East London pupils have been chosen to represent Essex on a cricket tour of Spain.

Students at Norlington School, Leyton, have undergone the ECB Cricket Activators coaching course in preparation of the trip to help develop the game over there.

The Year 8 and 9 pupils were picked for their leadership qualities and cricketing abilities.

The group of eight will visit five schools in the Alicante and Murcia regions during the four day visit in March.

Sumeet Singh Nandra, 13, from Leyton, said: "I feel very honoured and proud to have been chosen to represent the school and Essex.

"A lot of what we have been taught before this tour is how to develop our leadership skills. It is something that is very important at the school.

Dawood Noaman, 14, from Stratford, said: "There is not a lot of cricket played in Spain so it is a great privilege to go there and try to make the game more popular.

"It is my hope that this visit will lay the foundation for the game to develop over there and to share our passion for the game with young people over there."

Essex County Cricket have been working with Cricket Espana for the last two years to try to increase its popularity among youngsters over there.

Phil Knappett, development coach at Essex Country Cricket, said: "We have decided to work with Norlington on this exciting project because of their historic cricketing tradition but also because of their history of producing young leaders who will represent their school and the county responsibly."

Assistant headteacher Paul Hobbs said: "The core aims of the school alongside excellent academic performance is to offer our students outstanding enrichment and leadership opportunities - this tour ties perfectly with that perfectly."

Director of junior cricket in Spain Neil Brook said: "We are very much looking forward to welcoming the young Leaders at Norlington to Spain.

"We believe this will be another huge step forward in developing the game over here."

Norlington's cricket team won the Under-18 Team of the Year Award at the Waltham Forest Sports Awards in 2015.