YORKSHIRE Cricket Foundation has been celebrating a successful start to a programme at a Bradford community centre to get more children playing sport.

The Wicketz programme is based out of Karmand Community Centre in Barkerend, and was launched in December 2017.

It provides local children and young people from deprived areas with free access to weekly cricket sessions, as the Barkerend area is lacking in organised sport.

The Wicketz programme is provided by volunteers from the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, the county’s cricket club’s charitable arm, and is funded by the Lord Taverners.

Since the first session at the Karmand Centre, 36 weekly sessions and one cricket festival for eight to 16-year-olds.

As well as indoor sports halls, the Karmand centre has a full-sized cricket pitch, cricket nets, and 3G football pitches, which have all been used to get more children playing cricket.

More than 100 children and young people have attended the sessions, which the Cricket Foundation said has “created a new community of youth cricketers in the BD3 area”.

One participant in the sessions said: “Wicketz has given me the opportunity to participate in cricket, and it doesn’t cost money which means I can come and play the sport I really enjoy and don’t have to pay for.”

As well as improving their cricketing skills, the sessions have also given children the chance to meet new people.

More than 70 per cent of participants have said they made new friends from difference communities at the sessions.

Another participant added: “I have made loads of new friends since attending the Wicketz, who I now contact away from the sessions and chat about the session.

“It also has allowed me to make friends from different schools and areas in Bradford.”

More than 80 per cent have also reported an increase in individual confidence.

Another participant said: “When I first attending Wicketz I struggle with my confidence and when I am nervous my stutter becomes really bad, but since then each week I have become more confident in my ability to play cricket but also talk to new people and my stutter has gone.”

As well as cricket, the sessions also tackle issues such as health, education and crime to ensure the sessions have a positive impact on children both in the sporting arena and also in general life.