InsureandGo sponsors first ever Essex Strike20

Southend-based travel insurance provider InsureandGo (www.insureandgo.com) has announced its sponsorship of the first ever Strike20 community cricket competition, organised by Essex Cricket.

The pilot community competition will be run over two separate events, one being held at the Colchester Cricket Festival on the 18th, 19th, 20th and 22nd August. The other competition is being held at the Ford County Ground on 25th April, 9th May, 29th August and 2nd September.

Strike20 is an adaptation of Street20 Cricket, which was founded by Cricket4Change. This is a popular urban form of the game that uses tennis balls wrapped in electrical tape and is played in multi-use games areas, estates or indoor halls. Strike20 uses the same rules as Street20 Cricket except it uses boundaries like the classical form of the game, rather than cages or walls, and it will be played on grass, using inter-cricket equipment. Inter-cricket equipment is a soft ball and plastic equipment as opposed to hard-ball cricket, so it is a great way to introduce new players to the game.

The game derives its name from its format, in which each batsman is allowed 20 strikes to get as many runs as they can.

Tracey Davies, Essex Cricket Development Manager, said: “This is a great way to get into the sport of cricket. The competition is for the whole community to get involved in, whether you are a budding Alastair Cook or if you have never picked up a bat before. We want as many young people aged 12-15 as possible to enter a six-a-side team. This will allow them free entry to Essex County Cricket matches, as well as giving them the chance to play on the pitch during the intervals of those matches.”

Perry Wilson, founder of InsureandGo, commented: “We are delighted to get behind Essex Cricket in piloting this community competition. As a company we are proud to be from Essex and support the local community, in whatever way we can. By sponsoring this competition we hope to help introduce more people to cricket in the county – and hopefully one day we’ll even see some of these young players turning into the next Graham Gooch!”

To enter a team please contact Tracey Davies for more information on tracey.davies.essex@ecb.co.uk or 01245 254004.

-Ends-