England Captains Launch ‘Yorkshire Tea Young Cricket Commentator of the Year’ Competition

Current and former England Test captains Alastair Cook and Michael launched ‘Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week’ in early May by starting a search for the ‘Yorkshire Tea Young Cricket Commentator of the Year’.

The objective of this ECB sponsor branded competition run by school/community cricket charity Chance To Shine is to inspire the next generation of commentators.

The launch event saw kids from The Hague Primary School (in London’s Bethnal Green) play with Cook up on an inner city rooftop playground beside a specially built commentary box designed to enable the children to learn the art of commentary from BBC test Match Special expert summariser Vaughan.

Budding young commentators aged between 7 and 14 are encouraged to enter the competition by sending in their video and audio clips (maximum length 90-seconds) off them commentating on any game or type of cricket.

The finalists will then compete with one another directly at the Kia Oval during Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week and Alastair Cook will act as a judge the determine the final winner who will get to visit the BBC Test Match Special box during a Test match in the summer.

The competition was promoted with a launch film on YouTube

and social support on both sponsor Yorkshire Tea

Read about the launch of the @YorkshireTea Young Cricket Commentator of the Year competition https://t.co/yv1KnhVcuC pic.twitter.com/67aT1b4haI

— Chance to Shine (@Chance2Shine) May 6, 2016

We’re searching for a brilliant young cricket commentator with @Chance2Shine! Full details: https://t.co/k3MgSTVBSf pic.twitter.com/BvKxB7gjJY

— Yorkshire Tea (@YorkshireTea) May 5, 2016

and organiser Chance To Shine Twitter channels.

We’re up on a rooftop playground with Cookie & @MichaelVaughan to launch @YorkshireTea Cricket Commentator comp! pic.twitter.com/cMhNHIS89q

— Chance to Shine (@Chance2Shine) May 5, 2016

Think you can do better? Enter the @YorkshireTea Young Cricket Commentator of the Year at https://t.co/5h0nbz9YLr https://t.co/fItdMLnLCz

— Chance to Shine (@Chance2Shine) May 5, 2016

Captain Cook is 36 away from 10,000 Test runs but is he a good commentator? https://t.co/nrNxEs47q9 @YorkshireTea pic.twitter.com/YtoQCzJBB6

— Chance to Shine (@Chance2Shine) May 19, 2016

With further support from BBC test match Special.

Some @bbctms stars of the future at the @Chance2Shine National cricket week launch in Bethnal Green today! pic.twitter.com/MUIjw6zpQZ

— Test Match Special (@bbctms) May 5, 2016

All these assets direct viewers to the campaign’s core web platform or incentivise them to submit their own entry via email at commentate@yorkshiretea.co.uk.

To get kids creative commentating juices flowing, Chance To Shine has worked with the ECB to offer a playlist offering a selection of classic Ashes cricketing clips that participants could consider using for their entry.

‘I’ve played a lot of cricket, all over the world, but I’ve never played on a rooftop. It shows what an important job Chance to Shine is doing, supported by Yorkshire Tea,’ explains Cook at the competition launch.

‘As a long-term supporter of Chance to Shine, it’s great to see the game at, I want to say grassroots level, but it’s at rooftop level! I hope as many young people enter the competition as possible. I think we found some future commentary stars here today and it’s brilliant to see so many kids enthused by cricket.’

‘This is what it’s all about, a school that has created space on the rooftop. It’s great to see kids out here playing the game,’ added Vaughan at the launch event.

‘The girls in the corner (commentating) are magnificent, I’m slightly worried. They are painting the picture and bringing enthusiasm. It’s such a good competition for aspiring young cricket commentators and you’ll probably be nicking my job in a few years’ time.’

Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week itself will run from 20 to 24 June and will see thousands of schools will get involved in the game via their local County Cricket Board through a range of activities from cricket-themed lessons in class and coaching in the playground, to competitions at local cricket clubs and cricket festivals.

Comment:

The band/property fit between Yorkshire Tea and the ECB is a natural one – after all, cricket is the only sport that stops for tea and the brand is based in English cricket’s most famous country.

The brand has long had a close connection with the sport – including an illustration of a village game on its traditional packaging.

Yorkshire Tea supports local league cricket as well as being the Official Brew of England Cricket

This particular partnership with Chance To Shine (is a 10-year programme run by the charitable Cricket Foundation to encourage cricket in state schools in the UK and was first launched in 2005)

is just one part of ECB sponsor Yorkshire Tea’s ongoing, multi-channel cricket activation.

The tea brand’s cricket campaign’s range from the current ‘Great Cricket Tea Challenge’ (a grassroots support strand in the form of an annual search for the tastiest cricket tea that offers small cricket clubs prizes of up to £5000 as well as a T20 match against the ex-England cricketers of the PCA Masters), to traditional, above-the-line cricket references in its mainstream advertising.