POTENTIAL cricketing all-stars had their first taste of the sport in an action-packed day at Furness College.

Cumbria Cricket development officer Jake Woods and his team of coaches led the way as dozens of youngsters took part in the Key Stage One event.

The five to seven-year-olds – the key target demographic in the ECB's new national All Stars programme, which has been taken up by most of the clubs in South Cumbria this summer – spent two hours throwing themselves through the air and running themselves ragged as they learnt some of the game's core skills.

Children from 12 South Cumbrian schools – Holy Family, Ireleth St Peter's, Pennington, Parkside GGI, Burlington, Yarlside Academy, St George's, Dane Ghyll, Low Furness, Brisbane Infants, Barrow Island and St Columba's – enjoyed two-hour sessions in the sports hall at Furness College.

Smiling widely as they dived to catch balls, showing full concentration as they tried to hit them as hard and as far as they could, and picking their spot for fielding exercises as they attempted to hit the stumps, they all had a great day.

Woods said: “We had four stations for the kids and they moved between them. They were doing diving catches, batting, throwing down the stumps and catching and running between the wickets in a little game.

“The main part of the day is about fun. It's giving them an introduction to cricket, but it is also fun an enjoyable, so they can take a liking to cricket at a young age.

“We had 12 schools and for the majority of them, they hadn't played cricket before – it was their first time. Some had played a little bit with brothers and sisters, things like that, but none of them had been introduced to clubs as yet.”

The All Stars programme – launched this month in a bid to introduce the sport to tens of thousands of new children across the country – will hopefully see some of the children from the day take the next step.

The majority of the clubs in South Cumbria are taking part, offering a series of eight, one-hour coaching sessions, with all children taking part being given basic equipment to help them play outside of the club activity.

Barrow, Furness, Vickerstown, Dalton, Lindal Moor, South Lakes Maidens, Ulverston, Millom, Cartmel and Haverigg Cricket Clubs are all taking part.

Woods hopes that will prove a success, and added: “The All Stars Cricket is for five to eight-year-old kids and this day we had should lead quite well into it.

“Hopefully the day has given them a start and they will sign up for the All Stars at one of the local clubs, which would be brilliant.”

For more information on dates and venues for All Stars Cricket, visit www.ecb.co.uk/play/all-stars