A TOTAL of 20 York schools will begin the country’s biggest under-9s cricket competition next week.

The first fixture in the 2014 Drax Cup will take place at Manor School on Wednesday, April 30, at 4pm, involving schools from the York West School Sports Partnership.

The winners from three groups will then compete in a regional final at Acomb Cricket Club on Thursday, May 8, at 4pm, for a chance to play in the north area final in June.

The Drax Cup is the biggest under-9s cricket competition in the UK and is open to schools from across Yorkshire and Teesside.

Teams play in a series of events to produce four area winners from the north, south, east and west.

These four teams will then play the 2014 Drax Cup Finals at Headingley Cricket Ground on Wednesday, July 2.

The competition is sponsored by Drax and organised by Yorkshire County Cricket Club in conjunction with Yorkshire Cricket Board, Yorkshire Schools’ Cricket Association and The Yorkshire Cricket Foundation.

The sponsorship by Drax is part of the company’s Cricket In The Community scheme which also provides cricket coaching to schools.

For full details and competition rules visit www.thedraxcup.co.uk