WANTED... As many Under 9s cricket teams as possible to enter the Drax Cup 2009.
Last year 270 schools and over 3,000 boys and girls took part in the Drax Cup making it the biggest cricket competition for the Under 9s age group in the country.
The competition is sponsored by Drax Power Limited and organised by The Yorkshire County Cricket Club in conjunction with Yorkshire Cricket Board and Yorkshire Schools’ Cricket Association.
This year Anthony McGrath, Yorkshire Club Captain and TV presenter Harry Gration have agreed to be ambassadors for the Drax Cup.
Anthony McGrath said: “The Drax Cup is a terrific way to get children excited about the game and grow interest at grassroots level across the region. Cricket is also a great sport to help kids stay fit and healthy.
“I’ll be paying close attention as the tournament unfolds and will be on the look out for tomorrow’s cricketing stars.”
Harry Gration said: “The Drax Cup goes from strength to strength every year and 2009 promises to be the biggest and best yet. As a huge fan of the game I would encourage any school thinking about taking part to do so.”
Launched in 2007, the Drax Cup is not only an exciting and thrilling tournament for children to take part in, but also aids the National Curriculum by supporting key themes in literacy and numeracy announced by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) .
1. Every Child a Writer – The Drax Cup will encourage children to write match reports which will be posted on the competition website.
2. Every Child a Reader – The Drax Cup will encourage children to read out match reports in assembly at school.
3. Every Child Counts – The Drax Cup will encourage children to help keep score at cluster festivals.
Peter Emery, Drax production director, said: “The Drax Cup gets stronger each year and we’re naturally delighted that more and more schools want to take part. Youth sport and education are two important themes of our support for communities and this competition is an important aspect of this.”
The competition, which is played using Kwik Cricket equipment, follows a cluster festival format. This enables individual School Sports Co-ordinators (SSCOs) to organise a series of games between a cluster of primary schools. The winner of the festival then moves forward to represent that cluster at a partnership final.
Individual schools can also enter the Drax Cup via the registration pack at www.yorkshireccc.com/draxcup.
The finals will be staged at Headingley Carnegie Stadium on 28 June following three months of competitive cricket which begins after Easter. The deadline for entries is Friday 13 March.
Sponsoring the competition is part of Drax’s Cricket in the Community scheme launched in 2006 which also provides cricket coaching in schools.
