Woakes supports state schools cricket competition

Chris Woakes said it was "great to see kids enjoying the sport" [BBC] England World Cup winner Chris Woakes has been back to his roots to launch a competition to get more children in state schools playing cricket. The Warwickshire bowler coached pupils at his former school, Barr Beacon School in Aldridge, before their first game. The first round of matches in the Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup, which is run by the MCC Foundation purely for state schools, was held on Wednesday.

"It's just great to see kids enjoying the sport and having the opportunity to play it, both boys and girls," he said. Nearly 60% of professional players in England were educated privately and Woakes played in teams for his country where the percentage was higher than that. Woakes, 37, announced his international retirement in September, following his omission from England's Ashes squad.

He was already in love with cricket when he was a pupil at the school, but there were not many opportunities to play the game. Woakes told BBC Midlands Today he thought he played "one cricket match in my time at school here for the school". Woakes gave students at his former school coaching and was the umpire [BBC] Finals for boys and girls teams will take place at Lord's in September.

Schools will have access to discounted cricket equipment to make it more affordable. David Dawes, from Barr Beacon School, said: "To get the popularity of cricket up at our school is a real big thing in PE. "We often lose our children to football, basketball, badminton, the more popular sports, so to be involved in this is incredible.