A group of Chance to Shine Street cricketers in Brighton received a surprise visit from Sussex CCC’s Jofra Archer and Danny Briggs last week. The pair visited the project which runs weekly at Southwick Leisure Centre to inspire the participants. 

Jofra and Danny joined 17 boys and girls, aged 10 – 13, to take part in their weekly Street cricket session run by the Sussex Cricket Foundation. Captains for the day, 12-year-old Rhys and 13-year-old Taylor picked the teams, with the two newest participants ending up on opposite sides.

Watch how they got on as Team Rhys (featuring Jofra Archer) took on Team Taylor (Featuring Danny Briggs)

National charity Chance to Shine runs Street projects in urban areas across the country, thanks to funding from Sport England. Chance to Shine Street is a fast-paced version of cricket that is played outside of traditional club settings with a tapeball – a tennis-ball wrapped in electrical tape – and is designed to break down barriers like cost, equipment and accessibility that can be associated with sport. 

Speaking at the event, days before he qualified to play for England, Jofra said “It’s really important that there are charities like Chance to Shine because some kids might not have the means to go to training, to afford cricket kit. With this in place, they don’t have to worry about anything like that – it can take a load off their mind, they can just play cricket.”

Danny, who has played eight limited-overs internationals for the full England side, added: “It’s so encouraging to see the numbers coming down here and participating in cricket. It’s great for the kids to be able to just come and play. It’s relaxed, you face balls, you bowl balls, you get to field.

 “When I was young, there wasn’t anything like this and it was much harder to get involved if you weren’t from a cricketing family or if you didn’t live near a club. Street Cricket means these kids can give the game a go. Being here and seeing how much fun everyone is having makes you realise how lucky we are to play a game you love professionally.”

For 11 year-old Ben, the presence of two professional cricketers was certainly an inspiring event “We’ve been with Jofra and Danny playing Street Cricket, it was really good to play with them. It feels really good to meet them because I want to carry on playing cricket.

“I wasn’t playing very much cricket before this session but I want to carry it on. Playing cricket makes me feel really good, really active and like I got a lot of exercise in as well as having a lot of fun!” 

The visit, organised by the Sussex Cricket Foundation, was part of Chance to Shine’s ‘Cricket Inspires’ campaign that is aiming to get current and former cricketers back to the grassroots of the game, inspiring children to take part in cricket.

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