{"id":8916,"date":"2026-02-18T15:17:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=8916"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:17:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:17:55","slug":"ecb-announces-45m-of-hundred-money-to-go-to-inclusive-grassroots-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=8916","title":{"rendered":"ECB announces \u00a345m of Hundred money to go to inclusive grassroots projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Around \u00a345m raised by the \u00a3520m investment into The Hundred will be used to fund projects that make cricket more inclusive, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced.<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">When the eight Hundred teams were sold last year, 10% of the total money raised was ring-fenced for the grassroots game in England and Wales.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The ECB has confirmed the creation of the strategic facilities fund, which will be used for larger-scale projects and is expected to provide investment for at least 10 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It will target plans which benefit women and girls cricket, disability cricket, those in lower socio-economic groups or ethnically diverse communities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for grassroots cricket thanks to the investment we&#8217;ve received into The Hundred,&#8221; ECB chief executive officer Richard Gould said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;With more children playing, the rapid growth of women&#8217;s and girls&#8217; cricket, and our desire to become the most inclusive team sport, new and improved facilities are vital to open up access to cricket for communities across England and Wales.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The ECB hopes to receive additional money from the UK Government and other partners to boost funding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The government announced \u00a31.5m of funding last year for the building of two new cricket domes, though it has not fulfilled the previous government&#8217;s pledge to put \u00a335m into grassroots cricket.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The ECB is also doubling the money available in smaller grants for new and upgraded facilities at individual clubs and increasing the amount available in interest-free loans to fund improvements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A further \u00a36m from the recreational game&#8217;s share of the Hundred investment will be used over the next three years to support the recreational county boards in delivering their own strategic plans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Bids for money from the new facilities fund will be done from county boards. Applications will open in April.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In 2023, the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) report found &#8220;structural and institutional racism&#8221; continues to exist in cricket, women are treated as &#8220;subordinate&#8221; to men at all levels of the sport and said there is a prevalence of &#8220;elitism and class-based discrimination&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In response, the ECB invested \u00a32m to improve diversity in 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Around \u00a345m raised by the \u00a3520m investment into The Hundred will be used to fund projects that make cricket more inclusive, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced. When the eight Hundred teams were sold last year, 10% of the total money raised was ring-fenced for the grassroots game in England and Wales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}