Current and former England Cricketers inspired children to get active through a series of virtual cricket sessions as part of Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week. 

With lockdown restrictions preventing coaches from delivering cricket sessions in schools, Chance to Shine put together a virtual timetable of cricket-themed activities for children to try at home or in school as part of the seventh year of Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week. Taking place from Monday 22 to Friday 26 June, a fun active session was released each morning featuring a video demonstration and tips from the cricket stars.   

England bowler Mark Wood kicked off National Cricket Week with the ‘Strictly Come Catching’ activity, which explored different throwing and catching techniques whilst showing off their best dance moves. On Day 2, Michael Vaughan introduced ‘Last Batter Stands’ - a simple batting game where children aim to last as many balls as possible without losing a wicket which was followed by a ‘Cricket-fit’ session with Charlotte Edwards to support batting fitness. England Captain Heather Knight set the ‘Top of Off Challenge’ on Day 4 helping children to become successful bowlers. The week culminated with an all-rounder session with Kent Captain Sam Billings bringing together all the key cricket skills that children will have learnt throughout the National Cricket Week.  

The active sessions were accompanied by a series of educational cricket-themed core learning sessions, including a powerful health and wellbeing session, encouraging children to think about mental health, self-esteem, and resilience. As part of the session, Chance to Shine Operations Manager Richard Joyce was joined by former cricketers James Taylor and Devon Malcolm, who spoke candidly about some of the difficult experiences they encountered whilst playing professionally.  

On Thursday, eight schools were also given the opportunity to join a special live Q&A via Zoom with Mark Wood and Heather Knight who spoke about their experiences of being away on tour and their tips for joining a new team for children in year 6 who are preparing to join a new school in September.   

There was a positive response from many parents and teachers who participated in the activities, with under 10,000 people logging on to the website to access the resources during the week. Speaking after the event, Natalie, a pupil at St Bosco Primary School said “The cricket week that has been organised was thrilling! We enjoyed completing the whole week of improving our cricket skills. It has been remarkable this year even though we are going through tough times.”  

 To view all the activities from Yorkshire Tea National Cricket week, click here.  

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