South Tyneside club aims to boost youth cricket

Young cricketers from Marsden Cricket Club practice at Harton Technology College.

Marsden Cricket Club is keen to boost its youth numbers and is also calling on more girls to try out the sport.

The move to get more girls into the sport comes after three of its members recently secured places with Durham County Cricket Club.

Lucy Hughes and Rebecca Price, both 12, and Lauren Tooley, 13 will take their places, this season, in the county’s under 13s and under 15s teams respectively.

Paul Snaith, secretary and under 13s coach at the club, said: “The girls gaining places with Durham is a big thing for us and, from a club point of view, it shows the high level of training we have on offer to young people who are interested in cricket.”

Marsden currently has five ECB level two coaches and one ECB level three coach.

The eight-week coaching programme kicks off on February 17 at Harton Wellness Centre in South Shields.

Young cricketers from Marsden Cricket Club at Harton Technology College.

Sessions are held on Fridays from 7pm until 9pm and are open to young people aged between seven and 13-years-old.

Coach Ryan Little has been with the club since 2004, working his way through the youth structure to first team cricket and coaching.

He said: “We have already hosted taster sessions, visiting schools and trying to encourage young people, not just to promote cricket, but to promote sport as a whole, to try and encourage them to get out more and meet new people.

“Hopefully, the taster sessions will lead to more young people wanting to join our junior programme, where they will be able to learn new skills and improve on the skills they already have, to get them ready to go outside and play competitive games.”

The junior section of the club runs through to under 18s - with sessions held at Boldon School on Wednesdays at 8pm.

Mr Snaith added: “The sessions are open to anyone, boys and girls, who are interested in cricket.

“It doesn’t matter whether they have played before or never played at all.

“We would love to see new people coming along to try out the sport.”

Anyone interested can turn up. First three sessions are free.

For information contact Paul Snaith on 07960023385, email [email protected] or visit Marsden Cricket Club on Facebook