An innovative method of tackling youth crime comes to Bristol today with the first finals of Street20 cricket taking place at the City Academy.
Youngsters from Bristol are competing against teams from Birmingham, Newcastle, Essex and Sussex in the fast, super-short form of cricket.
Part of cricket charity The Lord’s Taverners’ Cricket for Change programme, Street20 aims to transform the lives of 7,500 youngsters from some of the UK’s most deprived communities.
Today’s inaugural finals are the pinnacle of the programme, which works with community groups to provide a year-round programme of youth work including civic responsibility, social inclusion and education.
At a time when public spending cuts on youth service budgets are perceived to be having a dramatic effect on the increased violence and crime levels among youngsters, Cricket for Change is already operating in 30 communities and counties across the UK and has the aim of being in 150 by 2013.
The Lord’s Taverners chief executive Matthew Patten said: “Our aim is to help young people at the frontline of Broken Britain develop a sense of personal responsibility, belonging to something larger than their own world, staying away from the negative influences of gangs, crime and drugs and make positive choices for the good of their future.
“We love cricket, but for The Lord’s Taverners the sport is a means to attract and engage disadvantaged young people, not the end in itself; it’s the youth work and social outcomes that matter.
"The Cricket for Change programme is about unlocking the social benefits sport can deliver, helping some of our most marginalised young people develop as individuals and transform their lives and the communities they live in.”
Officers from Avon & Somerset and Northumbria Police, who have entered a Street20 team to play against the youngsters today, are hosting a series of educational workshops addressing issues such as stop and search, knife crime and drug abuse during the day.
