Sussex's Scott Styris has rewritten the history books in sensational style in winning this year's Walter Lawrence Trophy, awarded for the fastest hundred of the season, with a 37-ball century.
Styris smashed no fewer than 9 sixes and 5 fours in his unbeaten hundred against Gloucestershire in the Friends Life t20 quarter-final at Hove, making it the fastest ever century - from balls faced and non-contrived bowling - in the history of the competition.
Today marked a milestone for The Lord's Taverners, the UK's leading youth cricket and disability sports charity, as it donated a landmark 1,000th minibus to youngsters with special needs and disabilities. The charity's groundbreaking mobility initiative that spans over 37 years was celebrated with Essex CCC as disabled youngsters from Edith Borthwick School, Braintree were presented with their new means of transport which will aid access to the local community.
School sport has been at the top of the public agenda since the Olympics. How do you bring free sport to pupils and encourage sporting excellence and a healthy lifestyle?
Activate Sport Foundation believes it has the answer.
Durham claimed an eight-wicket victory over Cornwall in the ECB U15 Boys County Cup B Division Final at Kibworth Cricket Club in Leicestershire, yesterday. After electing to bat, Cornwall were restricted to 88 and were bowled out in the 31st over in an innings which saw Durham captain Jack Burnham take 4-19 from five overs.
The Lancashire team, who also won the ECB U14 County Cup Final in 2011, beat Buckinghamshire in the semi-final before taking the title against their South Coast opponents. After being put into bat, Lancashire scored 303-8, thanks to half centuries from Callum Turner (75), Callum Parkinson (61) and Mark Waddington (51).
In the latest of a series of interviews with former players and coaches who are lending their support to Andrew Flintoff's Cricket Academy this summer, Alex Tudor spoke to us about his time at a camp in Shrewsbury.
Below are his thoughts on the camps, inspiring youngsters to get involved and the Olympics.
The first match did not go to plan, as having restricted Horwich (Lancashire) to 91 for 6 from their 20 overs, the Winchester side looked in control at halfway at 48 for 2, but wickets then fell at regular intervals and they finished agonisingly short at 86 all out, despite solid contributions from Felix Organ (18) and Zach Housden (14). Organ and Nathan Birks took two wickets each, with one for Housden plus a run out.
Former England international Paul Nixon has been enjoying a busy summer promoting his autobiography Keeping Quiet, but he has also found time to work hard as one of a number of ex-players involved in the Andrew Flintoff Cricket Academy camps.
Backed by Activate Sport and Co-Operative, they are providing youngsters with the opportunity to try out the game, learn new skills and benefit from the wealth of knowledge that Nixon and the likes of Flintoff, Luke Sutton and Dean Headley can offer from their experience within the game.
Just weeks after the players met Andrew Strauss and watched the England team train at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Nixon coached the Under 11s at their club in Leicestershire. The former England wicketkeeper passed on techniques that he learnt from his experience in the England team and gave one-to-one coaching.
This week Cricket World was lucky enough to be joined by former England international Dean Headley, who has recently been sharing his wisdom with youngsters at the Andrew Flintoff Cricket Academy.
Headley spoke extremely positively about the potential impact the Flintoff Academy could have on the lives of young cricketers.
Starting in September, the Active Culture Campaign will send qualified coaches into primary schools for six one hour sessions. They will be providing sport and activity sessions, leaving behind a curriculum for each school which will help teachers and parents to deliver activity sessions to year groups at each school. An athlete will also visit each school as part of the programme.
If you fancy yourself as the next best thing in cricket, now is the time to get yourself on to an Andrew Flintoff Cricket Academy course at a venue near you.
The Andrew Flintoff Cricket Academy, in partnership with the Co-operative gives aspiring young children the opportunity to learn new cricket skills or perfect their tactics and game by qualified coaches in a fun environment.
A new youth sports initiative aimed at getting more young people from London into cricket clubs will launch at Regent's Park this Sunday (8 July).
'Wicketz' will help 1,500 youngsters from disadvantaged communities make the jump from playing soft-ball cricket to joining hard-ball cricket clubs and create new clubs where opportunities aren't currently available.
On Tuesday 3 July, junior grassroots cricket team Kibworth Cricket Club enjoyed an unforgettable day as they met the England cricket team, after competing with 40 cricket teams across the country to win the dream prize in the AEG grassroots competition.
Kibworth Cricket Club travelled to Edgbaston Cricket Ground where they had an introduction to the world of top-class cricket with coaching tips and stories from Paul Nixon. They then had the chance to meet the players and watch them train with commentary from the cricket legend.
Leicestershire junior cricket team Kibworth Cricket Club has won the prize of a lifetime, the chance to attend a training session with the England cricket team.
As part of the grassroots cricket campaign launched by premium home appliance brand AEG, Kibworth Cricket Club competed with 40 grassroots cricket teams all over the UK to attain the most votes to win the dream prize.
Lord's Cricket Ground will once again host the prestigious finals of the Macquarie National Table Cricket Competition on Friday 15 June, with youngsters with disabilities from across the country vying for the chance to be crowned 2012 champions.
Table Cricket, which is played on a table tennis surface with specially designed bats and balls, enables young people with disabilities and special needs the chance to enjoy cricket and represent their school on a competitive basis.
