A PRE-Olympics cricket festival is being planned in Oxford as part of efforts to get more young people into sport.

Oxford City Council has put aside £4,000 in its draft budget to hold a day of Twenty20 matches in Cowley Marsh Park.

It comes three years after the city council cancelled the park’s multi-cultural Mela festival to save cash.

Co-organiser councillor Saj Malik said he wanted to celebrate England’s new status as the number one Test Match playing nation after its victory over India last summer.

Mr Malik said: “We want to find the next Ian Botham or Freddie Flintoff and celebrate that the national team is the number one in the world. The city council already put money into the new cricket nets and facilities at Cowley Marsh Park, and this will show people what is there for them.”

He added: “It is a way of keeping young people off the streets and give them something they really enjoy. The great thing about cricket is that it is played by people from all backgrounds.”

But he said that members of the public needed to back the proposal to make the festival happen.

Youth worker Khalid Sharif, who coaches at Cowley Marsh Park, said: “This would go on the back of the success of English cricket at the moment which we should celebrate, and bring a lot of communities and individuals to take part in activities in Oxford’s green spaces.”

Cricket has a strong history in the area, both in established clubs and among the Afro-Carribean and Asian populations.

He added: “Through cricket, we try to engage with young people, firstly to see where they are in terms of fitness and the sports they like, but also as a way to help them with what might be going on at home, or with education and raising their aspirations and thinking about careers.”

The festival is contained within the Labour administration’s budget proposals. If they are voted through then the event would take place in July or August.