WEARING their smart new caps, bright orange bats in hand and bedecked in their distinctive blue t-shirts, keen cricketing newcomers have been flocking to Lindal Moor.

Every Sunday morning for the past month – and for another few weeks to come – the Pennington Lane club has opened its gates and welcomed a host of youngsters under the ECB's All Stars Cricket banner.

A group of 16 four to eight-year-olds have spent their late spring weekends learning all about the game from the club's coaches.

It is part of a big push by the ECB to increase youth participation in cricket across the land, with Lindal one of eight clubs in South Cumbria to be taking part.

Targetting an age group not normally seen at cricket clubs – where most teams start at under-10s – and helping them learn all the basics of the game while having a fun hour every week, All Stars is a popular new venture which has attracted children across the area.

At Lindal, coach David Brown has been delighted to see the same smiling faces turning up week after week, picking up bats, throwing down balls and running between wickets with great gusto.

He has been pleased with the level of uptake at a club the South Lakes Maidens girls and women's sides also call their home, and is hopeful All Stars can be the start of a positive uptake in young cricketers involved with clubs across the area.

“We've had more people apply than we expected,” he said. “We've brought the South Lakes Maidens and Lindal together – we've had 16 signed on and others who have come to do taster sessions, it has all been going well.

“There's definitely a gap in the age groups. All the other sports have something to get children in as five or six-year-olds – football does, rugby does – but there has been nothing as an entry level for cricket. This has filled that gap.

“This has worked quite well, and we have already had some of them who have gone to train with our under-10s, and a couple of the girls have expressed an interest of training with the Maidens as well – it's positive.”

The children taking part have come to Lindal with a varying degree of cricketing experience. Some have obviously held a bat and bowled before, others are encountering the sport for the first time – the exact group being targetted by the ECB initiative.

With live cricket no longer on terrestrial TV – either at domestic or international level – there is seen as a need to promote the sport among those who may not otherwise see it.

That is what All Stars is all about, and Brown has certainly seen some youngsters who are totally unfamiliar with the game.

He added: “Some of them know what cricket is, them know how to hit a ball and bowl, but some of them haven't got a clue. The main thing we have been doing is just to get them involved, have a run around on a Sunday morning, and get them involved.

“Some of them have started from nothing, but they can now catch the ball or hit it. It's benefiting everyone.

“There is a warm-up, a fielding exercise, a batting exercise and a fielding drill, with a game at the end every week. We tailor it to the people who are there, we make them work for the children who are there – we have one girl who is four who comes along week in, week out, she arrives before and stays afterwards. She can't do the same things as someone who has just turned eight, but we make sure we adapt it so she can do things.”

Games at the end of each sessions bring the parents onto the field to play their part – often leading to chaotic scenes, but ensuring everyone ends up having fun.

The hope is all cricket clubs in the area will benefit, and Brown said: “Cricket is struggling in some areas locally – Windscale folded not long ago – and what you need is for young people to come through who want to play cricket on a regular basis. It gives us people to play at adult level in future years.”