The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has teamed up with Sky Sports to launch a new grassroots cricket initiative called Dynamos Cricket Intros. The scheme will offer training to 300 new coaches that will work across 150 schools and 150 community centres to encourage more children to take up the game of cricket regardless of gender, ability, or background.
The key aim of this collaboration is to reach out to children that do not have access to cricket for a variety of reasons. The three-year investment by ECB and Sky Sports will enable schools and community centres in underprivileged areas to provide courses for free. Dynamos Cricket Intros will target 100 towns and cities across the UK.
Starting on June 1, it is designed to inspire the next generation to pick up a bat and ball, particularly in urban areas, by introducing children to a simplified and more dynamic game of countdown cricket. The initiative is broken down into three main parts; recruitment and training, access to free courses, and the creation of fun educational videos delivered by stars of the game.
To generate more interest around the program series of fun and educational videos featuring England star Jofra Archer and Tammy Beaumont will be made available on Sky Sports YouTube channel.
Rob Webster, Managing Director of Sky Sports said: “At Sky Sports, we believe all children should have the opportunity to play cricket regardless of gender, ability or background. As a long-standing partner of the ECB, we have invested in Dynamos Cricket Intros to tackle head-on some of the biggest barriers to participation.”
Nick Pryde, Director of Participation and Growth at the ECB said, “We are continuously grateful for the depth and breadth of our Sky Sports partnership. Their generous investment into creating Dynamos Cricket Intros is an incredible example of their dedication to growing the number of children playing cricket in this country and to making the game more inclusive and diverse.”
This initiative will come a long way to provide some sort of relief to the cricket fraternity at the grassroots level in England due to the pandemic. English cricket may further relief in the coming months since the UK government has promised a good chunk of sports relief package in March.