Ashes come to West Sussex - and young cricketers love it

It is a school-based cricket event, which works with ten schools across the North and South of the County and the lucky winners will be able to represent their school when the final takes place at the County Ground, Hove in December, where the Southern Water Ashes Urn will be up for grabs.

The aim of the tournament is to bring simple cricket-related activities together but still maintaining the competitive nature of the sport, like running between the wickets against an opponent or hitting the stumps the most times in a fielding drill.

The students, who are all from Year 7 and 8 at their respective schools, benefitted from the tutoring of Sussex’s community coaches, as well as first-team leg-spinner Will Beer who was also on hand to help out.

Barry Meaney is had of sport at The Weald School and was delighted the Southern Water Ashes Roadshow had stopped off there.

“The afternoon was a really good event for the kids that were involved, and it’s great to see them have the opportunity to develop their cricketing skills,” he said.

“Southern Water are obviously pumping a lot of money into developing grass-roots cricket and you’re never too young or old to learn new skills. A lot of our pupils are involved with cricket clubs in the summer term and a scheme like this is really important to develop the game in our school.

“It was a very competitive afternoon, and the five lucky winners will get to take part at The County Ground in December, but it was good fun for all involved.”

The Ashes is the latest in a number of schemes run by the Sussex Cricket Board which Southern Water have been offering their support to.

Phil Tapping, Sussex area water manager, said “We are pleased to be supporting the Ashes scheme and we’ve been working closely with the Sussex Cricket Board to help promote grass-roots cricket.

“Southern Water are committed to helping the community within our area and this is a great tournament for the students, which of course culminates in a trip to The County Ground for the lucky winners.

“Hopefully some of the youngsters can go a step further and get involved in cricket by playing for a club outside of school if they aren’t already doing so”.

The roadshow runs in various schools across the County until Tuesday, November 30 and five students from each school will then battle it out in the final on Sunday, December 5 at Hove.