1,500 schools get stuck into cricket

Posted in Cricket.

Cricketer Stuart Broad takes part in a mock press conference with keen youngsters.

Our friend John Fuller from Cricket Yorkshire takes a look at National Cricket Week.

Last week, the Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week, organised by Chance 2 Shine, saw schools up and down the country embrace cricket and integrate it into their day with over 1,500 schools involved.

There was backing from both county and international cricket: with Graham Gooch doing a Bollywood dance at a Battersea school; beach cricket in Sussex with Rob Key; a Birmingham secondary school visit by Ravi Bopara and one hundred and fifty schoolchildren getting to meet Jos Buttler at Kirkham and Wesham Cricket Club in Kirkham, near Preston.

The culmination on Friday saw two flagship media events; thirty primary school pupils from South London got a surprise opportunity to grill England cricketer Stuart Broad as part of a media skills lesson.

Further North, six hundred children from twenty schools got the chance to affect a mass takeover of Headingley and play kwik cricket on Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s famous home ground.

The special education day was organised by the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, in partnership with the Emerald Foundation and Yorkshire and England cricketer Jonny Bairstow was on hand to give his support on a glorious day of sunshine.

It was also the day of Yorkshire’s much-hyped Roses T20 clash over in Lancashire at Old Trafford so there was an element of fun, cross-Pennine rivalry included in proceedings. Apart from Jonny Bairstow’s guest appearance on the day, other stars were on hand for photographs including Joe Root; in England’s squad for the First Test against Sri Lanka.

To read the full feature article and listen to an interview with Yorkshire and England cricketer Lauren Winfield on her own journey in cricket, visit National Cricket Week 2014 on CricketYorkshire.com.

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