Nottinghamshire Recreational Cricket

The event held last week at Ellerslie Cricket Club was part of National Cricket Week and the event saw Harry Gurney on show at the ground, talking to the youngsters, signing shirts and even getting involved with a bit of umpiring. National Cricket Week included media days all over the country with various England internationals aiding Chance to Shine in their goal of bringing cricket to the masses.

The Chance to Shine charity aims to promote cricket in schools, inner city areas and communities and gives potential young cricketers who may not otherwise get the chance, the opportunity to participate in cricket. For more information go to www.chancetoshine.org.

On the field, the year 4 and 5 schools from Rushcliffe heading to Lady Bay for the County Kwik finals next month have been decided at Ellerslie CC where ECB and Chance to Shine teamed up to bring those who played, or came along to support, a chance to meet England International Cricketer, Harry Gurney.

In the year 4 event there were 3 teams entered, and with some good scores and a high standard it was Radcliffe-on-Trent who got through to the county finals day with a 2 run victory over St Peter’s Ruddington. Heymann Primary School were the other team entered who despite playing some good cricket, didn’t make it to the final.

The year 5 event had 7 teams entered and with 2 teams making it through to finals day, it was a hotly contested affair. Split into two groups with the top two from each group making it through, we unfortunately lost St Peter’s Ruddington, West Bridgford Juniors and Candleby Lane Primary in the group stages.

In the two deciding games, Jesse Gray faced Pierrepont Gamston and Heymann Primary faced Radcliffe-on-Trent. In the first game Jesse Gray amassed a huge 90 from their 8 overs (a total score of 290). In reply Pierrepont Gamston could only make it to 220, thanks to a good display of catching holding pegging back the runs, making Jesse Gray the first school through to finals day.

In the second game Heymann primary scored a collective 235 runs which ultimately proved to be too many for Radcliffe, who ended up on a score of 209. As a result, Heymann primary school and Jesse Gray are the two teams making it through to year 5 Kwik cricket county finals day.

The parents and teachers who came to support at Ellerslie CC, gave their thoughts on what the Chance to Shine programme does for the children, which you can see here.