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Government support for grassroots cricket clubs

Background

According to the England and Wales Cricket Club (ECB), there are over 5,000 cricket clubs across England and Wales. Government support for grassroots clubs are mainly in the form of National Lottery and government funding administered by Sport England. 

Government initiatives

In 2023, the then government published a strategy on the future of sport and physical activity which aimed to deliver “multi-million pound investment into grassroots facilities”.

In April 2024, then Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announced an investment of £35 million in grassroots cricket facilities “to widen participation in schools, encourage health lifestyles and provide world class, all-year-round facilities for local communities”.

In October 2024, the BBC reported that the plan to invest £35 million of government funding into grassroots cricket was “said to be severely under threat” following planned fiscal cuts. The report stated that Stephanie Peacock, Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth, had held meetings with ECB “to discuss the future of cricket”.

In August 2025, the BBC reported that the government had pledged £1.5 million for two new indoor sport domes in Luton and Lancashire. The report added that “hopes of grassroots cricket receiving an anticipated huge cash injection remain in doubt.” On the previous government’s £35 million investment, it quoted Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, as saying:

Unfortunately, the announcement made by the last government was a fantasy. There was not a single penny of funding actually attached to it.

In response to a question tabled in the House of Commons, on 26 November 2025, on government support of cricket clubs, Stephanie Peacock, stated:

The Government has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to supporting grassroots cricket through its recent announcement of funding for the England and Wales Cricket Board to build two new indoor cricket domes in Farington and Luton.

This funding for cricket domes is in addition to the £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the nation which was announced following the spending review. As part of this funding, 40% of projects across the UK will be required to benefit a sport other than football, including cricket, basketball and rugby league. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. This includes long term investment to the ECB, which receives up to £11.6 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives.

Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme (MSGFP)

The MSGFP is a government initiative aimed at delivering funding for essential improvements to sports facilities across the UK. According to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the programme will deliver over £420 million between 2021 and 2026 to support facilities across the whole of the UK.

In October 2024, DCMS announced that the government was investing £125 million in 2024/25, through the MSGFP, to support sport facilities across the whole of the UK. The governments’ publication of funded MSGFP projects between 2021 to 2025 includes cricket clubs.

Further resources

Parliamentary questions

• Cricket: Surrey Heath, 1 December 2025 |UIN 95932
• Cricket: Clubs, 26 November 2025 | UIN 94661
• Cricket: Luton, 10 November 2025 | UIN 88994
• Cricket: Lancashire, 1 September 2025 | UIN 74081
• Cricket: Finance, 22 July 2025 | UIN 69972
• Cricket: Urban Areas, 26 June 2025 | UIN 63089
• Cricket, 14 January 2025 | UIN 23924