ECB Announces ‘record Breaking’ Year Of Cricket

The ECB says that 2021 has been a ‘record-breaking year’ for cricket, with a significant growth in both adult recreational cricket as well as youth participation.

The organisation says some 10,000 more adult fixtures were played in club cricket compared to the last full season, while more than 101,000 children took part in ECB-run National Programmes this year – with the introduction of Dynamos Cricket ‘fuelling the boom’.

The national programmes All Stars (for five to eight-year-olds) and Dynamos (for eight to 11-year-olds) aim to give children from all backgrounds a chance to play the sport across a series of fun and social sessions, run by local cricket clubs, schools, community centres, leisure centres and faith institutions across the country.

This year, the new Dynamos programme gave a chance to older children to continue with the game after graduating from All Stars cricket, while the programme linked directly with The Hundred, which saw a strong start to its inaugural campaign, breaking UK broadcast records for cricket along the way.

The ECB says there was a 230% increase in the number of junior fixtures in August 2021 compared to the average number in the month across the years 2017-2019, with a 900% increase in the number of children playing in All Stars and Dynamos during The Hundred competition time compared to previous years. The organisation says this is thanks to the introduction of Dynamos.

In addition to the overall figures, some 27,000 girls, and 13,000 children from ‘ethnically diverse backgrounds’, as well as more than 3,000 disabled children participated in the programmes this summer.

“It is inspiring to see so many young people playing cricket this year,” said Tom Harrison, CEO, ECB. 

“At all ages, record numbers have taken to the field, with more players and more fixtures than ever before. This provides cricket in England and Wales with a strong platform to build from in future so that we can encourage even more people to pick up a bat and ball.

“Thank you to all the players, clubs, coaches and volunteers who give up their time to make cricket what it is. We want to encourage even more people to follow in the footsteps of those who have fallen in love with the sport this summer.”