Surrey CCC have today announced a new partnership worth £20,000 a year for the next three years with Cricket Brasil to support the development of participation and performance cricket in the country.
The partnership will see the funds from the Oval Cricket Relief Trust invested in three areas: high performance development; infrastructure and facilities; and training and education.
Surrey’s support in Brasil will sit alongside the Club’s existing work in Rwanda, where a partnership with the charity Cricket Builds Hope has been in place since 2016, firstly helping to build the first ever cricket ground in Rwanda and then supporting the charity’s work to use cricket as a tool for social change in the East African country.
Associação Brasileira de Cricket was set up in 2001 and became an ICC affiliate country in 2006, receiving T20I status for the men’s and women’s teams in 2018. The organisation aims to achieve success in elite cricket but also use cricket as a way of delivering social change for those in under-served areas.
In 2016, Cricket Brasil’s University Programme was launched to support the training of cricket development officers who were then able to deliver cricket coaching courses in the community. The programme has helped to rapidly increase the number of people playing cricket in Brasil, which now stands at just over 7,000 people playing the sport across 120 local hubs.
Year one will see the support from the Oval Cricket Relief Trust focused on the remodelling of the High Performance Training Centre in Poços de Caldas – a city north of São Paolo – with improvements in training and physio facilities as well as to the governing body’s office areas.
Year two will look to improve the playing infrastructure with investment in turf wickets and the first indoor nets in the country to provide access to quality playing and training pitches for performance, club and development cricketers.
The final year of the partnership agreement will focus on supporting the development of the coaching staff who work across the hubs, with an exchange programme for Cricket Brasil to come to the UK and learn about the community work and pathway that exist in Surrey.
Oval Cricket Relief Trust is a charity that was originally setup around the all-star charity T20 match held at The Oval in June 2005 that raised £1m for the rebuilding of Maggona, a village on the west coast of Sri Lanka that was destroyed by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. Since then, the trust has helped fund projects in countries including Grenada, Barbados, India and Haiti.
Matt Featherstone, the President of Cricket Brasil, said: “The partnership with Surrey will help to drive cricket across Brasil to new levels. We cannot wait to get started working to make a difference to so many people at the elite end of the game but also at the grassroots of the sport.
“There is a real passion for cricket in Brasil and we are committed to making the game a force for social good in this country.”
Steve Elworthy, CEO at Surrey County Cricket Club, said: “We believe that we have a duty to support the development of cricket not only at home but also abroad where we can make a difference to the growth of the game and the Oval Cricket Relief Trust is in place to support projects like this. Cricket Brasil have done a fantastic job at rapidly growing their elite and development programmes and we look forward to seeing how their programme continues to develop.”
