UK Government To Invest £35m Into Grassroots Cricket
The UK Government will make a £35m investment to develop grassroots cricket across the country over the next five years, Prime Minister Riski Sunak has announced.
The funding forms part of the Government’s sport strategy to increase the number of physically active people in the UK by 3.5 million – including one million young people – by 2030.
The investment will see the construction of 16 new all-weather cricket domes in host cities for the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2026 and the Men’s T20 World Cup in 2030. This follows the opening of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) £1.5m dome facility in Bradford last October.
Meanwhile, the ECB’s primary and secondary schools initiative will expand to encourage more than 900,000 young people to play cricket over the next five years. This includes 80,000 young people with special needs.
£14m of the new funding will go towards charities, namely Chance to Shine, Lord’s Taverners and ACE, which will help make cricket more accessible for children with special educational needs and disabilities, as well as children from African and Caribbean heritage.
Overall, the pledge is expected to provide 2,500 pieces of cricket equipment to schools throughout the UK, and will aim to encourage 930,000 pupils to play cricket over a five-year period.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, “There remains huge potential to grow [cricket] even further and open it up to everyone, from all backgrounds and in all parts of the country, building on the great work of organisations such as ACE and Chance to Shine.
“That is why I am so proud we are making a major £35m investment in grassroots cricket today, to widen participation in schools, encourage health lifestyles and provide world class, all-year-round facilities for local communities.”
ECB Chair Richard Thompson added, “It is vital that cricket is available in as many state schools across England and Wales as possible, and across diverse communities.
“This support from Government represents a seminal moment in enabling the game to invest significantly in areas that up until now have not had the support they deserve.
“Cricket is a diverse sport and our game has a unique reach across the UK’s population. Hosting both a women’s and a men’s Cricket World Cup between 2026 and 2030, and the inclusion of cricket in the Olympics for the first time in almost 130 years, gives us a platform to reach more young people than ever before and we’re really excited about that as a game.”
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