3rd annual girls tournament.
On Wednesday 12th July Mount Cricket Club hosted its third annual girls tournament in partnership with 5 local schools (Birstall Primary Academy; Fieldhead Primary Academy; Hyrstmount Junior; Staincliffe Church of England Junior; Warwick Road Primary) and the Yorkshire Cricket Board with Staincliffe winning the ‘Mini Travel Cup’.
The club's initiative is spearheaded by the Clubs Women’s Group and supported by Yusuf & Imran Kayat, Yahya Akudi, Hassan Fadia and Mount’s senior players (who also officiated the matches). Aasiyah Suleman and Sameera Ayub (Members of the Women’s Group) were delighted at the outcome and Aasiyah commented:
“The tournament was again a great success and demonstrates Mount’s desire to make cricket and sport accessible to all in our community. Sp ort can be an important tool of engagement to develop and provide girls with life skills they can use as adults and empower them to become the leaders and role models of tomorrow.
Our sincere thanks to all the schools who participated for their continued support and we look forward to developing our offer to girls in the future.
The event was well supported by Yorkshire Cricket. Jane Hildreth, Director at the Yorkshire Cricket Board and also General Manager of Yorkshire Diamond commented on the success of the event:
“Together with my colleagues Sadie Greetham, Rachel Hildreth and Charlie Roebuck we were so pleased to come along to support Mount CC’s Girls Competition and equally impressed with the level of competition. To see the girls from the local schools taking part and enjoying themselves was fantastic. Congratulations to all the teams for playing so well and to Mount CC for organising this wonderful event. We all hope to see them in the future playing more recreational cricket at Clubs like Mount CC, at their schools and maybe for Yorkshire and England.
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 Mount CC 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”.
The schools involved also enjoyed the experience and the opportunity presented for the girls as captured by Miss Suleman, Team Coach for Staincliffe:
“Great competition and great win for our school and we hope to come back next year and retain the Mini Travel Cup. The girls enjoyed meeting the other teams and having the opportunity to improve their cricket skills. A very big thank you to Mount Women’s Group for organising the event”.
The awards ceremony with Deputy Lieutenant Squadron Leader David Dinmore MBE and Jane Hildreth from Yorkshire cricket acknowledged the commitment of all the girls involved. David further commented that:
“I was privileged to represent Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire on 12th July at the Mount C’s tournament for girls. I congratulate the Club for hosting such a successful and enjoyable event, which was not only a great sporting occasion, but also brought together young people from different local communities. It was good to see teams from Years 5 and 6 from local schools enjoying the sunshine and a series of cricket matches. They were so enthusiastic and I sincerely hope that they will be inspired to continue playing the sport. With the support of their schools, as well as Mount CC and Yorkshire Cricket Board, some of these youngsters could go on to play at County or even international level.
The final was thrilling and I offer special congratulations to the winning team, Staincliffe Junior School, and the runners-up, Hyrstmount Junior School. Well done, too, to the other teams: you were all winners! I hope that teams from all the schools who participated will return and joined by others for next year’s tournament”.
Abdul A Ravat, Mount CC Development Officer explains:
“On behalf of our 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 very kind to us and added to the participation of the young girls, schools and their enjoyment made it an excellent event.
Through this initiative we have made contact with 24 local schools and are currently discussing with Yorkshire Cricket Foundation ways in which we can harness this interest for the long term with meaningful partnerships with local schools. There is still so much to do to make cricket an integral fabric of our communities and we look forward to working with schools and our strategic partners to develop girls’ cricket further in the years to come”.
Thanks were also recorded on the day to:
• Yorkshire Cricket Family for their generosity in supplying Yorkshire Diamond bags and other goodies, as well as certificates to all the young participants.
• 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:
Aasiyah Suleman (Girl Development Co-ordinator) on: 07543 178 136 or email: aasiyah14@hotmail.com.