Cricket matches have been played in some unorthodox locations: 5,730 metres up Kilimanjaro, underwater in Derbyshire’s River Derwent, and among the penguins of Antarctica.
So perhaps pitching up on a school roof doesn’t seem so strange after all. When pupils at Hague primary school in Bethnal Green, east London, said they wanted to play cricket, there was a problem – the playground had very little space and no grass at all.
“It was like a Victorian yard,” recalls headteacher, Judy Coles. So the school built a rooftop playground, complete with concertinaing cricket nets.
Coach Soyfur Rahman was 11 when he arrived in England from Bangladesh 15 years ago. He spoke hardly any English and found the transition a “great shock” at first. He remembers with a smile the joy of playing on the roof. “I loved it,” he says. “I was always trying to hit the ball past the nets and off the roof.”
He wasn’t the only one – he remembers that when England cricketers Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook visited the school they also tried to hit the ball for six. No wonder the school insisted that a soft ball was used!
Cricket helped the 11-year-old to integrate. He had played street cricket in Bangladesh and when he started playing the game at his new school he quickly began to learn English. “I was the only Bengali speaker in the team, so that made me learn English quicker,” says Rahman, who is now 26.
“Listening to my teammates I started to pick up words. Thanks to cricket, I learned English quicker than other kids from Bangladesh. It also gave me a lot of confidence.”
When the staff noticed that Rahman had a special talent, Coles helped him to get involved with local cricket clubs. He also received coaching from Chance to Shine, the charity that aims to give all children the opportunity to play, learn and develop through cricket.
From being coached, he moved to become a coach himself. “I wasn’t 100% sure about coaching at first,” he says. “It was only when I started working for Chance to Shine that I got on to that path. Before I knew it, I was a full-time coach for Middlesex Cricket Board.”
Rahman credits his success to the coaching courses run by the charity. “They really help coaches to get better and show us how to get the best out of the kids,” he says. “Whatever support I needed, Chance to Shine provided. Then Middlesex hired me to deliver what I’d learned.”
He says the charity’s support of young people is transformative, and helps to put them on the right path. “Rather than hanging round on the street, they can play cricket and take a different direction in their lives,” he says.
NatWest has been supporting cricket for almost 40 years. It works with Chance to Shine to help create opportunities such as Rahman’s, and keep programmes like this free of charge – something Rahman says is vital.
“Among the south-Asian community here, money is a problem. And if you play club cricket the usual way you have to pay for membership, bats, pads, helmet, gloves, bags and shoes. That’s a lot of money, and would be a barrier for many people. But with Chance to Shine projects you don’t need to spend anything. It’s free. You can just turn up, have a game and go home.”
For Coles, unearthing and supporting a talent like Rahman’s is life-affirming. Cricket has been her passion since childhood, when she sat at the boundary and proudly watched her grandfather play.
She describes it as “an absolute pleasure” to watch children playing team games and developing their skills. “You get children who start not knowing one end of the bat from another and then become good players,” she says. “They develop such confidence.”
She also gets parents involved, to make it a family affair. “None of us have great talent, but we have enthusiasm – and we want children to have fun,” she says.
Coles says Chance to Shine is “really good at getting cricket into schools, particularly in the inner cities” and believes the charity’s team are “fantastic ambassadors for the game”.
With the charity’s support, some of her pupils were invited to open up the London Stock Exchange with cricket legend Devon Malcolm. They have also been taken to see Test matches at Lord’s and the Oval.
The school has built a strong cricket culture and the pupils are enthused by the sport – the girls are particularly passionate about the game. “You see them getting involved at lunchtime,” says Coles. “I’m really proud of that.”
Rahman thinks that this summer will be the one where cricket really captures the mood of the nation. “With the work Chance to Shine is doing, and the World Cup and Ashes taking place, I think there will be more interest in cricket than ever before,” he says. “That is really positive.”
For almost four decades, NatWest has supported cricket, with a mission to make the game easier for everyone to play and enjoy.
A proud partner of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the charity Chance to Shine, NatWest champions cricket at all levels – from grassroots support for local clubs and getting more people involved in the game to supporting current and future England stars and helping fans cheer on their teams, however and wherever they choose.
With NatWest, cricket is a game that has #NoBoundaries. It’s cricket for all.
Follow @NatWest_Cricket and #NoBoundaries to find out more.
