Every now and then, individuals come along who do things ridiculously young. Alexander the Great had a city named after him by 16; Joan of Arc commanded a French army at 17; and Justin Bieber topped the US Billboard 200 at 16. But how many 15-year-olds have set up a cricketing charity that has gone on to achieve these sorts of statistics in 5 years? To have had this sort of impact at such a young age is truly remarkable – it sort of rips up the teenage development handbook.

The second stunning headline is the new additions to the list of cricketing legends lending their support to Will and his team. Remember that Bat For A Chance already boasts a star-studded line up of global ambassadors (Roland Butcher, Chris Jordan, and Hayley Matthews) and charity partners (Gary Kirsten, Temba Bavuma, and Kumar Sangakkara)? Support your descending jaw as you add the following:

• Ravi Shastri. The all-time Indian legend became the charity’s Founding Patron this summer – ‘it is a real privilege to be invited to be Founder Patron – the work they do is inspirational and mind-boggling – so for me, to be part of this charity, is a great honour’. Back at you, Ravi.

• Maia Bouchier. The England, Hampshire, Southern Brave and Melbourne Stars global superstar became a Bat For A Chance global ambassador earlier this year – ‘I’m absolutely buzzing to announce that I’ll be joining Bat For A Chance as a global ambassador’.

• Jofra Archer. At the same time as he exploded back onto the Test scene, Joffra became the latest global ambassador for the organisation – ‘I’m delighted to be coming on board as a Bat For A Chance ambassador’.

With these sorts of gobsmacking headlines, demonstrating the incredible reach that Bat For A Chance now has, do I need to go further? Well, yes; because the detail is just as impressive, and important. You can find all of this on the recently revamped website – https://www.batforachance.org.uk – but if you’re short of time, here’s a quick summary of how this brilliant charity’s two arms – Cricket For Social Change and Kit Distribution – have been reaching out around the world across the last year.

Cricket For Social Change

You’ll remember the first two projects that launched Bat For A Chance’s new drive to engineer meaningful social change through cricket: (1) funding a bat repair shop on the beautiful south coast of Sri Lanka (the 400th refurbished bat has rolled off the production line), and (2) helping to found the Barbados Royals Girls Cricket Club (the first grassroots girls cricket club in the region).

This year, Bat For A Chance embarked on its third project, once again joining forces with South African legend Gary Kirsten to fund the brand new Catch Trust Coaching Academy in South Africa – an academy designed to develop leaders in townships who can inspire local children to take up the game. The Academy offers ‘formal coaching qualifications and life skills to young leaders from underprivileged areas in South Africa’, through 10 weeks of masterclasses, in person and online, setting students up to find employment in cricket. With the first cohort having recently graduated, the success was inspiring – ‘being part of the Catch Academy was truly empowering and transformative’ – and, in Gary Kirsten’s words, ‘it’s thanks to Bat For A Chance, who’ve contributed massively to that becoming a realisation – this relationship is vital for the success of this project’.

So that’s three major projects. But, of course, Will isn’t stopping there. The charity already supports the ‘FemGames’ movement, a UK initiative to promote girls’ cricket in schools in Pakistan (set up by the inspirational women’s rights campaigner and member of the Bat For A Chance team, Ebba Qureshi). And now, the fourth Cricket For Social Change project has gone royal – in partnership with the King’s Trust International (sister charity to the King’s Trust) Bat For A Chance has introduced cricket into its Achieve Programme in Pakistan. The Achieve programme is an educational qualification run in 20 different countries around the world, often recognised as an equivalent to a GCSE, targeted at vulnerable students, it supports young people in engaging with and achieving their education. Through making cricket a part of the curriculum we offer participants the chance to transfer their learnings out of the classroom. The programme launched in girls schools in Islamabad and Rawalpindi in October with every hope of expanding it further across the country next year.

