WHILE Wimbledon sends youngsters racing for the tennis courts, the Ashes does the same for cricket.

But in both sports it is not easy to keep young people interested. Concern has been expressed across the UK over the lack of youngsters playing the game at grass roots, leading to a paucity of youngsters challenging for county places, let alone England spots.

As England and Australia battle it out on the pitch, efforts are being made at clubs across the UK to remedy this situation.

Established in 1894 Woodlands Cricket Club in Oakenshaw plays in the JCT 600 Bradford Cricket league, one of the premier leagues in the country. “We have a really strong junior section,” says club secretary Brian Pearson. Juniors make up under 11 and under nine teams, and have an all-girls team as well as boys.

A former player, Brian knows the difficulties of retaining interest in the game as youngsters grow older. “Years ago we had to start again to build up junior teams as there was a problem with under 17 cricket. Youths of that age find it hard to move up from junior to senior cricket and we lose some of them. The move from 20 overs to a 50-over game also puts them off,” he says. “It is easy to lose their morale."

The club has enviable facilities including a multi-purpose sports hall with indoor nets, outdoor nets, male and female changing and showers and a modern scoreboard.

“We have attractive facilities which is necessary to be able to guarantee an interest in young children,” says Brian. “Nowadays children have so many other interests that distract them.”

Several experienced coaches are attached to the club. “It is not just a case of youngsters turning for bat on ball. They are coached in the necessary skills, so over time they develop as a young cricketer who you hope will later step into senior cricket.”

The club’s coaches also work with schools. “We work with teachers to give them the skills to carry on and hope youngsters will develop sufficient interest to join a club,” says Brian.

He adds: “One concern is that it is not on the curriculum and very few schools include it as part of their sports.”

Saltaire Cricket Club holds sessions with qualified coaches indoors and then outdoors at its Roberts Park ground from spring until the end of September, plus special coaching during the school holidays.

“We have children aged from four upwards who play with a plastic bat and ball,” says Billy Rickets, whose many roles at the club include coach. “We have teams for children aged under nine, 11, 15 and 17. They are very keen and enthusiastic - even when it is raining they ring asking ‘Is cricket on?’.”

Team members are rotated and those too young to join teams get a chance to play at the club with their parents. The club also works with the Physically Handicapped and Able Bodied charity to encourage people of all abilities to get involved. “We don’t turn anyone away,” says Billy. “We work hard to keep their interest. We lose a lot of kids to football, and when they reach their mid teens they get involved with other things.

The club is involved with ‘Chance to Shine’ , a national charity spreading the power of cricket throughout schools and communities. “We send coaches to schools, with each of three coaches having three primary schools each.”

School tournaments are also held, with winners getting the chance to play at Yorkshire Cricket Club's Headingley ground.

All clubs encourage girls as well as boys. “The captain of our under nine team is a girl,” says Billy.

Yorkshire Cricket Club is making great strides in encouraging youngsters to take up cricket and works with clubs within the county. Chief executive Mark Arthur says: "There are 747 cricket clubs in Yorkshire with more than 110,000 adults playing every weekend, and in addition 503 clubs have junior sections. We help clubs to introduce boys and girls from their local communities to the game and to learn to love it."

The club listens and responds to requests from leagues and individual clubs as to how they can offer support. "In 2005 cricket disappeared from free-to-air TV and does not get exposed to the wider population," adds Mark. "We have to work much harder now to get people to play the game."

In Bradford Yorkshire Cricket Club is supported by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Sport England to work in particular with the South Asian community.