Radio Five Live Bangladesh cricket specials

The Bangladesh cricket team are touring England for the first time ever this summer and to celebrate this historic tour BBC Radio Five Live and other parts of the BBC are broadcasting a series of programmes from a school in the East End of London where 85% of the pupils come from the Bangladesh community.

One pupil at the St Paul’s Way Community School in Tower Hamlets, Maruf Hassan Chowdhury, has just arrived from Bangladesh where he was a member of their Under-17 side. He is now representing Middlesex under-16s.

BBC Radio Five Live are setting up a mini radio station in the school and, along with Radio 4, the Asian Network, World Service, BBC London, Radio 1, 1Xtra, CBBC and bbc.co.uk , will broadcast a week of special programmes from Monday 23rd May.

There will be a huge variety of programmes coming from the school throughout the week as well as various BBC programmes linking live with a school in Silet in north east Bangladesh as part of the BBC’s World Class twinning project.

Sport on Five will be broadcast live from St Paul’s Way on both Five Live and the Asian Network on Tuesday 24th May. This special simulcast edition of the programme is presented by John Inverdale who is joined by England batsman Mark Butcher, Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, England women’s star Isa Guha and former Middlesex and England bowler Angus Fraser.

The Asian Network will also be involved later in the week when Sonia Deol presents her Asian Network programme live from the school. She will be inviting listeners to call her and discuss the hot topics of the day

CBBC will head down to the school one day and speak to the pupils and the Big Toe Radio Show on BBC 7 will broadcast live from there

Then on the first day of the Test match teachers and pupils from the school will join BBC Radio at Lords and will report their thoughts on the match live on Five Live and Test Match Special. Test Match Special will broadcast every day from the match on Radio 4LW and Five Live Sports Extra.

There will also be many initiatives happening off-air too, allowing pupils to improve both their sporting and journalistic skills. On one day pupils will join international cricketers from both England and Bangladesh for a special playground coaching session

Children from the school will be given the chance to learn radio skills with the likes of Jonny Saunders and the Asian Network’s Sanjeet Saund, both of whom will broadcast live from the school during the week.

Adam Mountford, Five Live’s cricket producer is overseeing the whole project. He said: “It’s a brilliant way to kick start what is a massive year for cricket with the Ashes following on from this historic series with Bangladesh. I am delighted that so many parts of the BBC are getting involved – plus we’re hoping during the week we can discover perhaps the next Jonathan Agnew or Sanjeet Saund amongst the pupils at the school”