SPORTS mad artist Chris Watts hopes his latest painting will help restore the roof of the Trowbridge Cricket Club pavilion.

Watts, who is a long serving member of the town's cricket and rugby clubs, is looking to sell 100 prints of the idyllic scene to support the restoration fund.

The self-confessed fitness fanatic has been a keen artist for the past 10 years and his work has been shown at numerous exhibitions. Now he hopes his painting of a Sunday match in last summer's heat wave will benefit the club he first joined as a youngster.

The 43-year-old, who cycles every day from his Hilperton home to work in Westbury, is delighted with the painting.

He said: "I sketched it over a period of two or three weeks and took it up there on a Sunday game to finish. It was such hot weather that the painting is full of lots of yellows and bright colours.

"I'm very pleased with it and the response I've had just shows what people think about it. I think there are about 30 of them already gone and I've only just done the prints.

"One of the club members asked me to paint it, but I thought it would be a nice idea to make it a print and raise funds for the roof.

"The roof is over 100 years old so it needs taking down and putting back together properly. I think the whole project will cost around £20,000."

Watts, who is captain of Trowbridge's second XI, describes himself as a batsman-bowler and remains very committed to the club. His painting is on display in the pavilion and the club's website.

He added: "I rejoined the club from Bradford on Avon five or six years ago and I will end my playing days here."

Watts cycles about 80 hours a weeks and is a regular runner and swimmer. But while sport has always been a big part of his life he only started developing his artistic talent 10 years ago.

He said: "I've always had a liking for art since I was at school but I only took it up properly when I went on a cricket tour. When you have sketched something it's better than a photograph because you remember it a lot more."

Watts had a particularly successful exhibition in Trowbridge's Red and White restaurant last year, which saw him sell a number of paintings. But his art is unlikely to become a career.

He said: "I paint to fund my holidays. There are lots of artists who would like to think they can make a living out of it, but it can be quite hard. I do contemporary flower scenes and the usual Mediterranean scenes, which have proved very popular. I enjoy cricket paintings, but after a while you think 'I've had enough of these and want to keep it fresh'."

Although rheumatoid arthritis has forced Watts to end his rugbyplaying career, he manages Trowbridge's second team and is a former director of rugby at the club. He now hopes to do a fundraising painting for the rugby club as well.

He said: "I've done several pictures for their sportsmen's dinners, but I would like to do something in the same vein for them. It would be nice to paint the old clubhouse, particularly if we decide to move away."

To buy one of Watts' prints, visit Trowbridge Cricket Club or log on to www.trowbridge.cc.