Urban Cricket Lord's Masterclass
Fifty budding Freddie Flintoffs from five schools across the UK got their chance to meet England stars Owais Shah, Shaun Udal and Graham Thorpe for a coaching masterclass at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
As part of the day, the children took part in a two hour coaching session, hosted by the three England players, at the Lord’s indoor cricket school – regarded as one of the world’s finest cricket coaching facilities. The children also toured the historic ground, where they saw many of the most famous sights in world cricket including; the famous Lord’s pavilion Long Room, inside the home dressing room and the Investec Media Centre.
One of the children taking part, Siraj Mahmood, aged 11, from Firs Hill Community Primary School, Sheffield, said:
"This has been an awesome day. Owais helped me with my batting and Shaun gave me some advice on how to bowl more accurately. Not only did we get to meet some of our heroes but we also got to look around this famous ground which was really interesting. It made cricket come to life".
Meghan Kelly, aged 11, from St. Anne’s Catholic Primary School, Birmingham said:
"Graham gave me some tips on how to hit the ball hard. It’s all about timing. He’s pretty cool. This is a day I’ll never forget".
England’s one-day star Owais Shah commented:
"It’s great to have been at Lord’s indoor cricket school to try and help these kids improve their skills and hopefully inspire them to keep practising hard. We’ve worked on batting, bowling and fielding today and it’s been a lot of fun. There were some very promising youngsters. It’s fantastic to see initiatives such as npower Urban Cricket giving kids the chance to learn the game and develop their skills".
