Street Cricket Finals Aim To Transform Lives

As the social debate continues over the lack of opportunity for youngsters, next week sees youth charities The Lord’s Taverners and Cricket for Change stage the inaugural finals of their Street20 cricket initiative which is aiming to transform the lives of 7,500 youngsters living in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the UK.
 
‘The Lord’s Taverners Cricket for Change Programme’ uses a super-short form of cricket (‘Street20’) to engage youngsters on the streets of some of the UK’s most deprived communities.  The finals are the pinnacle of a much bigger Lord’s Taverners Cricket for Change programme, working with local community groups to provide a year-round programme of youth work including civic responsibility, social inclusion and education. At a time when public spending cuts on youth service budgets are perceived to be having a dramatic effect on the increased violence and crime levels among youngsters, the programme is already operating in 30 communities and counties across the UK, with the aim of being in 150 by 2013.
 
While Scotland Yard has reported a 30% increase of victims aged between 13-24 injured by knife crime between 2008/09 and 2010/11, more than £100m has been lost from local authority services for young people, making the work of initiatives like The Lord’s Taverners Cricket for Change Programme more important than ever. A recent poll by YouGov in April this year reflected popular belief that sport can change lives for the better. 38% of respondents said the Government’s main priority for sport funding should be maximising sport’s contribution to cutting crime and improving education.
 
The Street20 final’s day, which takes place at the City Academy in Bristol on Tuesday 23 August, will see youngsters from Birmingham, Newcastle, Essex, Sussex and Bristol take part in a unique, fast and engaging form of cricket. Officers from Avon & Somerset and Northumbria Police, who will enter a Street20 team to play against the youngsters throughout the day, will host a series of educational workshops to address issues such as stop and search, knife crime and drug abuse.
 
Matthew Patten, Chief Executive of The Lord’s Taverners, said: “Our aim is to help young people at the frontline of Broken Britain develop a sense of personal responsibility, belonging to something larger than their own world, staying away from the negative influences of gangs, crime and drugs and make positive choices for the good of their future. We love cricket, but for The Lord’s Taverners the sport is a means to attract and engage disadvantaged young people, not the end in itself; it’s the youth work and social outcomes that matter. The Lord’s Taverners Cricket for Change Programme, which we are rolling out to 15 inner cities across the UK over the next 3 years, is about unlocking the social benefits sport can deliver, helping some of our most marginalised young people develop as individuals and transform their lives and the communities they live in.