Cricket at grass-roots level remains vibrant as the 1999 season kicks-off with an estimated two million people participating in our national summer game including 150,000 junior club members.

As part of its mission to develop cricket 'from the playground to the Test arena,' the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is striving to maximize participation in recreational cricket at all levels.

In 1999, the ECB will expand the Premier League concept for club cricketers, introduce new features to the Kwik Cricket Roadshow and continue to support the National Club Cricket Championship plus the two major junior competitions - the Subaru Under 13s and the Sun Life of Canada U15s Club Championship.

Premier Leagues

A total of nine new Premier Leagues will join the Birmingham and District Premier League in the ECB's new national network of Premier Leagues for club cricketers in 1999.

Cheshire, East Anglia, Essex, Middlesex, West of England, Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire have all been accredited as regional or County Premier Leagues for 1999.

The Forester Kent Premier League will be the first in the country to pilot two day 'grade-style' cricket with matches played over successive Saturdays.

Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire have also been accredited as Premier Leagues Elect as they move towards the 120-Over format which is standard in other Premier Leagues.

Premier League cricket is aimed at leading club cricketers and is designed to help bridge the gap between recreational and First Class cricket. It was first proposed in the Raising the Standard blueprint for the future of the game published in 1997.

The National Club Cricket Championship

The National Club Cricket Championship is thirty years old this year and 410 teams from 16 regions will be competing for a place in the final at Lord's on September 3. Doncaster won the competition for the first time last year - beating Bath in the final.

The first round of this year's competition begins on Sunday April 25. All sides who were in ECB accredited leagues as at Christmas 1998 when the draw was made, have been given a bye through to the second round.

Subaru U13s Club Championship.

Around 1,500 teams will be vying for a place in the final of this year's competition which will be held at Oakham School in Leicestershire from August 3rd to August 6th.

Last year's competition was won by Wembdon C.C. from Somerset who finished ahead of Wolverhampton, Doncaster, St Fagans, Sunbury, Billericay, Cambridge Granta and Clydesdale in the round-robin-style final.

The competition began in 1972 and has been sponsored by Subaru for the past three years. The playing format is tailored to suit the needs of young cricketers with a 'retirement score' for batsmen and a limitation on the number of overs per bowler.

Sun Life of Canada U15s Club Cricket Championship

The Sun Life of Canada U15s competition is expected to attract around 1,500 entries this season. The competition, which has been sponsored by Sun Life for the past 15 seasons, was won last year by St Fagans CC from Cardiff. Horsford, Crewe Rolls Royce and Sunbury were the other finalists.

Four teams will again contest this year's final at Basingstoke and North Hants CC on Tuesday, August 24 which will be watched by a host of cricket celebrities and professional commentators. The prize for the winners is an all-expenses paid coaching day in the MCC's Indoor Cricket School at Lord's.

The Kwik Cricket Roadshow

Young cricketers will be able to practice with Alec Stewart's bat and even literally step into a life-size imprint of the England captain's shoes when the ECB's Kwik Cricket Roadshow kicks off a nation-wide tour later this month.

The chance to adopt the England captain's stance and try-out his Slazenger bat in a display unit featuring a backdrop of the Australian wicket-keeper Ian Healy is just one of several exciting new innovations in this year's Vodafone sponsored Roadshow.

Other new attractions include a new display on the manufacture of the cricket ball and the cricket bat, a World Cup video game and a display of cricket equipment used by leading international players such as Adam Hollioake, Mark Waugh and Graeme Hick.

The Roadshow, which will visit more than 30 sites this summer, is designed to introduce youngsters to Kwik Cricket - the junior version of the game which is played by nearly a million Primary School children nation-wide.

Around 20,000 children visited the Roadshow last summer when it toured nearly 30 non-cricket venues around the country offering youngsters the chance to take up the Roadshow Challenge - a test of batting, bowling and fielding skills.

Transported in a 40 ft, articulated lorry and staffed by ECB Cricket Development Officers and Coaches, the Roadshow was conceived to encourage children to play cricket in their own environment - from the backyard to the beach.

For further information contact

Andrew Walpole, ECB Corporate Affairs Dept: 0171 4321252

Clare Fathers, ECB Corporate Affairs Dept: 0171 4321245

Cath Harris, ECB Corporate Affairs Dept - 0171 4321272