MCC today launched their Westminster state secondary school league at the Home of Cricket as the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Trophy visited Lord’s Cricket Ground.

To mark the occasion, MCC invited local secondary schools to Lord’s to compete in the new secondary school league, which will run throughout the summer term and aims to get more children involved in the sport. Those taking part also had the opportunity to practice their batting and bowling skills using simulators set up on the Nursery Ground and in the Cricket Academy. MCC delivers coaching sessions to Year 7 and Year 8 pupils at schools across Westminster and  today, these schoolchildren had the opportunity to play competitive cricket, many for the first time, in front of the ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy.

This is the first year of MCC’s secondary school soft-ball cricket programme and MCC are committed to increasing the number of opportunities for young people to play cricket.Ricky Reynolds, MCC’s Head of Community Development, said: “It has been a fantastic day with young enthusiastic cricketers from Westminster schools coming to Lord’s and getting involved with cricket. For some, this is the first time they will have played competitively.

“MCC are deeply committed to generating more opportunities for youngsters in our local area to discover and enjoy cricket – and to do that today at Lord’s in front of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Trophy, which will return in just under two months’ time for the Men’s Cricket World Cup Final, will hopefully inspire many of these kids to continue with the sport for the rest of their lives.”England legend Mike Gatting was also on-hand to give out coaching tips and talk about his own memories of playing at Lord’s and in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.

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