Clubs across Somerset react to ECB All Stars scheme with 40 across the county getting involved

These were the startling results that came from the ECB’s recent survey into cricket’s popularity among youngsters, and it is with that in mind that they have launched their new All Stars Cricket programme.

Designed to get children between the ages of five and eight involved in the game, the scheme allows clubs across the country to sign up and invite kids to take part in eight hour-long sessions that promote fun and enjoyment through cricket.

Forty clubs across Somerset, 24 of which are within a 20-mile radius of Taunton, have thrown their weight behind the scheme and signed up to run the sessions.

Taunton CC are one of those, and their youth co-ordinator Darrell Vickery said: “We think it’s a fantastic idea, so we’re getting fully behind it as a club and we’ll see how it goes.

“We are always trying to recruit more youngsters and anything that tries to get kids involved in cricket has to be a good thing.”

Andy Fairbairn, the Somerset Cricket Board Development Manager, has been pleased with the number of local clubs who have agreed to get on board and spoke about the aims of the project.

“The idea is to make the game appeal to the masses and make it accessible, and once you’ve got the kids and parents active it will safeguard the future of cricket clubs,” he said.

“It is also about trying to give the parents back an hour with their kids each week, as part of the programme is about encouraging parents to help out with the running of sessions by giving them resources so that when they go back to the garden or local park they are able to play cricket with their kid.

“There was a statistic brought to us that said only 1% of kids who have never played cricket are fans of it, which made everyone sit up and really think about how to get kids playing – especially because around 70% of kids who play cricket in schools say they enjoy it.”

Dan Bingham, who runs the youth section at Wembdon CC and also works as part of the ECB’s Chance to Shine initiative, agreed that cricket needs to do something to regain its place in the national consciousness.

“I go to schools as part of my job and, having seen the All Stars presentation about lack of awareness of cricket among youngsters, thought I would ask some of the questions myself,” he began.

“I was asking kids to go down the alphabet and list sports, and when it got to ‘c’ there was often silence, which is crazy considering cricket is traditionally our national summer sport.”

Taunton’s Vickery added: “We are lucky down here that it is a good cricket area, we are a big county and there is a lot of support for cricket in the region.

“But even here I have noticed that other sports can seem more appealing to youngsters, so hopefully this can help get more children playing cricket.”

This echoes the view of Bingham, who has worked to promote youth cricket across the region for the last decade.

“Traditionally, kids don’t get into cricket until late on in primary school, by which time they may have already been playing football or rugby for several years,” he said.

“At Wembdon we already have a thriving youth set-up and have done for some time, but we are looking to the next generation to sustain that so we are keen to get younger players from the All Stars target age group involved.”

Not every local club has jumped on board so enthusiastically, however, with Staplegrove CC one of those to avoid joining up.

Explaining his decision, youth coach Simon Cutler said: “I went to the presentation night and was very impressed, but then right at the end they mentioned that each child would have to pay £40, £35 of which goes to the ECB.

“Why charge when you want to encourage them? We already run free sessions for under-9s, so it would seem a bit unfair to then charge newcomers to get involved through this scheme.

“There is also the fact that the co-ordinator running the sessions does not necessarily need to be a qualified coach, which I found slightly confusing – I don’t particularly like the idea of, say, 30 kids turning up having paid their money to have sessions led by an unqualified coach.

“I think it’s great that they are trying to get kids involved, but I can’t help feeling that they’ve missed a trick with this – for families with two or three children it is potentially an expensive commitment.”

The cost of the scheme has been a point of contention, but the SCB’s Fairbairn explained why he thinks it can be justified.

“A lot of research has gone into similar activities and the ECB have decided that £40 is a fair cost,” he said.

“One of the really good things about it is that each kid that signs up will have a backpack full of kit – including a bat, ball and a t-shirt – delivered directly to their door.

“As a kid, one of the best things in the world is when something is delivered directly to you – I used to get an Ipswich Town membership and it was the best day of the year when that came through the door with my name on it.

“I think that aspect is brilliant for kids, to get their own stuff – it isn’t cheap, but they get all that with it as well as eight weeks at their cricket club and I think, comparable to lots of other things, it is good value.

“There are also lots of costs involved – the clubs get a free kitbag worth £500 including all the softball kit and banners, which will give a real professional feel to all the clubs that are running it. The whole package is why the costs are there, and I think it’s going to be a huge success.”

Dan Bingham added: “For some clubs that rely on receiving income from players, £5 won’t be enough to sustain it, but we’re in a fortunate position - for us the money factor is irrelevant as it is simply about getting kids playing cricket.

“I see it as part of the bigger picture. We’ll hopefully soon see some cricket return to free-to-air television, there may be World Cup games at the London Stadium, and all of this is contributing to hopefully encouraging more youngsters to take up the game.”

Matches not being available on free-to-air television has been a major talking point for the last decade among cricket supporters, many of whom feel that the sport’s slide out of the limelight has coincided with no live international or domestic cricket being available to watch for nothing.

Bingham has his own experience of this, as he explained: “I grew up in an era where cricket was available on Channel 4 and, more recently, I noticed how captivated our youngsters were when the IPL was on ITV4.

“They would come to training and be talking about the amazing catches or wanting to try out the shots they had seen, and some even turned up in the replica kits of IPL teams, but now that has been taken on to Sky as well.”

Andy Fairbairn has also witnessed how tournaments like the IPL and Australia’s Big Bash have captivated the attention of young fans.

“I remember being amazed when a kid at my club turned up in an IPL shirt,” he said.

“But it served as an eye-opener that kids love the razzmatazz, the colour, the loud sponsors on the shirt - all the stuff that might turn off a traditional cricket fan was actually getting kids involved in the game.”

If you are interested in getting your children involved in the All Stars scheme, you can see which local clubs are getting involved here.