England Legend Celebrates Landmark Day For State School Cricket

England Legend Celebrates Landmark Day For State School Cricket

Wasim Khan, Chief Executive of the Cricket Foundation, gratefully accepts a £1 million Lord's Taverners cheque from Mike Gatting at Lord's

©Lord's Taverners

Former England Captain, Mike Gatting, was on hand at Lord’s Cricket Ground last Thursday (21 July) to help The Lord’s Taverners celebrate reaching the £1 million mark in its support for getting cricket back into state schools across the UK. Gatting, a Trustee of The Lord’s Taverners, presented a £1 million cheque to Chance to Shine at lunch during the first day of the opening Test Match of the England v India series.

Chance to Shine is the Cricket Foundation’s campaign to bring competitive cricket, and its educational benefits, back to at least a third of the country’s state schools. The Lord’s Taverners was one of the first organisations to support Chance to Shine and has funded the campaign to the tune of over £1 million since it was launched in May 2005. The campaign has benefited over 1 million young people in nearly 4,000 state schools and has also funded 150 non-turf pitches, each worth £3,000.

The Lord’s Taverners is the official charity of recreational cricket and one of the UK’s leading youth cricket and disability sports charities. The Lord’s Taverners is dedicated to giving young people a ‘sporting chance’ in life and will spend over £3 million this year to help improve the lives of disadvantaged and disabled youngsters through cricket and other sports and recreational activities.

Matthew Patten, Chief Executive of The Lord’s Taverners, said: “The Lord's Taverners is all about giving young people the opportunity to change their lives through sport, particularly cricket. Working closely with Chance to Shine since day one has enabled us to help bring the physical and social benefits of playing cricket to young people who wouldn’t otherwise get the opportunity at school. We’re not trying to develop the next generation of England cricketers but if we unearth the next Alistair Cook or Stuart Broad along the way it will be a nice bonus.”