When the England & Wales Cricket Board learned that only 2% of five to 12-year-olds "placed cricket in their top 10 sports," it provided a "stark reminder of the fight the game faces to stay relevant," according to Nick Hoult of the London TELEGRAPH. In response, the ECB on Monday launched All Stars Cricket, its first grassroots initiative "aimed at primary schoolchildren." The target is "to attract 50,000 children to the game this year as cricket attempts to become more accessible" after a decade on pay-per-view TV and "at the same time as the county game debates a new city-based Twenty20 competition." ECB Dir of Participation & Growth Matt Dwyer, who introduced a "similar" program in Australia, said, "Unless a child has picked up a bat by the time they leave primary school, there is very little chance of them playing or being a fan of the game so unless we get them at this age, we have no chance." The ECB "teamed up with Mumsnet" as part of the new program "as it targets the whole family." After registering, children will be sent a cricket backpack personalized with the England team logo containing a bat and ball. They will receive a welcome video message from England captain Joe Root and emails from England players "when they learn a new skill." The ECB "already has 2,000 clubs signed up to the scheme" (TELEGRAPH, 3/20). In London, Paul MacInnes reported it comes as plans for a T20 tournament with teams featuring, in ECB CEO Tom Harrison's words, "the best players in the world," look set to be ratified. The initiatives will be seen by some as "an attempt to redress a decade of lost opportunities" as the T20 format, invented in England, "flourished to a greater extent overseas in the form of the Indian Premier League and Australia's Big Bash" (GUARDIAN, 3/20).
