Ullenwood Bharat are a cricket club who are looking very much to the future.

So much so that in 2022 they will be running a competitive age group team for the first time in their history.

“We’ve set up an under-13 team who will play in the Cheltenham/Gloucester/Forest League,” said committee member Ross Elvin.

“We ran the All Stars and Dynamos for the first time last year, a programme organised by the ECB, so having an under-13 team is the natural next step.”

The All Stars are for 5 to 8-year-olds and the Dynamos are for 8 to 11-year-olds, so the club have a good number of players who will be ready and able to play in the new team this season.

Laurence Mezo is the club's youth co-ordinator, with Dave Griffiths taking on the job of coaching the under-13s, and the expectation is that the under-13s will be just the start.

“Laurence and Dave are very positive that this is just the start of a full youth cricket system operating within the club over the next few years,” said Elvin.

The club will continue to run the ever-popular All Stars and Dynamos, and Elvin said: “We want to be running teams at all age groups with the aim being to bridge the gap between junior and adult cricket.”

The club are certainly very proactive and while bringing through the next generation of cricketers is vital to any club, they haven’t taken their eyes off the present because they run seven adult sides over any given week.

These days the flagship teams play their home games at the new ground in Brockworth, just off Green Street, with the Saturday 1st XI playing in Division Three of the County League.

Their 3^rd XI, meanwhile, still use their ground at Ullenwood next to the Air Balloon on Saturdays, and their Sunday side also play there as well.

But while Brockworth is now where the club play most of their games – including the juniors – the club’s old ground remains an important part of what they are all about.

“We’re about to launch a crowdfunder with the aim of improving the facilities at Ullenwood,” said Elvin.

That’s great news because Ullenwood, who joined forces with Bharat in 2012, have been playing cricket in the village for a very long time.