Photo Credit: ECB
England stars and school children have joined forces to urge more kids to pick up a bat and ball – showcasing all the ways in which people play cricket, whether in the back garden, at school, in the park, in the street, on the beach or at their local club.
England captains Ben Stokes and Heather Knight feature in a new video, alongside Men’s legend and record wicket-taker Jimmy Anderson and England Men’s Deaf team international Joel Harris. In what is set to be a record year for kids’ participation in cricket, they appear alongside school children with the ambition of inspiring even more children to take up the sport, by giving their own perspectives on what cricket is to them, from playing in packed out stadiums to playing in the back garden with friends and family.
Alongside the new video, the ECB has collaborated with the campaigning organisation Playing Out to raise awareness of how local communities can safely close roads for outside play, encouraging them to get active and enjoy the game safely even in areas where outdoor space is limited. Links to Playing Out’s materials will be available through the ECB website to make it easier for communities to act.
Featuring next to the England stars are children from Mayfield Primary School in Oldham, including Elliot, aged 9 and Olivia, aged 10 who share why they love cricket. Elliot explains that he loves playing at his club because his teammates are so motivational, while Olivia likes playing cricket with her best friend Abigail, who says she is a really good bowler.
2024 set to be a big year for kids’ cricket
In 2023, a record 1.1 million children were supported to play cricket by ECB and partner programmes, and 2024 is now on track to surpass this.
Ahead of the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and the 2030 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, more investment than ever will go into grassroots cricket to maximise their impact to inspire the next generation.
The ECB already invests £4 million each year to support the free delivery of cricket in schools via Chance to Shine and Lord’s Taverners, reaching 600,000 children, and working with every County Cricket Board across England and Wales.
This number will now increase as, in April, following extensive discussions with the ECB, the Government announced a £35 million investment in grassroots cricket facilities and widening access to the sport within state schools, enabling over 900,000 young people to play cricket over the next five years.
Beyond schools’ cricket, the ECB also funds or supports a range of other grassroots programmes which resulted in over a million children and young people playing the sport last year. From the National Programmes of All Stars and Dynamos for 5 – 11 year olds, to support for charity partners such as ACE, Lord’s Taverners, Chance to Shine, SACA and the MCC Foundation, cricket programmes in communities cater for every ability, with a clear focus on making cricket more accessible and inclusive.
The Play section of the ECB site contains support and materials for anyone who wants to get into cricket, or return to the sport, with information on clubs and community projects close to your home, materials for schools, or simply ideas on how you can play in the back garden or street.
Former England Men’s international player Jimmy Anderson said: “Like every other kid in the country, I started playing at home by picking up a bat and a ball and giving it a go. I was lucky that my dad played and I went to watch him at the local club but now there are way more opportunities to give cricket a try, whether that is at school, or at home or out with your mates. I’d encourage any young boy or girl to give it a try and you never know where it can lead.”
England Women’s Captain Heather Knight said: “I loved playing cricket with my brother when I was a kid, and now I love playing with his daughter in the back garden. I’m also fortunate that being a cricketer now also gives me the chance to have fun, with my friends, out in a field all day, and I’d love more young girls in future to be able to experience the joy that brings.”
England Men’s Test Captain Ben Stokes recently visited Hawthorn Primary School in Newcastle upon Tyne, to take part in a PE session with the children. At that visit, Ben said: “When kids are at a young age, there are completely different levels of skills amongst them all, but that isn’t something we look for – we look for the smiles and the enjoyment they get out of the cricket session. I can tell you that every kid out there today has been smiling constantly, which has been great to see. We need to make cricket more accessible, whether that is at home or at school, so that even more kids can love the sport.”
England Deaf International Joel Harris said: “When I started playing the sport, I never thought I’d end up representing my country all around the world. Cricket has given me that opportunity and now part of my reason for playing is that I want to inspire more people – maybe some people who may not think cricket is for them – to give it a go and see where it takes them.”
Chief Executive Officer of the ECB, Richard Gould, said: “The beauty of cricket is that it is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It can be at your local village club, it could be a game of tape ball in a car park, or it could be using a picnic bag for stumps on the beach. The uniting thing about our great sport is that it brings people and communities together and the more children that take up the sport, in whatever way they want to, the better it is for the long-term health of cricket.”
Ingrid Skeels, Co-Founder of Playing Out said: “Outdoor free play is the foundation to children’s physical activity, physical literacy and the doorway to informal sport. Safe spaces to play out have increasingly been lost in communities, due to traffic volume and speed, public land being sold or developed and a growing ‘No Ball Games’ culture. Children from the most disadvantaged areas are most impacted by this, as other alternatives – paid-for, organised activities further from home – are less accessible to them. If we want all children to be healthy and discover the joys of cricket and other sport, we need to make it safer for children to play together close to home and easily access parks and other spaces.”
