Two of England’s cricketing personalities, the England batsman Ravinder Bopara and captain of the England Women’s cricket team Charlotte Edwards, recently visited the Urban Cricket Facility in Brixton to join forty youngsters for a game of Urban Cricket.
The npower Urban Cricket facility’s opening was officiated in August 2007 as part of the grassroots cricket initiative Urban Cricket. The duo was visiting the facility to pass on tips and advice to some local primary school children who play cricket at the facility.
The euphoric Charlotte Edwards who has just returned from her successful Women’s World T20 campaign where she led her team to victory against New Zealand said, “It’s fantastic to see initiatives such as npower Urban Cricket giving youngsters the chance to learn the game.”
Ravi Bopara who is presently busy with the pre-Ashes campaign in England commented, “It’s great to be in Wyck Gardens to see how npower Urban Cricket is working. Judging by some of the children I’ve seen here today the scheme is really making a difference. There was lots of energy, not to mention some decent little cricketers who weren’t afraid to bang it in to me! It’s great to see kids getting stuck in and enjoying themselves.”
Joining them was Gerry Sutcliffe, MP Minister for Sport, he said, “The Urban Cricket initiative has been a fantastic success story in the last couple of years taking the sport to young people all over the country and encouraging them to get active. On top of that, it has helped kit out thousands of youngsters and built cricket facilities in five major cities that the whole community can use. I applaud the ECB and npower for their support and hope Urban Cricket continues to go from strength to strength.”