Anna Harris (Ne. 2011-16) writes:
My love for cricket started at 5 years old. I marched out of the school gates and demanded that my mum sign me up for a local cricket club. Now, 21 years later I still love the game, albeit in more of an officiating capacity than a playing one.
Many OBs will recount fixtures at the Jubilee Ground, away fixtures vs Dulwich, Ardingly, and Epsom, and on occasion a fixture at the Home of Brighton College Cricket: Home Ground. Perhaps you were triggered by an opposition school coach as you edged closer to an unexpected victory? Or maybe you fondly recall catches that nobody thought would stick, unlikely heroes and team camaraderie?
The passion that cricketers have for the game is unrivalled; we toil away for hours at a game that’s both cruel and kind, working for team success defined by individual performances. This sport has taught me so much and shapes many young people’s lives in a myriad of ways.
Umpiring became my main pursuit a few years ago when the Women’s Professional Game really took off, making my professional debut at Chelmsford in 2020 and my International Debut at New Road in Worcester during 2022. Whilst I still long to don the coloured clothes (no whites in our club league!), my newfound love for the game is...
Coaching cricket has been a part of my own cricketing journey from a young age. I remember helping with Lower 5th net sessions as a 6th form student and seeing the joy on students’ faces when a piece of advice helped them adjust their delivery stride and finally hit the stumps. Indeed, helping people has become a large portion of my life as I am just finishing off my medical degree at Cardiff University and will become a resident doctor in August.
As part of medical studies, students are offered the chance to go on an elective placement. Some students choose to stay in the UK and pursue opportunities locally, whilst others head for foreign shores to experience healthcare in a different environment. When my medical elective planning started, I dismissed my initial notion of heading to New Zealand for a hospital placement, and instead I opted to travel to East Africa with a fantastic charity called Cricket Without Boundaries (CWB).
You may wonder how a cricket charity fits in with the idea of a medical elective, but CWB teach important health and social issues through the medium of cricket coaching. Now in its twentieth year, CWB was initially founded to help tackle the HIV and AIDs crises in East Africa. Now, as HIV prevention has improved considerably, CWB focus on wider health issues such as managing periods, avoiding unwanted pregnancies and public health. This was especially important considering there were small outbreaks of Mpox, Ebola and Marburg virus just before we were due to arrive and whilst we were out there.
CWB’s ethos is all about inclusivity, safety in sport and fun. Across the 4 weeks I was in East Africa, split evenly between Rwanda and Uganda, we coached over 5000 children cricket. Each child left with a smile, some key messaging about health and social issues and (hopefully) a newfound passion for cricket. A highlight of the trip was introducing cricket to a new area in Rwanda called Nyagatare. At a Teacher Training College, we were honoured by the principal and his students with a Mango tree planting ceremony to commemorate the start of a new endeavour in the region. The local sports council also came down to watch the festival where over 120 children played games of Rapid-Fire cricket and competed for the trophy.
The lasting impact and legacy of CWB is prevalent on school visits. However, what really hit home for me was when I was asked to umpire an International Series in Uganda. 4 teams competed for the inaugural Women’s Day Cup which was started to celebrate Women and invite other Associate nations to Uganda to connect, compete and collaborate. Uganda ended up winning the tournament despite using clearly inferior kit and equipment. A generous donation from a local Welsh company meant I took 4 pairs of brand-new yellow pads out for the team. One of the players remarked that she had never had brand-new kit before, and the captain told me that she must repair the straps on her batting pads at least once a year to make sure she can still wear them.
The Team Manager of the Uganda Women’s National Team was introduced to cricket by CWB back in the early days of the charity. Her subsequent journey through cricket has been inspired by those initial visits, and now in her role she can inspire others to consider cricket as a career option.
If you’d like to hear more about the Captain and Manager’s stories, I did an interview with them whilst in Entebbe and it can be found on the CWB website: https://www.cricketwithoutboundaries.com