Funding boost for Taverners

The England and Wales Cricket Board have announced a further £177,500 from the England and Wales Cricket Trust for the Lord’s Taverners following unprecedented demand for junior cricket equipment bags.

The National Sports Foundation has matched the donation to guarantee a total grant of £355,000.

The Lord’s Taverners had given their entire annual allocation in the three months from January to March following record applications.

The Taverners would usually expect to process around 60 applications per month but have already provided 1,142 cricket equipment bags to children from 6-18 years, including a rise in girls' hard-ball cricket kits (15-18 years).

Richard Caborn MP, Minister for Sport, said: “This is great news for young cricketers.

"Cricket is riding on the back of that famous Ashes success and it is a sign of how far cricket has come that they are the recipients of the first ever National Sports Foundation grant”.

ECB chief executive David Collier said: “There is no doubt that we are experiencing the lasting effects of an Ashes legacy.

"If there is one thing England cricket achieved last summer it is engaging youngsters and ensuring they want to play the game. That’s the greatest prize of all”.

The effect is replicated across the country with over-subscribed Easter coaching courses providing clear evidence that cricket is enjoying a resurgence amongst children.

The Ashes last year captured the public's imagaination like no other series in cricket history

Old Trafford, Edgbaston and Lord’s all report a dramatic rise in demand for junior coaching which is not limited to group sessions.

Demand for one-to-one and specialist coaching is also high as talented young cricketers seek to gain an upper hand.

At Old Trafford, Easter 2006 camps were booked up by the first week of last October, with waiting lists for the 100 places and specialist coaching sessions in bowling, batting and keeping over-subscribed.

The Lancashire CCC ‘Saturday Club’ had 40 children last season and now has 80.

At Lord’s, a similar story is told by Reg Horne, who has run the MCC Indoor School for 11 years.

He said: “We had 485 children aged 8-18 years attending our Easter coaching schools, with another 100 on a waiting list. Last year there were 272.

"The whole winter has been massively busy and there is definitely a general feel-good factor around cricket.

"We’ve been full seven days a week all winter with children and adult net sessions."

There has been a 48% increase in participation across all forms of cricket since the England men’s and women’s teams won the Ashes.