England and India stars 'Catch the Spirit' to celebrate the work of volunteers

Broad and Wright of England and India’s Sehwag, RP Singh, Ohja and Jadeja present ICC Centenary Medals Part of recognition of 1000 volunteers around the world for contributions to grass-roots cricket

Leading international players including Stuart Broad of England and India’s Virender Sehwag have helped celebrate the contributions of volunteers to grass-roots cricket in England.

They have been meeting recipients of the ICC Centenary Medal, along with some of the community groups that have benefited from their work.

Among those to be presented with their medals so far have been Ken Lake, secretary of the English Schools Cricket Association, George Hornbuckle, a volunteer for over 50 years in the East Midlands of England and Gary Pike, who has spent 24 years of his life trying to develop the sport in inner-city Liverpool.

Lake and Hornbuckle were presented with their medals by Broad and Luke Wright, while Pike received his award from members of the Indian squads, including Sehwag, RP Singh, Pragyan Ohja and Ravi Jadeja, in front of children from Bootle Cricket Club, in inner-city Liverpool.

Those youngsters then visited Trent Bridge, the home of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and one of the venues of this year’s ICC World Twenty20 tournament, to join in a training session with the Bangladesh cricket team.

Lake’s service to the game has seen him help develop the careers of the likes of current England stars Alastair Cook, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff as well as past stars including ex-national captains Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton.

And reflecting on his time in cricket, he said: “One of the main highlights was being involved in two U/15 World Cup events where I had the pleasure and privilege of being the organiser. I think we had between eight to ten teams from all around the world.

“Looking at the 2000 team we had Alastair Cook, who has made it big-time, and another player who has featured for England this summer, Tim Bresnan.

“Being involved in cricket at U/15 level for a number of years I have had the privilege to be involved with the likes of Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton, John Crawley and Mark Ramprakash, who I think was the best U/15 batsman I have ever seen, while Andrew Flintoff was the best all-rounder.”

All-rounder Broad, who stars in an ICC centenary promotional video on volunteering, said: “Every international cricketer will have been affected by the work of volunteers at some point in their cricketing career, particularly when they were starting out in the sport at school and club level, and this award recognises the important role that volunteers play in cricket.

“I used to volunteer myself when I was younger, coaching junior teams at the weekend, and so I know what benefits and enjoyment being involved in this way can bring to people of all ages.”

Volunteering also forms a key part of the ICC World Twenty20 2009 event, where the volunteer programme, Twenty20 vision, sees members of the public at all four venues provide valuable assistance behind the scenes.

The volunteers are supporting tournament staff in event management, media centres and ticketing offices and, in total, those volunteers have pledged more than 91,000 hours of time to ensure a successful event.

Explaining the importance of the ICC Centenary Medal, ICC President David Morgan said volunteers continue to make a priceless contribution to the game of cricket at all levels and in countless ways.

“As well as recognising the greats of the game on the pitch during our centenary year through the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, we wanted to mark the contribution of those people who devote their time to supporting the game at the grass-roots,” he said.

“Through the presentation of medals to volunteers we want to recognise their efforts and raise the profile and importance of volunteering to encourage even more people to participate and ensure cricket remains a great sport with a great spirit for the next 100 years and beyond,” added Mr Morgan.

The medal is a key part of the ICC’s centenary celebrations and is recognition of the efforts of many people throughout the world in ensuring cricket continues to be a great sport with a great spirit.

As part of the ICC’s centenary celebrations, taking place throughout the year, 1000 medals are being distributed to volunteers in all 104 ICC Members, with each Full Member, such as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), awarding 50 medals in its own constituency.

The presentations form part of a 12-month period of activities aimed at encouraging the game’s stakeholders to ‘Catch the Spirit’.