Tony Baldry, the Conservative MP for Banbury, has expressed concern that the use of soft balls in school cricket is posing a threat to the future development of the sport in England.

Baldry told a Parliamentary debate on 8 June that only a third of all state schools had benefited from the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) 'Chance to shine' initiative, with just 4 per cent of competitive matches using proper cork cricket balls. He said: "The cricket board's 'Chance to shine' programme is an excellent initiative, but it is able to get into only about a third of all state schools. Of the competitive matches it has organised, only a tiny percentage – about 4 per cent – are played with cricket balls.

"How on earth are we going to beat the Windies, India and Australia in the future when so few youngsters are playing competitive cricket and when, of those who are playing competitive cricket, only a tiny proportion are learning to play with cricket balls?" However, sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe insisted that 90 per cent of all English schools now provide cricket, while the ECB's 'Chance to shine' initiative has enabled 2,000 schools to deliver 20,000 cricket sessions during 2008.