Young cricketers from Newark and Sherwood could benefit from England and Wales Cricket Board’s new initiative

Aspiring cricketers from across the district will benefit from a new England and Wales Cricket Board initiative set up to deal with the impact of covid-19.

The £1m investment, which will support children from deprived backgrounds, diverse communities, disability groups and women and girls’ cricket programmes, will see the ECB partner with LV= General Insurance financially support focus areas of the grassroots cricket community affected by the pandemic.

Clubs from around Nottinghamshire can register their interest in the programme and apply for financial assistance to keep crucial cricket projects on course over the coming months.

England stars Mark Wood, Lauren Winfield-Hill and Jordan Williams helped to launch the partnership ­— called #Funds4Runs ­— at a virtual event hosted by Isa Guha and Michael Vaughan.

With 2.5m recreational cricketers across the UK, Wood highlighted its importance after starting his own journey to World Cup stardom at Ashington Cricket Club.

He said: “I am delighted to help launch #Funds4Runs.

“I know from my experiences as a young cricketer that grassroots cricket is the heartbeat of the sport and being given that opportunity to access cricket is crucial in building a love for the game.

“Like many other players, I’ve been concerned about the impact of covid-19 on the game so a thank you to everyone at LV and the ECB for providing much-needed support that will help English cricket to recover and thrive.”

The initiative, and LV=GI’s support, will also help deliver against three wider ECB objectives — delivering the purpose of connecting communities and improving lives through cricket, increasing the relevance of cricket locally with non-cricket stakeholders, and growing long-term engagement with cricket in communities.

The fund will show initial financial support with two live projects — expanding the existing All Stars programme and a new partnership with the British Film Institute.

“It really is amazing to see this level of support to be made available to grassroots cricket across the country from the ECB and LV,” said World Cup winner Winfield-Hill.

“There is a real danger that the impact of covid-19 could have caused a whole generation of young girls to slip through the cracks through lack of access.”

Financial support from the initiative will be accessible to affiliated clubs, community organisations, and county cricket boards.

Heather Smith, managing director of LV, said: “The impact of covid-19 has been felt by everyone and the efforts of the cricket community to get the professional game up and running has been immense.

“However, at a local level, cricket has been less readily available or fundamentally more challenging to get involved in due to the pandemic.

“Having had such a long association with cricket, we felt very conscious of the need to do what we can to help rebuild the lives and future of cricket across the UK.”

#Funds4Runs is a £1million investment pot jointly funded by ECB and LV= General Insurance which will help support grassroots cricket communities most impacted by COVID-19. Register your interest to apply atecb.co.uk/funds4runsorlv.com/gi/cricket