Wasim Khan: Let's teach all our children that key lessons for life are learned on the cricket field

Five years ago, I helped to launch Chance to Shine, The Cricket Foundation's campaign to bring competitive cricket back to state schools.

Cricket was at risk of dying out in state schools in 2005 with just one in 10 offering meaningful cricket. Our campaign seeks to reverse the decline by linking local cricket clubs with schools and implementing a structure whereby schools play a minimum of five competitive matches during the summer term.

The programme is now one of the biggest grassroots sports development programme in the UK, and is expected to have a direct impact on the lives of almost two million boys and girls in a 10-year period.

There are scores of schools and clubs in Yorkshire now involved in the programme and former England and Yorkshire player, Jim Love, heads our operations in the North of England.

Chance to Shine is running in around 4,000 state schools nationwide and this year alone will see 400,000 boys and girls enjoying the benefits of competitive cricket – benefits such as learning to lead, to work in a team and to cope with setbacks.

In a YouGov survey published by The Cricket Foundation this week to mark Chance to Shine's fifth anniversary, two thirds of parents said they believed competitive team sports, like cricket, can improve children's academic results.

Increasing confidence and motivation, discipline and concentration were some of the reasons given by parents for how sport can improve their child's success in the classroom.

From my own experience, I know that the chances of playing any form of meaningful cricket at school depend purely on the level of interest from teachers. I was lucky to have an unbelievably enthusiastic one, who discovered me in the playground and nurtured my talent, even ferrying me to matches. The result was that I was able to become a professional cricketer.

Cricket has taught me that experiences first in the playground and then on the field of play help to shape your character and equip you to deal with life. Taking responsibility, being accountable for decisions, developing leadership skills and learning to respect those around you, are just some of the skills the game has instilled in me.

Loughborough University's Institute of Youth Sport has evaluated the Chance to Shine programme for the past two years and the stories it highlights are hugely encouraging.

One child cited in their report had been severely bullied all his life to the extent that he was "quite psychologically damaged" and required a psychiatrist. It was only when he joined the local cricket club, through Chance to Shine, that he started to make friends and "cricket had been his saviour", according to his consultant.

Another 13-year-old, Caitlin Byrne from Durham, had never played cricket before Chance to Shine arrived at her school. She discovered she was a good left-arm seam bowler, developed further at South Shields Cricket Club and now plays at her age-group for Durham County. I hope it is not long before we're replicating Caitlin's success in Yorkshire.

We also run summer cricket camps across the country for budding cricketers in their school holidays. We ran one of these camps a couple of years ago at Kirkstall Cricket Club and successfully attracted 200 children from the local area to take part in coaching and competitions and hopefully gave them a real taste for the game.

This year we are organising an MCC Spirit of Cricket camp at Ben Rhydding Sports Club on July 29-30. This will be a girls only camp and World Cup winning England Women fast bowler Katherine Brunt, who was born in Barnsley, will be there to help inspire the next generation of women cricketers. Katherine is one of eight members of the England Women's team to coach at Chance to Shine schools and covers the Yorkshire area.

These stories illustrate perfectly the two-pronged aim of Chance to Shine: to bring competitive cricket to state schools and also to educate children through cricket.

Chance to Shine is an ambitious campaign. The charity needs 50m to sustain the programme and we rely on support from sponsors like Slazenger and The British Army. Also vital is the support from all sections of the cricket community.

This week we launched a public appeal called "Step up to the Crease!" encouraging schools and clubs to raise small amounts of money for Chance to Shine this summer.

Schools and clubs are vital for the future of the project and the game itself. Teachers need the skill to carry on coaching once the professionals move on. They have responded with remarkable enthusiasm. The project wants to ensure that in the five years that each school participates, competitive cricket becomes embedded in its culture.

Chance to Shine allows teachers to link the playground to the classroom. Our National Cricket Day on 23 June 23 emphasises using the sport as a vehicle to stimulate learning in subjects such as maths, geography, art and history.

I believe that cricket is a gateway into mainstream society; it is wholly inclusive, crosses the gender divide, provides for those with disabilities and reaches all ethnic communities in a way no other sport can.

Although Chance to Shine may well discover the next Andrew Strauss or Charlotte Edwards, its main aim is to help children to enjoy and learn as much as they can from competitive sport.

Wasim Khan played cricket for Warwickshire, Sussex and Derbyshire and is chief executive of The Cricket Foundation. www.chancetoshine.org