Four-year-old Charlotte Ratcliffe has become the 1,000th youngster in Shropshire to be signed up for a summer of cricket fun in 2021.Charlotte, from Whixall, is looking forward to joining the All Stars programme at Wem Cricket Club – one of 32 centres running the exciting All Stars and Dynamos programmes this summer.
Shropshire now has 1,028 youngsters signed up for the two programmes – and we're hoping to see many more before the launch date early next month.
Mum Nicola registered Charlotte, who will be five in May, for the All Stars programme after chatting to the parents of her friends from Newtown C of E Primary School about the ECB programme to encourage youngsters aged 4-8 to get involved in the game.
Although they are not a cricketing family, they are looking forward to seeing Charlotte getting involved and having fun whilst improving her ball skills and co-ordination.Younger brother Oliver will be going along to support, and if all goes well, he will become an All Star in 2022.
Charlotte is one of seven pupils from her school who have now signed up for the All Stars programme in Wem on May 11, as is looking forward to receiving her special All Stars kit which comes as part of the signing on package.
Wem have already seen record numbers sign up for All Stars – having run the programme in previous years before the pandemic.
It further enhances the offer at the North Shropshire club which also successfully launched a new Women’s Softball section in 2019 which now has more than 30 participants.
Cricket Shropshire Lead Officer Steve Reese said: “I am absolutely delighted with the take up of these two programmes so far this year, and to go through the 1,000 combined total is beyond our expectations. "To mark the occasion, we are going to be sending Charlotte a gift in recognition of her becoming the 1000th participant.
“These two programmes are doing exactly what the clubs needed – filling the void of the younger age groups.
“Covid-19 did severely affect Junior numbers at clubs last year, so this should be a welcome fillip to those 32 centres who are running programmes this year. With the ECB releasing additional financial support from the programme the clubs should be in a great position to deliver a fantastic Summer of cricket.”
In Shropshire, we have 668 youngsters signed up for All Stars, and 333 for Dynamos, which is the new follow-on programme for 8-11-year-olds.
Steve added: “A quarter of those sign-ups are girls, which is great to see. Cricket is a great game for girls to get involved with, and we have seen a huge growth in the Women & Girls game in Shropshire in recent years.
“In 2019 we had 817 All Stars taking part at centres across Shropshire, so hopefully we can surpass that number this Summer.
“There’s still plenty of time for youngsters to sign up and join in the fun with both All Stars and Dynamos.” To register a child for All Stars and find out more
https://www.ecb.co.uk/play/all-starsTo register for Dynamos and find out more
https://www.ecb.co.uk/play/dynamoscricket