Women and girls who may never have played cricket before turned out for an open day at a famous cricket club.
More than 120 women and girls attended the first event of its kind at East Lancs Cricket and Sports club off Dukes Brow. Parents of young attendees were also encouraged to attend.
The event was held in partnership with Dr Chand Rana and aimed to give attendees an opportunity to try cricket for the first time or rediscover their love for the sport.
The day began with a series of talks from women making their mark in cricket.
Dr Chand Rana, from Whalley Range Women’s Team, spoke about her love for the game and the importance of creating opportunities for women to participate.
Young county player Zainab Azam shared her cricket journey and encouraged girls to pursue their ambitions, while Aasma Hussain reflected on how she began playing cricket informally in local parks with a group of women in Manchester before progressing to win the GMCL Softball League and transition into hardball cricket.
Aiyla Hameed shared her personal story of being recruited to Werneth CC by the late Safia Hussain, who passed away earlier this year.
Kay Baig, made history in 2019 by establishing Lancashire’s first South Asian women’s cricket team and now represents W&G’s at Lancashire Cricket Foundation, praised the turnout and highlighted the many opportunities available within the women’s game.
Michelle Brennan, is a coach for Cricket Tots at East Lancs CC and runs sessions on Saturday mornings, also highlighted the opportunities available for younger children.
Members of the One Voice Blackburn WEGS group were also in attendance.
Attendees were then able to play cricket on the pitch watched by Lancashire-born former Head Coach of the Kuwait Women’s and Sweden Women’s First Team, Qasim Ali.
Arif from East Lancs said: “A huge thank you to everyone who attended and the amazing speakers for their support.
“We had a great turn out and a lot more than we were expecting. It goes to show the interest for the sport locally is huge.
“We will be looking to have another event like this in the future.”
Schools have been hosting their annual sports days at East Lancs.
The school were delighted to welcome children and parents from St Silas C E Primary School for their sports day.
Also, this summer Queen Elizabeth’s Primary School primary and nursery school pupils hosted their sports day at the venue. The club also welcomed pupils from the Tauheedul Boys’ School as they held their end of year BBQ.
The children enjoyed glorious weather as the summer made triumphant return.
Any other schools wanting to use the East Lancs CC facilities please do e-mail events@eastlancscc.com.
Members East Lancs Legends Blind baseball club have started training at Alexandra Meadows.
The team did Blackburn proud recently winning bronze at the International Blind Baseball tournament in Erd, Hungary.
The club, which is not affiliated to the club despite the name, meet every Monday evening and have been using the outfield to practice.
Blind baseball is played with a team of five blind/visually impaired players and three sighted volunteers.
All players must wear shades throughout the game to ensure everyone has the same level of vision, as blindness is a spectrum as people can still have residual vision.
The players listen to audio queues which indicate the bases.
The ball has a bell inside it and in the field the players listen to hear where the ball has been hit, when they locate the ball, they will throw it to a sighted catcher at base 2, in order to get the person batting out.
The club welcomed Pakistan cricket legend Mohammad Yousuf to East Lancs.
As well appearing in a World Cup final Yousuf, one of the most stylish and prolific batters of his era famously scored a world record 1,788 Test runs in a calendar year (2006)
Yousuf visited the club thanks to the team from Greenbank Lawyers, who are Gold Patrons of our Twenty20 Business Club.
He met with players during their match and also spent time talking to some of the younger players in the pavilion.
East Lancs Cricket Club: From Rovers To Ice Rinks
East Lancashire Cricket Club started as a military-based private sports organisation on Corporation Park in the 1860s.
The Blackburn Alexandra Cricket Club, nick-named ‘the cuff and collar brigade’, changed its name in1890 and began playing league matches.
In 1913 the East Lancashire Cricket Club were runners-up in the Lancashire League and had big attendances at its Alexandria Meadows ground.
In the early 1900’s banking had been created around the pitch so that in winter it could be flooded for a public ice-rink.
East Lancs as League Champions and Worsley Cup winning team in 1947
Blackburn Rovers also leased the ground for some of its earlier matches before moving to Ewood Park and a famous clash against Darwen FC at the Meadows led to major supporter clashes which caused the match to be abandoned.
For the first time in the club’s history they won the Lancashire League Championship on Saturday, September 20 1919, by two points, from Nelson.
They repeated this feat in 1942 when the deciding match with Enfield provided one of the most thrilling matches ever played at ‘The “Meadows’.
A history of the club by Mike Sumner of the Cotton Town local history website chronicles growing success and records that in 1949 the club won both Lancashire League Championships and the Worsley Cup.
By 1960 its first team had been in 13 previous finals and had won seven .
In 1962, the new Meadow’s Pavilion, an almost complete reconstruction of the 19th Century original with a modernised frontage, improved facilities and a handsome ballroom’
In 1965, there was an extension with a new members bar and lounge named the Hornby Lounge after A N ‘Monkey’ Hornby (a club member and captain of Lancashire and England Cricket teams) who with his brother Sir Harry had much to do with its formation.
Courtesy of Lancashire Telegraph (August 2019)
New Beginnings For Historic Cricket Club
A historic Lancashire cricket club has voted to be taken over by a Blackburn charity and community group.
Members of the East Lancs Cricket Club, based off Dukes Brow, held their annual Annual General Meeting (AGM) last week and voted unanimously to be managed by the MEDT (Minority Enterprise Development Trust) in the future.
Founded in 1864 by officers of the East Lancashire Regiment, the cricket club is one of the oldest in the region and also hosted some early Blackburn Rovers games.
Mark Lomas, who has been chairman for 12 years, stepped down on the night and will be replaced by Abid Ditta.
Speaking to members at the AGM, Mark said: “When I joined Nick Westhead (Treasurer) on the Executive we both agreed we would not step down until either the club was on a sound financial footing or we had no option but to lock the Astley gates for the last time.
“Only Nick, myself and the trustees know how close that has been at times.
“But with the generosity of members and some negotiations on payment terms on loans we have managed to just about keep our head above water.
“Now with the help of the Minority Development Enterprise Trust (MEDT) charity and the chance to change the structure of the club our dream of a healthy and strong community led club can be a reality.
“In fact, without the charities help over the last month or so we may not even have been around for this meeting.
“Their commitment to strengthening the ties between facilities like ours and the local community will mean Alexandra Meadows will be a thriving focal point for the area for years to come and bring the same happiness to many more families as it has to mine.”
Mark thanked every member of staff and more importantly the volunteers and executive committee members who for their service during his tenure, adding: “Without them we would have no club.”
The club is now hoping to attract further interest from local businesses and the immediate community living close to the ground. As well as cricket, the sports club caters for squash, table tennis and bowls.
In 2021, the club was praised for attracting more than 100 young cricketers through its doors thanks to a re-branding of its juniors cricket set up.
The MEDT charity took over Bangor Street Community Centre in 2015 after acquiring the centre from Blackburn with Darwen Council as part of an asset transfer.
Although not involved in the day-to-day running of the organisation, the charity has supported the centre, which is now among the busiest and largest community centre in the north west.
New chairman Abid said: “I have to pay tribute to the executive committee and all the volunteers who have ensured that the cricket club came through one of its most difficult periods in its history.
“It is only through their commitment and determination that the club is still here. Many have sacrificed their time and money to ensure the survival of the club.
“As someone who has been involved in voluntary groups I know all too well – this is not easy.
“This club is close to the hearts of a lot of people in this area and beyond and we want it to remain so.
“But we have some big challenges we need to face and we have some hurdles to overcome and we can only do this if we have the continued support of everyone associated with the club and also those who may be new to the organisation.”
First published 13 March 2023
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