HUNDREDS of young cricketers are gearing up for a six day spectacle of cricket set to descend to Penryn.

Starting on August 10, the Cornwall Youth Cricket Festival will enter into its 28th year with 66 sides and 600 players from around the county, along with a few from other parts of the UK, expected to arrive at St Gluvias to contest five different competitions during the event.

Split into under 11, 13, 15 and 17 age groups for boys and a separate under 13 girls category, sides take part in shortened versions of the game throughout the festival with finals in each tournament.

Organising committee chairman Mark Mitchell said the idea behind the festival is to give youngsters the chance to develop their games with a competitive edge added.

Mitchell said: “The style of cricket is fast, but it encompasses all of the skills and tactics of the full game.

“Effectively, whether by luck or a natural learning process, it has advanced since we first held it in 1987 alongside the professional game.

“Over the past two decades, the global game of cricket has altered almost unrecognisably.

“Sides now wear coloured clothing and are hitting seemingly impossible scoring rates becoming the expected norm.

“Players at the top level have improvised and our youngsters have copied.”

The youngest age section of the festival play a soft ball competition on the opening day with five mini pitches made up over the cricket ground in Kernick Road with games consisting of eight overs.

Games in the girl’s tournament are also played with a soft ball format with six overs per side.

For the under 13s and 15s, teams bowl ten eight-ball each while the oldest age category play matches with five overs per innings which are played in the evening under floodlights.

Teams in the boys competitions have eight players-a-side in, while it is six players per team in the girls.

Matches start each day at 9.30am and continue through to 8.30pm with the teams wearing coloured kits.

Prizes for the winning teams include kit bags donated by the Lords Taverners plus medals for the victorious players.

Alongside St Gluvias, games are also played at Penryn College..

Hot and cold food is available during the festival, while the bar at St Gluvias will also be open.