Kitchener Road Primary School won the inaugural Riverside Challenge as they completed a 3-0 series victory over Severn Road Primary School in the final round of softball games, held on Friday, March 9th in the Indoor School at Glamorgan Cricket’s headquarters at The SSE SWALEC.
The Riverside Challenge has been the brainchild of Kanaya Singh, the cricket-loving Labour councilor for the Riverside Ward and member of Cardiff Council. “Last year, I came on a brilliant tour of Glamorgan’s headquarters and, listening to Andrew Hignell, I heard about the long heritage of sport in the Sophia Gardens area and, in particular, how a local team called Riverside Cricket Club had been formed and, over time, became Cardiff City football club.”
“As a keen cricket enthusiast, I know about the benefits of healthy exercise and how playing sports such as cricket can bring communities together. Shortly after my tour of The SSE SWALEC, I met up with Andrew again, as well as the Headteachers of Kitchener Road and Severn Road, plus representatives of Cricket Wales, to discuss how we might promote cricket in the two schools and communities, and hopefully see in the fulness of time a new Riverside cricket team come into being.”
The Riverside Challenge was the outcome of these discussions, with a series of softball matches in the Indoor School at Glamorgan Cricket, involving all of the Year 4, 5 and 6 cohorts at the two schools. The first round of games took place on 2nd February with the Year 4 pupils involved in a round-robin of matches, besides having a taster tour of the Stadium and a chat in the CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket where the links between Riverside CC and Cardiff City FC were fully explained.
Kitchener Road were the narrow victors in this opening round, as well as the second round involving the Year 5 cohort on 16th February, with one of their four teams remaining unbeaten in the tournament. The final round on 9th March also saw Kitchener Road’s A team win all of their four games to clinch the Year 6 competition.
“It’s been a brilliant experience for all of our girls and boys,” said Ruth Jackson, Headteacher of Kitchener Road Primary School. “Every time, the children have returned to school buzzing about their time at Glamorgan Cricket, and telling everyone about how much they have enjoyed playing cricket and taking part in the other activities.”
“We look forward to building on this in the coming months and working with our friends at Severn Road Primary School – and others - in creating further opportunities for playing cricket in the Riverside community, as well as attending some of the matches at Glamorgan Cricket.”