By Suzanne Kidd

It would seem there is renewed hope for our young cricketers

However, its future popularity will depend largely on the success of new initiatives designed to ensure the sport is played more widely in schools across the country.

The borough of Brighton and Hove, home to Sussex County Cricket Club, provides promising evidence of the effort to revitalise cricket in secondary schools.

BBC Sport spoke to four schools in the area to establish how much cricket is being played both in PE and in organised after-school activities.

Last year a government survey found that cricket was only the sixth most popular sport played in schools, often losing out to football, and not helped by shrinking playing fields and poor resources.

It would seem however, that there is renewed hope for our young cricketers.

This year has seen a significant drive by the England and Wales Cricket Board to ensure the incorporation of cricket within the education system.

Students compete in an inter-school cricket league and specialist coaches come in from time to time Daniel Bennett, Varndean School

The most striking new initiative, 'A Chance to Shine', was launched in May and aims to raise �25 million over five years.

The money will be used to regenerate the game by linking schools and clubs, and providing sustainable training programmes for students.

David Collier, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board reiterates the need to "take advantage of what has been England's big summer and build on that in the winter months."

Collier also recognises that in order to achieve such targets, the project will need "four or five really class corporate sponsors."

Hove Park School in Hove is a prime example of a new drive to regenerate the sport from its roots.

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Humanities teacher Gary Kernan has been instrumental in a number of recent developments including the setting up of a state schools cricket league for ages 11-14.

"We now have a four lane bay with cricket nets that is used for after-school practices and flex-wickets so that cricket can be played on site," he says.

At Longhill School in Brighton, with cricket played in physical education at key stages three and four, a boys' team for every year and a girls' team for ages 12-14; there is clearly an emphasis on the importance of the sport.

The ECB is looking to take advantage of England's big summer

Head of PE Josh Lampard says "The school is lucky enough to have a PE teacher who is a trained cricket coach, and who is also involved in a local team."

Cricket is also a central part of sport at Varndean School in Brighton.

Daniel Bennett of the PE department said "students compete in an inter-school cricket league and specialist coaches come in from time to time."

However, despite this progress, many schools are still feeling the pressure of limited facilities and resources.

At Portslade Community College in Brighton, sports co-ordinator Bob Schooley admits "owing to shortages, no competitive cricket has been played at the school in the past year."

If this small sample reflects nationwide trends, there is definite progress towards greater involvement of schools in cricket.

The aims of the ECB is to have 30% of primary and secondary schools playing competitive cricket and to have each school offering at least five matches each year.

Without a doubt these objectives are ambitious, however there are promising signs, and the performance of England's heroic team this summer will hopefully have inspired many to reinvest in one of our most traditional sports.