The Cricket World Cup is set to provide English cricket a participation boost, as the tournament's legacy programmes saw more than one million children aged five to 12 connect with the sport during the competition.
The seven-week tournament – which concluded in July with an unforgettable final between England and New Zealand – was hosted in partnership by The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The partners have now hailed the event's legacy plans, which were designed to ensure young people "fall in love with cricket" – creating the next generation of players.
Legacy plans included involving thousands of schools across the England in Kwik Cricket competitions and games organised by the Chance To Shine charity – an initiative which engaged more than 700,000 children and 12,000 teachers in the sport.
More than 12,000 children were also given the unique opportunity to experience the spectacle of live international cricket, thanks to an initiative to provide young people with free tickets to World Cup games.
To ensure clubs continue to benefit from the increased interest in the sport, ECB has made a multi-million-pound investment directly into clubs through the World Cup Small Grants Scheme.
The scheme has already helped 3,000 recreational clubs throw open their doors throughout the tournament, giving over 80,000 young people the opportunity to be introduced to the sport.
ECB will continue to build on the momentum from the tournament and grow the game through a variety of initiatives including its introductory All Stars Cricket programme for five to eight-year olds.
To accompany this, later this year the ECB will launch a major new schools strategy with the aim of doubling cricket participation in primary schools – bringing cricket to the playgrounds and playing fields of schools across England and Wales.
ECB will also invest £20m to transform the women’s and girls’ game, creating a clear pathway from young girls playing All Stars Cricket to the England cricket team.
“We set ourselves the ambitious target of connecting with one million young people and we are delighted to have met our goal ahead of time," said ECB chief executive officer, Tom Harrison.
“This has only been possible thanks to the hard work of people right across the game. Our five-year strategy, Inspiring Generations, will build on this as we look to continue to grow the game and engage more young people in the sport.”
