• Ebony Rainford-Brent announces local youth initiative• ‘Participation in the black population has gone down’
![Surrey to search for black cricket talent with numbers in ‘state of emergency’](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a56457350ab4b39f8bb85161dff4482b4d42c8c5/0_162_4413_2648/master/4413.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=b32e79976df16bf4cbcfd0970eb38b1c)
Surrey have announced an initiative aimed at increasing cricket participation among the local black community, starting with a search for 12 talented youngsters to join a scholarship programme that will run alongside their academy.
The demographics of their home borough of Lambeth, where 24% of the overall population and 42% of 10- to 19-year-olds are black, are not reflected in their playing staff, a fact which has now prompted them to launch the African Caribbean Engagement Programme, which is being led by the former
England international Ebony Rainford-Brent, now Surrey’s director of women’s cricket.