Wiltshire's Swindon Chance to Shine Street project compete at National Finals!
On Thursday 18th August Wiltshire Cricket took five Children from our Swindon Chance to Shine Street Project to the David Ross Sports Village at Nottingham University to compete in the Youth Street National Finals. This was the first time Wiltshire have ever qualified for the National Finals, so there was a lot of excitement when the minibus pulled up to collect us from Swindon CC at 6:30am.
Arriving at the Sports Village it was clear to see that we were by far the youngest and smallest team there on the day, and although we were playing in an Under 12s division our group had an average age of just 8. Despite this the boys were raring to go and excited for the challenge ahead.
Our day consisted of four group stage matches, the first of which came against Aylesbury/Wycombe Bucks. Captain for the day Aryaan won the toss and elected to bat. Aryaan showed some fantastic leadership skills throughout the day, spending time spectating the other games and asking lots of questions to try and improve his game. Although we lost the first game there were plenty of positives to take and plenty to improve on for the coming games.
After a short break we came up against a very strong Blackburn Lancashire team, who ended the day as National Champions. Wiltshire bowled first and came up against some very powerful Blackburn batters. Despite this, our bowlers showed some real progress from the previous game with fewer wides bowled and some fantastic fielding from the team but a real standout was Vansh. A highlight from this game was some fantastic bowling from one of the days youngest participants, Divyansh. He also played a part in running out a Blackburn batter giving Wiltshire their first wicket of the day!
A short break in the match schedule meant that we could spend some time in the Sports Learning Zone. Here the boys had the opportunity to bat against a bowling machine, practising some range hitting and take some diving catches onto a crash mat (this was a particular highlight from the day).
Our final two games were by far our strongest. Although results didn’t go our way, there was a huge improvement shown from the first two games in all areas. Some impressive hitting and running between the wickets from Vihan and Mahir saw them both hitting some big sixes contributing to our highest team totals of the day.
Sam and Lauren were particularly impressed with the boys’ efforts throughout the day, despite coming up against older, bigger and far more experienced teams our boys continued to fight and improve game on game.
A big thank you to everyone who attended on the day for making it so enjoyable and to Chance to Shine for running a fantastic event!
Our sessions start back up on the 14th September after a short summer break and are held at St Joseph’s Catholic College on a Wednesday evening between 5pm and 6pm. If you are interested in seeing what Street Cricket is about then come along and have a go!
Get involved in Street Cricket in Wiltshire
Chance to Shine Street brings cricket to thousands of young people in urban areas. It uses the game to increase aspiration, promote social cohesion and create opportunities in diverse communities. There are 165 Chance to Shine Street projects across the country.
It’s a fast-paced version of the game played with a tapeball - a tennis ball wrapped in electrical tape - in small enclosed spaces. With six players per team and 20 balls per innings, it’s cricket’s answer to five-a-side football.
In Wiltshire we receive funding from Chance to Shine to deliver two Street programmes in Swindon; one programme for 8-11 year olds, and one programme for 12-15 year olds. If you would like more information on how to participate in one of our Street Cricket programmes, please contact Lauren Shrubsole:
