‘School-to-community’ cricket model gets £300k funding

Lancashire Cricket Foundation (LCF) has secured £300,000 in funding to create a new, sustainable school-to-community cricket model across Greater Manchester.

The official charity of Lancashire Cricket will use the investment to launch Cricket Connect, a hub-and-spoke model connecting primary and secondary schools, community venues and clubs. It will create pathways into playing, coaching, officiating, volunteering and leadership, alongside a permanent infrastructure capable of supporting future generations.

Aiming to engage almost 5,000 children from 18 secondary schools and 52 primary schools over the next two years, Cricket Connect will also tackle inequalities in access to cricket for girls, South Asian, black and SEND young people, reducing participation drop-off and building lifelong connections with the game where traditional progression routes remain limited.

Three strategic hubs, at schools in North Manchester, South Manchester and Bolton, will be set up to facilitate the programme and will each be allocated an LCF Cricket Development Officer, who’ll deliver 30 hours of activity per week.

The model is based on a successful pilot project undertaken with Burnage Academy in 2025, which saw LCF establish a connected cricket network involving 16 primary schools and three secondary schools, providing young people with regular access to cricket facilities, teacher training, leadership development, festivals and matchplay opportunities.

The funding has been awarded as part of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) Game Changer Fund, an investment fund of up to £8mn, made available from 2025-2028 for Recreational Cricket Boards to bid into, designed to drive ambition, innovation and transformational growth across the recreational game.

Phil Ascott, Fundraising Manager for LCF, said: “Our vision is to positively impact lives through cricket, providing inclusive, enjoyable opportunities across communities, and everything we want to achieve with Cricket Connect speaks to that.

“Cricket is engaging more children and young people across Greater Manchester each year, but sustaining participation beyond first engagement remains a significant challenge. Certain groups, including those transitioning from Year 6 to Year 7, girls, and people from lower socio-economic communities, simply don’t have the tools in place to establish a lifelong relationship with the game.

“The key to overcoming this is to strengthen relationships between schools, communities and clubs, with engaged leaders, dedicated training programmes and a philosophy that explores why cricket is about so much more than just bat and ball. Through Cricket Connect, we hope to show lots more young people that cricket is an opportunity to belong, to feel safe, to improve your health and to develop a new passion. We can’t wait to begin rolling it out soon.”