Grass-roots and state school cricket to receive £35m government investment
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The government has pledged £35 million of investment over the next five years into grass roots and state school cricket.
The funding will see 16 state-of-the-art all-weather cricket domes built outdoors within cities across England that will host games at two T20 World Cups held in England: a women’s edition in 2026 and men’s edition in 2030.
The domes will be built within culturally diverse communities where “figures have indicated low levels of physical activity”. This follows the launch last year of the first of these domes, in Bradford.
Three cricket charities – Chance to Shine, the Lord’s Taverners, and the ACE (Afro-Caribbean Engagement) Programme – will share a £14 million funding boost in a bid to help the game reach more state schools, where the game has withered in recent years.
That investment is expected to bring “2,500 pieces of new equipment to every school involved in the programme, and help to get 930,000 pupils playing cricket over the next five years”.
The chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Richard Thompson, hailed “a seminal moment in enabling the game to invest significantly in areas that up until now have not had the support they deserve”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “I first experienced the magic of cricket watching Hampshire play at my local ground in Southampton as a child.
“For young people watching their first match today, the draw of getting outside and enjoying the game is just as strong, particularly as we look forward to hosting the women’s and men’s T20 World Cups.
“There remains huge potential to grow the sport even further and open it up to everyone, from all backgrounds and in all parts of the country, building on the great work of organisations such as ACE and Chance to Shine.
“That is why I am so proud we are making a major £35 million investment in grass-roots cricket today, to widen participation in schools, encourage health lifestyles and provide world-class, all-year-round facilities for local communities.”
The announcement of the investment coincides with the launch of the new county season but also, more curiously, on the same day that the cross-party Culture, Media and Sport committee released its latest report on equity in cricket, following the game’s latest appearance before the committee in February, which included evidence from the ECB, the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (which delivered a report last year) and from Colin Graves.
The report states that the ECB should “keep a close eye on progress to ensure Yorkshire continues going down the road to reform” following Graves’s return as chairman, and ensure there is no return to “‘business as usual,’ that allowed a culture of discrimination to take root and thrive at the club” until former player Azeem Rafiq shared his experiences.
Investment will supercharge cricket’s appeal
By Lucy Frazer, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In his book, More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket’s Early Years, Sir John Major recalls how puzzled and infuriated his deputy PM Michael Heseltine would become during Cabinet meetings, when Major and his chancellor Kenneth Clarke would pass little bits of paper back and forth between them. What was so bloody important, Heseltine wondered. Was there a crisis? A ministerial resignation? Was sterling crashing? No, they were the Test scores.
Cricket is a massive part of our national life and it strikes at the heart of what it is to be British. A sport that balances individual skill, collective effort and the need for time and strategy. That pulls at the heart strings of millions every summer – whether they played the game at school or as an adult, or always just enjoyed the experience of being a fan in the stands. A game that brings communities together. One with informal conventions, an abundance of statistics, and an incredibly rich and wide vocabulary.
There is so much to love and admire about English cricket. Thirteen million people describe themselves as passionate fans of the sport and 1.1 million children play some form of the game. The Ashes remains one of the most resonant and captivating contests in the sporting calendar. The women’s game has expanded rapidly, with 717 new women’s and girl’s teams founded in 2023 – accounting for a 20 per cent increase on 2022.
But even with its enduring popularity, there is still room for cricket to grow and become a sport accessible to millions more across the country, from every background and walk of life.
The ECB have undertaken a huge amount of work in recent years to make cricket a game for everyone. Commitments to use money raised by selling stakes in Hundred teams to fund the growth of the game at grass-roots level. Chances to play cricket for 54,000 underprivileged children in 700 schools in the first year of a targeted scheme funded by the ECB. A concerted effort to reduce the cost of fees for coaching and matches that parents have to pay.
As a Government, we understand the powerful role cricket can play in getting millions more of us active, and in helping young people to develop and achieve their potential. And that is why we are going to invest £35 million into schools and charities who are working at the very grass roots of English cricket.
Our investment is going to help supercharge the drive to broaden the appeal of cricket and break down any and all barriers standing in the way of any young person being able to pick up a bat or a ball for the first time. Funding for things that we know are already making a difference, and initiatives that are made powered by people who understand cricket and the role it plays in communities.
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