chairman of the club, in Houghton-le-Spring, Malcolm Pratt, said: "This is great.

"The guys in the team love the strips this year and we plan to make them work for us on the field every weekend.

"Our objective is to enjoy our cricket and promote the six teams in our junior academy.

"We're one of the few clubs in the North-East to employ a coach all year round, so we plan to build up our strength for the future of the club and improve the skills of our younger players."

Phil Empson, senior partner at the bank's centre, said: "We are delighted to be helping Philadelphia Cricket Club.

"While the bank supports cricket at a national level, we believe it's important to be active at the grass roots."

The club is planning an end-of-season centenary celebration dinner, in September, and is trying to get in touch with as many former players and members as possible.

Anyone wanting to attend is asked to contact chairman Mr Pratt on (0191) 3890484.