Cricket
Cricket is a team sport which provides children and young people with a variety of skills needed to develop a lifelong love of sport and physical activity. It is fun, inclusive, and the sport provides a wealth of opportunities to take part.
Continue readingCricket in the School Games
History
Since the introduction of Cricket in the School Games, the sport has undergone a number of changes to ensure young people get an outstanding experience suitable for both age and stage. The sport has both adapted and thrived with the introduction of national programmes (All Stars and Dynamos Cricket), new digital resources (Chance to Shine Schools Portal) and a review of junior formats to ensure the playing experience of children is at the heart of any decision we make.
Purpose
The purpose of cricket within the School Games is to give as many young people as possible at both primary and secondary school ages the chance to say ‘Cricket is a Game for Me’. We want children of all ages and abilities to have a positive experience of cricket, both as a participant or a leader, so that they will want to play or lead more in the future. Our resources differ across each Key Stage, and follow a playing and leading pathway.
Our competitions have been designed to be inclusive, with easy adaptations that will help meet the needs of every pupil. For some children, running a specific inclusive competition that will enable them to play alongside others with similar disabilities may be more appropriate. This will help build confidence and create a positive learning environment. Further detail on this is included within the Dynamos Schools pack, which can be downloaded below.
Cricket’s support across the Key Stages:
- Play: KS1 – Skills Festivals; KS2 – Dynamos Schools; KS3/4 – Chance to Compete Festivals
- Lead: KS2 – Playground Leaders; KS3/4 – ‘Be the Spark’ Leadership Programme
Playing the Game
Irrespective of age, the intent for any School Games engagement with cricket is to allow for maximum participation, therefore meaning enhanced skill development and opportunities to develop Personal & Social skills.
Formats, both Skill based and Game play based, can all be adapted for either indoor or outdoor space – although due to the seasonal nature of the game, are generally targeted towards larger outdoor venues where multiple schools can take part.
Game play based (Countdown Pairs or Chance to Compete at KS2/3/4) formats focus on ‘8 a side’ with squads of 10 where players can rotate roles. Schools are encouraged to engage a whole class by bringing multiple teams and Countdown Pairs can be adapted to 6 a-side to enable this to happen much more easily. The Dynamos Schools pack outlines details for this.
‘Softball’ versions of the game are encouraged and are our priority formats – this significantly reduces the need for space and kit to play. However, at secondary school age there are hardball versions of Chance to Compete available if suitable.
Chance to Shine is a National Cricket Charity which has delivered cricket programmes to over 5 million Young People since starting back in 2005, including over 2 million girls.
England and Wales Cricket Board
ECB
ECB has a core focus of connecting communities and improving lives by inspiring people to discover and share a passion for cricket. Cricket as a sport promotes respect, leadership and resilience at its heart allowing the game to transcend race, gender, age and ability. It delivers mental, physical and cultural benefits that can help positively shape the individuals, communities and societies involved.
- Get in touch: https://www.ecb.co.uk/about-us/contacts
- Children and young people: https://www.ecb.co.uk/play/junior
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ecb_cricket
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/englandcricket/
Chance to Shine
Chance to Shine aim to give all children the opportunity to play, learn and develop through cricket. The charity firmly believe that the unique qualities of their programmes have an impact that transcends the sport, and over the last 15 years have helped 5 million young people to maximise their physical, personal social and mental development.
- Find out more: https://www.chancetoshine.org/about-us
- Get in touch: https://www.chancetoshine.org/contact-us
- Free resources and coaching requests: https://teachers.chancetoshine.org/
- Social media and further content: https://linktr.ee/chance_to_shine

In the last full academic year, 200,000 young people took part in ECB Kwik Cricket (Key Stage 2 – data from 2019 – Dynamos Schools will directly replace this). Alongside this, 2,500 All Stars & Dynamos club centres with 100,000 young people participate in these national programmes for 5-8 and 8-11 year olds.
Getting involved in Cricket
Compete
- Skills Challenges
- Skills Festivals
- KS1
- LKS2
- UKS2
- Confident Cricketer (Intra competition - UKS2 example)
- Dynamos Schools
- Dynamos Schools - Training Video
- Dynamos Schools - Teacher Notes
- Secondary (CTC)
Play
- CTS Play curriculum - lesson plan for KS1/2L/2U (15 lessons in total) example: Cool Catcher
Leadership
Activities to do at home
CTS has created a bespoke ‘return to delivery’ support page for schools and County Cricket Boards which has been regularly updated since September 2020: https://www.chancetoshine.org/returning-to-cricket-delivery-in-schools
Cricket at Home resources – a specific programme for ‘at home’ or ‘Covid secure’ cricket sessions for schools & coaches: https://www.chancetoshine.org/staying-active-during-the-covid-19-outbreak
CTS Virtual Programme – 7 lessons which can be used by teachers and coaches to deliver cricket lessons remotely and safely with adapted space and kit: https://teachers.chancetoshine.org/s/topic/0TO4H000000kEXgWAM/virtual?language=en_GB