Kit distribution

The cornerstone of Bat For A Chance, this year has seen continued expansion of the distribution of cricket kit around the world – streamlined and expanded through the acquisition of the charity’s very own elegant, branded white van, a warehouse in Kent, and the invaluable services of Jon, Ben and Nick, who now mastermind operations from the warehouse.

Kit continues to flow in from loyal and awesome donors:

• Primrose Hill Cricket Club: regular deliveries arrive from this old friend of Bat For A Chance, where Maia Bouchier’s father, Anthony, tirelessly encourages donations.
• Lacuna Sports (set up by Bat For A Chance trustee, Leigh Burns): another old friend, this outstanding women and girls’ cricket clothing designer (with its innovative SOOO brand), now operating out of its brand new Regent Street store, continues to be a vital link in the supply chain to help Bat For A Chance get kit and clothing out to Rwanda and Uganda. Through the combined efforts of Lacuna, Bat For A Chance and the amazing Cricket Without Boundaries, both kit and clothing donated by UK professional cricketers and the Girls Day School Trust is now on its way to girls in these countries – supporting them to develop greater confidence through having female-specific cricket clothing and kit.
• Gray-Nicolls: a long-standing and hugely generous supporter, this household name continues to provide heavily discounted bats that Bat For A Chance, who then distribute to MCC Foundation players across the country.
• ME+U, the excellent cricket footwear outfit, has given 310 pairs of shoes (now bound for East Timor – see below).
• 4 entire coffin loads of brand-new bats, pads and gloves came from Sticky Wicket.

With the start of the year seeing a significant focus on kit drops in the UK, the new van began to clock up the miles – over 50 deliveries went to teams and individuals at MCC Foundation hubs; multiple refugee programmes were supplied; and deliveries were made to a number of underfunded schools (the new van reached the Island Free School on the Isle of Wight, after sports coach Ben Attril applied for a donation to help encourage cricket amongst the pupils there).

As UK season comes to a close, Jon and Ben will be busy during the second half of the year with overseas deliveries. Work continues with the UNHCR, this time in Dublin, supporting refugees from Myanmar; and with the ICC, helping move 54 boxes of Gray-Nicolls clothing to Germany for distribution among refugees across Europe (the new van getting its first outing across the Channel). Very excitingly, the first shipment of kit to East Timor is now on its way, supplying both the men and women’s national teams; for me, this captures the essence of Bat For A Chance so brilliantly – kit being shipped half way round the world to a country that, to date, hasn’t been anywhere near the international cricket map. And, in addition to raising the ICC World Test Championship trophy at Lords this year, Temba Bavuma continues to drive his wonderful Foundation in the townships of South Africa, with Bat For A Chance delivering kit bags to help with this – in the words of the great man himself, ‘the work that Bat For A Chance does in terms of giving access to underprivileged people is exactly what we need”.

Fund-Raising

The inaugural Bat For A Chance fundraising dinner took place on October 2nd at the Kia Oval, hosted by none other than ardent cricket fan and comic genius Rory Bremner. 250 incredibly generous guests took their seats to enjoy a brilliant night of food and entertainment, smashing through our fundraising target. Huge thanks to all those who came and contributed to the fun; and a very special thank you to our wonderfully generous sponsors, Latham & Watkins LLP. Keep your eyes peeled for our events calendar (to be released in January) – make sure you don’t miss out on some great stuff that’s coming up in the new year.

Looking ahead

And so this newsletter draws to a close (although it feels like a book could be filled with the things the charity has been up to this year). It remains to thank you, as ever, for supporting Bat For A Chance by reading this update – as I have said before, and will do again, by taking the time to read what’s going on, and by passing on the word, you are part of this inspirational charity’s heartbeat. As I pack up my kit bag, and as a grey November envelopes our wonderful cricket grounds, I wish you a happy hibernation; and please, keep on spreading the Bat For A Chance message.

If you would like to donate to Bat For A Chance, every penny counts and you can do so HERE.