England captain Nasser Hussain, England women's all-rounder Sarah Collyer and SM:TV presenter Tess Daly launched the npower Lions' Den at the AMP Oval today.

This initiative, from the ECB and npower, will turn a section of around 300 seats at each Test Match Ground into a 'Lions' Den' - an enclosure reserved for children. Youngsters in the Lions' Den will benefit from discounted Test match tickets with every boy and girl receiving a free activity bag, a Lions' Den T-shirt and cap, an educational activity book and a giant 'Roar for 4' paw.

The Lions' Den is an extension of the joint ECB and npower 'Pride Side' initiative, launched last year, in which three lions and one lioness, based on the traditional lions logo of the ECB, have been created to increase the appeal of cricket to all types of children between the ages of 6-12 years old.

Life-size mascots of the 'Pride Side's' superhero cartoon characters - Shen, Maxie and Widget and lioness, Little M - will entertain the youngsters in the Lions' Den during matches, demonstrating cricket's continuing drive to rejuvenate and promote cricket at all levels and across ethnic, age, social and gender boundaries.

Giving his full support to the exciting project, Nasser Hussain said: "These are excellent initiatives which will send out the right messages through every level of the sport. It's vital that the game evolves to compete with other sports, and these ideas are great. We need to encourage our next generation of fans and players to love the game, and it's very positive that the ECB and npower are getting together to try and achieve this."

Tess Daly said: "I wish they had this sort of thing when I was growing up! Speaking as a cricket outsider, the Lions' Den is a terrific idea that should attract kids to the sport. Anything that promotes sport in such a fun way must be a winner."

Sarah Collyer said: "Offering youngsters a taste of the action may lead to more of them taking up the game. Cricket is obviously something I love playing and I am in favour of the game being taken to the widest possible audience, so making cricket accessible to kids like this is terrific news."

npower Strategy Director David Andrew said: "As a young brand - we're only two years old - we are always striving to be different and do what's not been done before. The Lions' Den, powered by npower, provides a new experience for our younger cricket fans that they will remember, hopefully through to adulthood, which is a great thing for cricket generally. In the meantime, everyone has fun, which is exactly what we want."

ECB Commercial Director Terry Blake said: "A day out in the Lions' Den will be both educational and fun. We hope to welcome school classes and junior cricket teams, as well as individual families, to the npower Test Match Series."

Ticket booking is available via www.ecb.co.uk or 08705 33 88 33.

© ECB