A BRADFORD school's girls cricket team have won a prestigious accolade at the Chance to Shine annual awards at Lord's.

Carlton Bolling College won the Lycamobile Special Recognition Award for their hard work supporting grassroots cricket and received the prize from England cricketer Jason Roy.

Zaheer Jaffary, a PE teacher at the school who coaches the girls, is delighted the team have been honoured.

He said: "We're so overwhelmed by the award. The girls are struggling to comprehend what it means.

"Everything they've stood for and everything they've fought for has been rewarded. Having overcome the barriers they faced just to play and enjoy the game makes the success even sweeter."

The girls were named Yorkshire under-15 champions at the county final in York, despite only being an under-13 age group.

Jaffary added: "Every club and school are informed about the awards so I decided to nominate our girls not really expecting anything to come from it.

"I wasn't thinking much about it, then within two weeks I got a call explaining we were shortlisted in the special recognition category and invited down to Lord's for the event."

Coming from an Asian background, there were a lot of issues with the girls' families before they were allowed to start playing.

Jaffary explained: "We had meetings with families, where we had to persuade them to let their children train and play. There always seemed to be new barriers appearing trying to stop it. At times it was tough.

"The best thing about winning the award is that the girls don't come from cricketing backgrounds. They were all new to the sport and within two years, they became the best team in Yorkshire, two years above their age group.

"The girls give up their lunch-times at school to train. They have worked so hard and the award is a testament to the girls."

The team have now established an academy which is open to girls from all backgrounds to try the game and Jaffary can't wait to see what 2017 holds.

"We start the indoor season in December and we play all the way through until the outdoor season begins in 2017. We want to go one step further next year and win the national competition."

Chance to Shine has been working since 2005 to reverse the decline of cricket in state schools. By providing coaching in schools and extra-curricular opportunities, the charity has reached nearly 12,000 state schools and more than three million young people.