Mount CC's Abdul Ravat claims Heartbeat of the Club award.
Mount Cricket Club has been running community cricket for over 40 years. The increasing range of opportunities offered by the club is immense; from junior cricket coaching for boys and girls throughout the year to having competitive teams playing at U13s, U15s and now three senior teams in the Halifax Cricket League. The club is also breaking new ground by being the first Asian team to establish genuine cricket opportunities for South Asian girls, in partnership with local schools, as well as giving children with disabilities and their parents and carers the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful game for the first time. They are also a key delivery partner for the ECB’s All Stars programme, designed to encourage cricket opportunities for youngsters between the ages of 5 to 8, and take an active part in recruiting parents and carers as activators.
Abdul A Ravat is at the centre of it all. In addition to his roles as a player and development officer at Mount CC, he also serves as a Unity Enterprise board member and one of the chief-organisers of the ‘Light of Faith Tour’ - which brought the Muslim, Anglican and Roman Catholic faiths together. Mount was selected for the tour fixtures and a range of inter-faith events that gathered players, spectators and journalists in friendship, energy, good competition and a desire to win hearts through the medium of cricket. The pioneering inter-faith tour involved such teams as Archbishop of Canterbury’s XI and St. Peter’s XI of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Vatican City.
Anyone who has spoken to those at Mount CC gets a sense of the level of service and sheer amount of effort Abdul has put in at the club and in organising so much of the ‘Light of Faith Tour’. At Mount, he virtually single handily co-ordinated, planned, secured funding and managed the media - resulting in the tour exceeding everyone’s expectations, even his own!
In between the cricket and the public facing events, Abdul also organised a very private meeting between senior representatives from the Vatican and with the parents and sister of the murdered local Member of Parliament; the late Jo Cox. As part of this private meeting, the Vatican gave the family a small gift that had been blessed by Pope Francis, and to offer some light on the mystery of the cross of suffering and the final victory of goodness, justice and truth. Jo was a dear friend to the club and Abdul knew how excited she was that much of the focus of the Vatican Party was to be in her constituency.
During the ‘Light of Faith Tour’, what became most apparent was the range of individuals, community and faith groups, businesses and global brands that came together under the banner of ‘Unity Through Cricket’. Abdul was the primary catalyst behind this. A huge well done to Abdul on his fantastic achievements and a very well deserved Outstanding Services to Cricket Award for Heartbeat of the Club. A real credit to our sport.