ECB's plan will make "massive difference" in grassroots cricket: James Anderson

Earlier, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said, "Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced a 35 million pound investment in grassroots cricket facilities and widening access to the sport within state schools, enabling over 900,000 young people to play cricket over the next five years."

"The investment, to be delivered across a period during which England and Wales host the 2026 ICC Women's T20 World Cup, the 2030 ICC Men's T20 World Cup and cricket returns to the Olympics for the first time in over 120 years, includes a major capital programme that will see 16 state-of-the-art all-weather cricket domes built within host cities across England," the ECB said in a official statement.

Anderson said this announcement of investment will "make a huge difference" in grassroots cricket.

"Being in a dressing room of very few state-school players, this could just make a huge difference. I would have loved the chance to play more at school. I know my mates who showed an interest in it would have liked access to the equipment and to have played more - but we just didn't," Anderson, who is part of the ECB's state-school taskforce, said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

"My experience of getting into cricket was basically through my dad. Getting into the county set-up was a bit of my mate's mum telling the coach to have a look at me, and stuff like that. So it was a lot of luck involved to get where I've got to. I think anything we can do to make those steps easier is important," he added.

Anderson said that there were "non-existent" cricket facilities and "no access" to the game at his school.

"I actually had to ask my dad to ask our cricket club to cut a pitch on the outfield to help us play one or two games a year, because we just didn't have the facilities at all. We had a shale-type athletics track, then a couple of grass football pitches - but that was literally it," he added.

"There's always been a big number of privately educated players in the [England] changing room. We talk a lot about trying to make the game inclusive and diverse and if you don't give kids a chance to play at school, then it's not making it inclusive or diverse. That is what this is going to help; it's going to make a massive difference," said the star pacer.

"But also, I love playing the game - and this isn't all about getting the next generation of England cricketers. It's also just about getting people to experience this sport, which teaches you so much as a person: teamwork, communication, and so many other skills that will benefit you in life," he added.

UK's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose love for cricket is not hidden as he has many times expressed his admiration for the game, announced a funding package at The Oval on Friday.

Meanwhile, Sunak also took his admiration for cricket to a new level as he joined the England cricket team and shared the video of his next session with the star players on X.

https://twitter.com/RishiSunak/status/1776243623912194393

Sunak was joined by veteran speedster, James Anderson and the UK PM looked all charged up to face the pacer.

The England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) Richard Thompson called Friday's funding announcement a "seminal" step toward his goal of making cricket "the most inclusive team sport in the country."

"Cricket [in England] has never had an investment of this size before from the government. A million children who would never have had the chance to play cricket will now get that chance... that is frankly outstanding. [We] hope that will really develop into something bigger and make schools even more committed to cricket because we're going to be providing the coaching, the facilities and the equipment," Thompson said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

"When the government invests this amount of money, they need to invest in something they know works - and this works," Thompson said. (ANI)