Yorkshire Cricket Board

On Wednesday 25th May at the ‘Field of Dreams’, Halifax Road, Batley, Mount Cricket Club hosted the second annual girls tournament in partnership with 7 local schools (Batley Grammar; Carlton Junior & Infant; Field Lane Primary; Hyrstmount Junior; St Joseph’s Catholic Primary; Staincliffe Church of England Junior; Warwick Road Primary) and Yorkshire County Cricket Club which resulted in Carlton Junior & Infant School winning the ‘Mini Travel Cup’.

Mount Cricket Club is committed to creating cricket opportunities and has a strategic intent to encourage parents to support their daughters and give them the opportunity to take part in sport as a vital tool to their development.

Halima Khan (Club’s Girl Development Co-ordinator), Samera Khan (Chair of Mount’s Woman’s Group & Aasiyah Suleman (Member of the Club’s Women’s Group) were delighted at the outcome Halima stated: "Today was a great day for the vision set by Mount CC and its Women’s Group with over 70 young girls all taking part in cricket, some of whom said they had never picked up a bat and ball before. Sport can be an important tool of engagement to develop and provide girls with life skills they can then use as adults and empower them to become the leaders of tomorrow. Samera stated: “Going forward the Club is keen to create a strong and sustainable women’s team led by women coaches. We are on track to do this with accreditation of 16 women as Cricket Support Workers from the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the weekly women and girls only sessions held at the ‘Field of Dreams’ on Sunday mornings”. Aasiyah expressed her sincere thanks to all the schools who participated for their support.

Steve Archer from the Yorkshire Cricket Board further commented on the success of the event:
“A massive thank you and congratulations for the girls’ tournament, it was very impressive. The sheer number of schools who attended, the fun they all had, the positive attitude from the girls and teachers was fantastic and we appreciate how difficult this is to pull together so a huge well done to all involved. The hospitality on offer was much appreciated and very impressive that Mount CC took the time and considerable cost to offer food and drinks to all involved.Just as impressive was the support from the number of Club personnel on hand to help out on the day. It is heartening to evidence this first hand and testament to the Club’s attempts to engage with the whole community and the efforts and time taken to ensure this happens”.

Jane Hildreth (Yorkshire Girls U13s Manager and Yorkshire Diamonds General Manager)added 'It is good to see so many girls playing and enjoying cricket at Mount Cricket Club and we hope the club can help to develop some future Yorkshire stars - I look forward to seeing some participants from today coming forward as candidates to represent Yorkshire in the future.'

The schools involved also enjoyed the experience and the opportunity presented for the girls. Dar Omar from Carlton Junior & Infant commented:
“All credit to Mount CC for putting on an amazing sporting event for the girls. The Club accommodated all the schools in a highly professional manner, even in difficult weather conditions. The girls had an amazing day and were even treated with Pizzas for lunch! A day that the girls and staff will never forget”.

Janet Jackson from Batley Grammar “The girls had a fantastic day at the Mount CC tournament, despite the weather and this being their first ever tournament! They enjoyed meeting the other teams and having the opportunity to improve their cricket skills. Coming third was an added bonus to a great day”.

Katie Thompson (Yorkshire Diamonds Player & Yorkshire Women’s County Player) and Lord Lieutenant Stanley Hardy attended to make the awards and gave inspiring speeches. These are available to view on speeches and speeches

Abdul A Ravat, Mount Cricket Club Development Officer explains:
“On behalf of my Chairman Hanif Mayet and everyone at the Club we are delighted at the success of the tournament and a big thank you for the support we received from Yorkshire Cricket, encouragement from the ECB and to the many other friends and partners. The weather was a little unkind but the participation of the young girls and the local schools and their enjoyment made it an excellent day. We want to work with you all and look forward in enhancing our objective of bringing the community and young people into sport. There is still so much to do to make cricket an integral fabric of our communities. We look forward to working with many more schools and our strategic partners to develop girls’ cricket further in the years to come”.

Thanks were also recorded on the day from Club representatives Yusuf Kayat and Samera Khan to:
 Steve Archer and Yorkshire Cricket for their generosity in supplying Kwik Cricket T shirts for every girl who participated in the tournament as well as cricket bag for the Club when coaching at schools.
 Nisar Bengali of Mini Travel Executive for sponsoring the winning trophy and the medals that all the girls received.

For more information about girls’ cricket at Mount CC please contact:
Halima Khan (Club’s Girl Development Co-ordinator) on: 07849 980 226 or email: aasiyah14@hotmail.com.
For all media enquiries at Mount Cricket Club please contact:
Abdul A Ravat
Tel: 07919 361 266
Email: abdul.ravat@hotmail.co.uk