Hundreds of people flocked to a grassroots cricket club on Sunday to watch Freddie Flintoff play in a charity match with some of England's cricketing legends.

Vernon Carus Cricket Club in Penwortham, Preston, played host to the England Legends XI who were playing against Flintoff's XI.

England hero, and Preston-born sports star, Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff, along with Michael Vaughan, Monty Panesar, Ryan Sidebottom and many more, made an appearance at the Factory Lane ground, much to the delight of the hundreds of spectators who had made it down to the club to catch a glimpse of their cricketing heroes.

A spokesperson for Vernon Carus said: "What a turnout. Great to see VC full for England Legends XI vs Flintoff's XI. 

"Freddie, Vaughan, Key, Panesar, Sidebottom and more down at Factory Lane." 

Long time player for the club, Ian Armistead, posted on Twitter:

The match, a T20 blast, was played to mark the opening of the newly refurbished sports club, which has recently undergone at £265,000 transformation.

As well as a cash bar, a raffle with fantastic prizes, the match was filmed for TV

Improvements have been made to the clubhouse, as well as the changing rooms and scoreboard thanks to investment from South Ribble Borough Council.

The upgraded facility is intended to be the focal point of a top-class sports and community hub in Penwortham ­- made possible after cabinet members approved a transfer of more than 18 acres of land into council ownership last September.

In January Don Parker, chairman of Vernon Carus Sports Club, said: "With this amazing support from South Ribble Borough Council we are hoping the club can truly go from strength-to-strength.

"We want to make this a real hub for the local community, with football, boxing, bowls and cricket all side-by-side and the possibility of expanding into more sports in the future.

"Improving the clubhouse is an exciting first step and means we will be able to host more functions, raising more money which can in turn be invested back into sport.

"Once completed, we hope people from every section of our community will come down and get involved.

"We look forward to welcoming people of all ages and from all different backgrounds."

The Vernon Carus site, comprising some 11.42 acres of land north of Factory Lane, is in the process of being transferred to council ownership from Lane End Developments Construction Ltd - along with a further 5.76 acres at Penwortham Reservoir.