After the success of our first ever Twenty-Twenty international tournament in March the Lanzarote Cricket Association held a Junior Cricket Festival in May encouraging youngsters to get involved in the sport and introduced them to cricket en la calle, street cricket, whereby a game can be held in any urban location, making it easily accessible to everyone.
Ideally played by 6 members a side cricket en la calle is a fast moving and fun game where everyone gets to bat bowl and field in a short period of time and where everyone is always involved in the play. The day was a great success as over 30 children turned up and thoroughly enjoyed the cricketing activities. Members of the Lanzarote team were on hand to demonstrate and explain the basic skills involved in starting out.
The fielding activities got the youngsters throwing and catching the ball to each other, collecting a moving ball along the ground and throwing it at the wicket and then catching the ball and throwing it at the wicket. There were competitive elements added too. The longest throw challenge was a particular favourite. The longest measured was 30 metres, a great effort !!
Another fun game involved two teams throwing the ball to a team member, passing and moving, trying to get into an end zone which practiced the fielding skills the youngsters practiced earlier. The basics of bowling were demonstrated, showing them how to hold a ball and bowl and encouraging them to hit the wicket from various distances.
Finally batting was demonstrated, showing how and where to hold the bat. The youngsters had great fun practising defending a ball thrown to them by their partner. Some very promising batting techniques were displayed !! After all these activities the youngsters got to play non stop cricket and then a game of cricket en la calle where they used all the skills they’d just been introduced to. It was gratifying to see all the girls and boys having such fun playing the game. There were examples of fine catching, batting and bowling during the game showing that cricket can be played by everyone.
A well earned BBQ closed the days fun and as the adults were relaxing in the sun afterwards the youngsters on their own initiative went back onto the ground to play another game of cricket en la calle … a success indeed.