More than 8,000 children play in record-breaking Schools Cricket Day

More than 8,000 children from 54 schools picked up a bat and ball on 23 April for Schools Cricket Day, described by organisers as the largest single-day cricket participation event in UK history.

The day marked 50 days until the ICC Women's T20 World Cup gets under way at Edgbaston on 12 June.

At Edgbaston

More than 400 of the children took part in a special session at Edgbaston, supported by former England player Lydia Greenway OBE, a member of the side that won the 2009 World Cup.

"When I think back to my own debut in 2003, the opportunities for girls in cricket were so different," she said. "It's brilliant to see initiatives like this taking the game directly to school children here in Birmingham and across the country."

She said hosting a home World Cup was "a real chance to put the women's game front and centre on a global stage", and that events like Schools Cricket Day showed why that mattered.

The matches coming to Birmingham

Edgbaston opens the tournament with England against Sri Lanka on 12 June, and will host three more fixtures, including Bangladesh against the Netherlands, followed just four hours later by India against Pakistan, one of the most anticipated matches of the competition.

A legacy for girls' cricket

Schools Cricket Day is part of the England and Wales Cricket Board's plan to use the home World Cup to encourage more girls to play. This year the ECB is aiming for 500,000 women and girls to play cricket, 300 women to take on leadership roles in the game's administration, and 500 "Champions of Change" through the Young Cricket Collective, who will volunteer and help make change at their local clubs.

From first-time batters and bowlers in playgrounds to competitive matches on school fields, the day was designed to show girls and boys alike that cricket is a game for them.

Activities on the day included games created by UNICEF, the ICC's global charity partner, through its "Rights in Play" programme, which uses cricket to help children learn about their rights. Schools could also use a range of cricket activities from a dedicated online resource hub.

A growing game

Women's cricket has grown quickly in England in recent years, with bigger crowds and more professional contracts. Organisers hope that bringing the World Cup to venues like Edgbaston will turn that interest into a new generation of players, many of whom may have held a cricket bat for the first time at school.