Spirit of Cricket launches in schools

Date released: 21 April 2009

MCC and the Cricket Foundation charity have teamed up for a nationwide scheme to encourage fair play.

From Tuesday 21 April and throughout the summer, around 250,000 children in just over 3,000 Chance to shine primary and secondary state schools will be introduced to the key MCC Spirit of Cricket messages enshrined in the Laws of the game.

England's Danielle Hazell is a Chance to shine coach There are three core elements to the partnership: communicating the MCC Spirit of Cricket message to children within schools, promoting intra school competition and organising MCC Spirit of Cricket ‘Super Camps’ in the school holidays.

Chance to shine coaches will deliver a minimum of two hours on the MCC Spirit of Cricket message as part of the core Chance to shine programme.

To support this activity, MCC and the Cricket Foundation have produced a special MCC Spirit of Cricket DVD resource for schools that cover key aspects of the Spirit of Cricket, such as respect for the opponent, captain and umpire.

Each Chance to shine school will also be provided with an MCC Spirit of Cricket Trophy to support intra-school competition. This allows children to put into practice what they have learnt in the classroom.

Regional camps

Working through the County Cricket Boards, the Cricket Foundation and MCC will deliver a three-day summer camp experience for children across five regions, the North, London & East, South West, Midlands and Wales.

MCC’s Spirit of Cricket campaign encourages children to play hard, play fair and have fun.

Stephenson: Wants winners that win fairly John Stephenson, Head of Cricket at MCC said: "MCC strongly believes that competition is good for children and that sport should be played to win. However, it’s equally important to have respect for all those involved in the game, be it the captain, the officials, the opposition or your own team.

"We hope that our partnership in Chance to shine schools will encourage children to try to win but to win fairly, and - successful or not - shake the opponent’s hand after the match."

Chance to shine is the Cricket Foundation’s initiative to bring the educational benefits of competitive cricket back to a third of state schools by 2015.

Wasim Khan, Director of Operations and Development, the Cricket Foundation said: "Chance to shine uses cricket to teach key life skills and values like how to win and lose honourably. The new partnership with MCC will reinforce in schools the message of playing sport in the right spirit. We hope it will help to develop the next generation of good sports."

Flintoff (right) consoles Brett Lee England cricket all-rounder Andrew Flintoff encapsulated the Spirit of Cricket in the 2005 Ashes when he consoled the Australian player Brett Lee after England had just won a thriller at Edgbaston.

Flintoff backed the MCC Spirit of Cricket campaign in Chance to shine schools, saying: "It’s massively important as a sportsman to play hard, play fair, respect your opponent and respect yourself."