Chance to Shine’s long slog breaches boundaries to find first internationals

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Issy Wong was in year four when Chance to Shine came into her primary school, Bentley Heath in Solihull, with their duffle bags of plastic bats, stumps and balls. She had already played a bit of cricket beforehand at an after school club, but this was different. It involved her whole class, so instead of being one of only a handful of girls in a club of 60 kids, she was actually in the majority.

It was a kickstart for her cricket career – and later that year she discovered the cricket club that had been lurking unnoticed half a mile from her home. Soon afterwards, aged nine or 10, she was pulled into the Warwickshire setup, becoming a zipping fast bowler who meant business.

Fast forward a decade or so, to June 2022, and Wong, alongside fellow Chance to Shine participant and quick bowler Lauren Bell, was at Taunton, preparing to accept her England cap from Katherine Brunt before the women’s Test against South Africa. Wong and Bell are the bright young things, ready to take the baton after the retirements of Anya Shrubsole and Brunt herself.

It was a crowning moment for the charity, the first time any full participants in their programme had gone on to international honours. Chance to Shine was formed in 2005, the brainchild of commentator Mark Nicholas, cricket manufacturer Duncan Fearnley and Lord King, the former governor of the Bank of England, in an attempt to reinvigorate cricket in state schools and ensure all children had the chance to get to know the game.

In the years since, it has been quietly going about its work, mostly