MCC President Stephen Fry, today officially launched a new campaign to celebrate grassroots cricket and find the country’s 11 greatest unsung cricketing heroes.
MCC’s Community Cricket Heroes campaign will invite the public and the cricket community from across the UK to put forward their nominations for individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the grassroots game and their community.
A team of 11 MCC Community Cricket Heroes will be chosen from the nominations by a special panel including Fry and former England internationals and MCC Members, Mike Gatting and Claire Taylor. The winners will be invited to Lord’s as special guests of the MCC President to watch a day’s play of the England v Ireland Men’s Test match from the prestigious President’s Suite.
The panel will be looking for entrants who work hard to make a demonstrable positive difference to their community through grassroots cricket, from volunteers who go above and beyond for their cricket club and community, to coaches who are inspiring people on and off the pitch or players who have overcome adversity to play or help the game.
The campaign, launched by Fry in a special video message, is being run by MCC in partnership with The Cricketer magazine. Nominations will close next month with the selected MCC Community Cricket Heroes announced shortly after.
MCC President Stephen Fry commented: “MCC’s Community Cricket Heroes is a celebration of all that is wonderful about our game and the thousands of people across the country that make cricket what it is. These are the unsung heroes who epitomise the great things about cricket and the values of MCC. It’s a great opportunity to recognise them and to celebrate their invaluable contribution to the game.”
Chair of MCC Cricket Committee and former England international Claire Taylor, added: “Cricket is played and supported by so many people from different backgrounds in communities across the country. As I know from personal experience, it takes more than the team on the pitch to make our great game happen. It has such a positive impact on people’s lives in a whole range of ways so it’s important that we shine a light on that part of our game and those individuals who make such a difference.”
To nominate your MCC Community Cricket Hero visit http://www.lords.org/heroes. The closing date for nominations is midnight on Thursday 27 April.
