Catch the Spirit across the cricket world

Members unite in celebrating 100 years of the ICC.

Across the world in 2009, the ICC Members will be holding special activities to celebrate 100 years of cricket fraternity.

From Chile and Mexico in the Americas, right across to Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu in East Asia-Pacific, all the ICC
Members will be hosting a Catch the Spirit week to celebrate everything that’s great about cricket. The Catch the Spirit flag will fly around the world collecting signatories on its journey to promote the game and celebrate a century of international cricket.

The Catch the Spirit events are based around promoting the unique social interaction which cricket offers, the
special and historic nature of the game, the involvement of women and young people and the contribution of volunteers.

Later this year Centenary Medals will be awarded to volunteers who have generously given so much to the game. The nominees for this are currently being decided by Members. In the meantime, there has been a great start to the year in
both Sydney and Dhaka.

Launching the Catch the Spirit flag

The Catch the Spirit flag began its journey at Sydney Cricket Ground on 2 January 2009. Here, ICC Chief Executive Haroon
Lorgat announced the formation of the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, in association with the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA). The Hall of Fame helps to celebrate the game’s heritage and recognises the historical contribution of past players in making cricket what it is today.

Rod Marsh, one of the initial 55 inductees, was delighted to receive his ICC Cricket Hall of Fame cap. ‘I’m deeply honoured to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame,’ he said.

‘Being recognised in this way is humbling, especially when I look at the names of the players in this list and think about those who will join it in the years to come. ‘It (the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame) is another way of showing what a great history our game has and anything that does that has to be a good thing.’

Catching the spirit in Bangladesh

From Sydney, the Catch the Spirit flag flew to Dhaka, Bangladesh for the triangular ODI against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) organised a range of events around the Tournament to celebrate the spirit of cricket.

On the first day of the ODI series, free entry was given to local school children to give them the opportunity to see international cricket at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Young cricketers and possible stars of the future were also given the chance to demonstrate their cricketing skills during the interval.

This was followed by visit to a local drop-in centre for injecting drug users (IDU’s) in the old part of the city. Among
the players who attended were UNICEF Bangladesh Goodwill Ambassador Mohammed Ashraful and Sakib Al Hasan
from the Bangladesh team, and Raymond Price and Vusimuzi Sibanda from Zimbabwe. They were joined by officials from each of the teams.

The visit, organised in partnership with the UNICEF office in Dhaka as part of the ICC’s global partnership on HIV/AIDS
awareness, gave the players the chance to learn how cricket could be used as a vehicle to promote HIV/AIDS awareness amongst high-risk populations.

After the UNICEF visit, the Catch the Spirit activities continued at the Bangladesh Sports Institute. A special centenary match
was played between the home side, BKSP and Willes Little Flower, with the students, staff and school patrons enjoying the
festivities of the centenary occasion.

Joining the Catch the Spirit campaign

As well as promoting some great events through our Members, the Catch the Spirit campaign is aimed at promoting
the unique spirit of respect in the game. Senior international players such as Jacques Kallis, Charlotte Edwards and Mahela Jayawardena have shared their moments of when they have been touched by the spirit of cricket and these are available to view the centenary website. Soon fans too will have the opportunity to tell the world how and when they first became hooked by cricket’s special spirit in an initiative aimed at involving supporters in the ICC centenary celebrations so keep your eyes on www.catchthespirit.com to find out more.