LASHINGS Cricket Club is set for a six-figure cash injection with Maidstone businessman Gary Pankhurst buying half the celebrity club.

Lashings founder David Folb said he had sold 50 per cent of the team to sports fan Pankhurst who already sponsors Maidstone Hockey Club.

Folb said the deal would eventually bring in up to half a million pounds to secure the future and organisation of the club. He stressed: "My ambition has always been to secure the financial future of the company.

"With this we have gone from a village club to a major business," stressed Folb, who has recently sold his hotel business in Antigua and is stepping back from running his Maidstone bar.

Pankurst, managing director of the Orpington-based Pankhurst Contracting, which employs 46 people, said he was delighted with the deal.

"It gives us the opportunity to promote Lashings and to make it an even more successful club all round," he added.

The deal is likely to usher in major behind-the-scenes changes at the club. Folb has been keen to introduce a wide-ranging management team to oversee expansion. Until now he has been running a small team.

*Pankhurst was not just breaking sports news this week. The 39-year-old revealed his wife, Hayley, is expecting their fourth child.