The Yorkshire Cricket Foundation (YCF), the charitable arm of Yorkshire CCC, and Morrisons will help deliver thousands of meals to stop children in Yorkshire going hungry during next week’s half-term.
The charity organisation and Morrisons will run Crick-EAT, an initiative which uses the power of sport alongside delivering free nutritious meals to help children and families who are most in need and most at risk of experiencing holiday hunger.
Through the vital Crick-EAT partnership, six venues across West Yorkshire will provide roughly 2,000 nutritious meals as well as hours of engaging and fun cricket coaching from professionally trained coaches.
This October scheme follows a successful summer programme when 12,000 meals and 1,000 hours of cricket fun were delivered.
The six venues include three in Bradford – the Karmand Centre in Barkerend, the Grange Interlink based on Summerville Rd and the BEAP Community Partnership (BEAP). In Leeds, Hovingham Primary School, the Bilal Sports Centre and Brudenell Primary School in Harehills have also been chosen.
Yorkshire captain Steve Patterson said: “I hope we are able to inspire generations of young people with our performances on the field, but it is initiatives like this that will make the biggest difference where it is most needed.”
Northern Diamonds bowler Beth Langston will deliver meals first hand to Brudenell Primary School.
She added: “The scheme is so important, and I’m delighted to be able to be a small part of it.
“Hopefully we can help inspire some young cricketers whilst also ensuring they get the food they need during the school holidays.”
Northern Diamonds star Linsey Smith has made an encouraging start to life playing for Melbourne Stars in the Women’s Big Bash.
Left-arm spinner Smith missed the Stars’ opening match last week as she was still in quarantine, but she played two back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday at Blundstone Arena in Hobart.
In the first, against hosts Hobart Hurricanes, she struck with her second ball on the way to figures of 1-35 from four overs in a defeat.
In the second, against competition favourites Sydney Sixers, a side boasting stars such as Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry, Ash Gardner and Shafali Verma, she was outstanding with 1-15 from four overs in a victory as the Stars defended a target of 140 to win by 30 runs.
The Stars are in action again tomorrow against Brisbane Heat (4am UK).
This competition is being televised by Sky Sports, though only sporadically. They are showing four games this weekend (not the Stars v Heat), but it is unclear whether any more of the competition will be shown during the T20 World Cup, including the semi-finals and the final.
Alternatively, a large number of games are being streamed via cricket.com.au. It is free to view as long as you set up an account.
Harry Brook’s winter in Australia will look slightly different after a late call-up to the England Lions squad following Dom Sibley’s decision not to travel.
The Yorkshire batter, one of the young players of the domestic summer, has been drafted into the Lions 14-man squad to travel Down Under on November 4 and shadow the senior Ashes squad until December 16.
Brook joins fellow White Rose star Matthew Fisher in the Lions party.
The Burley-in-Wharfedale product was travelling to Australia anyway having signed his first Big Bash contract with Hobart Hurricanes, a team Yorkshire fans will surely be supporting in that competition.
That begins on December 5, so it is yet unclear how much the Lions call will affect Brook’s early Big Bash commitments. Should he remain with the Lions for the full duration – until December 16 – he would miss the first three BBL games for the Hurricanes.
Warwickshire opener Sibley has pulled out of the Lions squad in order to work on his batting at home this winter.
Tickets for next summer’s internationals at Emerald Headingley have been doing a roaring trade.
General admission tickets for the one-day international between England and South Africa on July 24 are now sold out. You can still register interest in Premium Experiences for this fixture here: https://yorkshireccc.com/2022-international-premium-experiences.
Days two and three of the Test between England and world champions New Zealand, which runs between June 23 and 27, are close to selling out. Tickets can be purchased here: https://yorkshireccc.com/news/view/9603/2022-international-tickets-now-on-general-sale
Yorkshire trio Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Adam Lyth and Adil Rashid will all take part in next month’s Abu Dhabi T10 League, running from November 19 to December 4.
A star-studded fortnight long event in the Arabian desert will see Kohler-Cadmore play for Deccan Gladiators. In last year’s event, the White Rose batter scored four fifties playing for Pune Devils. Nobody else matched that tally.
Lyth was part of the Delhi Bulls squad last year as they finished runners-up, but he has moved to play for the Bangla Tigers.
Rashid, meanwhile, has signed for Lyth’s old team the Bulls alongside England white ball team-mates Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy.
Former Yorkshire second-team coach Paul Farbrace has been appointed head coach of Team Abu Dhabi for the six-team event.
The competition draft took place earlier this month.
There was plenty of Yorkshire and Northern Diamonds representation as the Marylebone Cricket Club announced a list of Honorary Life Memberships earlier this week.
A trio of former Yorkshire overseas players in Damien Martyn (2003), Morne Morkel (2008) and Herschelle Gibbs (2010) were all honoured alongside the likes of Ian Bell, Sir Alastair Cook and Marcus Trescothick.
Sarah Taylor, who played a handful of games for the Diamonds this summer, was also honoured alongside fellow women’s stars Alex Blackwell from Australia and Sara McGlashan of New Zealand.