Mustoe’s hoping for bumper Festival crowds

Starting with the crunch Royal London One Day Cup clash with Somerset Sabres on Wednesday, before encompassing the annual Festival Dinner on Thursday evening and ending with the crucial LV County Championship Division One battle with title rivals Durham, starting on Friday.

Mustoe said: “Crowds obviously depend on the forecast and I believe the weather is supposed to be good, so we’re hoping to welcome some big crowds to North Marine Road.

“Somerset and Durham are big clubs and we know the fans like to travel down from the North East when they play here, so fingers crossed.

“The title could be practically decided in the Durham game like it was a few years back when they won here.

“It is a big, big game and fingers crossed for a home win.”

The annual Festival Dinner is expected to be a 200-cover sell-out, a huge increase on last year’s attendance of 120.

Mustoe added: “We have Jason Gillespie, Andrew Gale and hopefully Graham Onions speaking alongside Sir Gary Verity, so we’re all looking forward to a good night.”