SOUTH Asian cricket fans from across the Bradford district are being urged to attend a key meeting to help shape the future of the game.

The sport’s governing body, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), is running a series of regional consultation workshops, including one in Bradford, to help improve its understanding and levels of engagement with South Asian cricket fans across the country.

In order to boost participation and popularity levels, the ECB wants to engage with Bradford’s Afghani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Nepalese, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan communities.

A spokesman said: “The ECB wants to ensure that cricket is a game for everyone, full of great experiences whether people play, watch, follow, or work in the game.

“Whether you are involved in cricket or not - you could be a community leader, player, volunteer, coach, school teacher, an armchair fan, or a parent of a cricket-mad child – everyone is welcome to attend.”

As well as the event in Bradford, which takes place at the Carlisle Business Centre in Manningham from 7pm to 9.30pm on Tuesday, July 18, workshops will also be taking place in Dewsbury, Sheffield, Birmingham, Manchester, Leicester, and London.

All the sessions are designed to encourage local communities to share their thoughts, ideas, and experiences on playing, attending, or following cricket.

Lord Patel of Bradford, who is an independent director at the ECB, said: “We know that there is an incredible passion for the game within South Asian communities nationwide. Cricket is in their DNA and we want them to help shape our future plans for the game.

“Today we are only scratching the surface of the potential engagement with cricket from the UK’s South Asian communities.

“This is a huge opportunity to grow the game and we want to hear from people who play or follow cricket, but also those who don’t. Get involved, tell us what you think, and contribute to deliver a change and help make cricket a better experience for all.”

In May, Lord Patel spoke at the official opening of the first stage of the revamped Park Avenue cricket ground, a multi-million pound redevelopment involving the ECB, in partnership with Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC) and Bradford Council.

As part of work funded by Sport England, the ECB targeted Bradford as one of five cities in which to engage more closely with South-Asian communities, with an initial focus of increasing the number of pitches available for community use.

As such, the first phase of the project saw the construction of a new pavilion and eight artificial practice wickets for use by communities across the district.

Mark Arthur, chief executive of YCCC, said one of the initial reasons to redevelop Park Avenue into a “first-class cricket ground for the community” was the ground’s location in an area with a large British-Asian population.

Alongside getting their voices heard, anyone who attends Tuesday’s meeting will also have the chance to enter draws for tickets to matches in this year’s NatWest T20 Blast competition and VIP tickets for England games against India or Pakistan in 2018.

To register, visit ecb.co.uk/southasiancricket.