THE ULTIMATE SECRET AGENT has given Northants Cricket a licence to thrill party-goers at the County Ground . . . as the Casino Royal-theme of their Christmas season proves to be a big hit.

With so many Bond men and Bond girls flocking to the cricket ground for Christmas parties, the Club have reported that bookings have tripled for this year's festive celebrations.

Some parties have already sold out and additional nights have been added to the programme in the countdown to Christmas to meet the demand of a success story that has certainly enhanced the reputation of the County Ground as a venue for events and special occasions.

While Northants Cricket officials are delighted with the response, they are now pressing ahead with exciting plans for some major events to be held at the ground in the New Year.

"The success of these Christmas parties is an important development in the rebrand and marketing of the County Ground as an Events Venue," said Chief Executive Mark Tagg.

"The high level of interest has required us to add additional nights and we have already tripled the number of bookings from last year for a programme that launches this week."

He added: "We are confident that the Casino Royal theme will enhance our reputation for delivering high quality events with excellent standards of service and this will add further impetus to our work aimed at attracting more people to the County Ground all year round."

The 2009 Casino Royal Christmas Party programme gets underway on Thursday December 10th and runs for a fortnight up until December 23rd, featuring twelve nights.

The night of Tuesday December 22nd is completely sold out, while six other dates now have only limited availability for party-goers.

With demand for places at such a high level, the Club took the decision to add further nights to the programme and bookings are now being taken for those occasions.