Sussex Cricket Foundation Impact Report 2021

Sussex Cricket Foundation has released its impact report for 2021. The report looks back at an incredibly successful year for community cricket in the county, despite the continued challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Participation is shown to have grown across all ages, genders, and abilities. Over 12,000 children took part in Chance to Shine programmes delivered by Foundation coaches, while record numbers signed up to national programmes such as All Stars and Dynamos.

More clubs than ever – 61 in total – are now running women’s and girls’ programmes, while introductory programmes such as the Women’s Soft Ball Festivals saw record participation.

In disability cricket, county squads have had a wider pool of players than ever before to select from, while four recreational clubs have become Sussex’s first ever disability champion clubs. The showpiece DIScoverABILITY Day also made a successful return to The 1st Central County Ground in September after an enforced year off in 2020.

The Foundation’s efforts to increase participation in Sussex’s large towns and cities received a huge boost with the launch of Urban Cricket Plan in Brighton and Crawley this year, while projects to involve older members of the community such as Walking Cricket and Sporting Memories are now back in operation.

Successful initiatives to connect with the wider community such as the Sussex Cricket Mental Health & Wellbeing Hub and the ‘In the Bag’ collaboration with Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, as well as a fantastic year for fundraising – including the £40,000 raised by November’s ‘Where Cricket Meets… Glenn Hoddle’ event - are also reviewed in the report.

Sussex Cricket’s Community Director, Gary Wallis-Tayler, commented: “I am incredibly proud of all our achievements this year. It has truly been an incredible twelve months.

“Recreational cricket in Sussex has never been stronger and it has been amazing to see the growth of participation across all areas of the game despite the ongoing challenges everyone has faced.

“As we look ahead to 2022, we must continue the momentum to inspire the next generation of cricketers and continue to connect with our communities, both of which are key priorities for Sussex Cricket.”

Chief Executive, Rob Andrew, added: “2021 has been an extraordinary year for Sussex Cricket Foundation and all who work so hard to promote cricket across all our communities in the county.

“Following the outstanding work in 2020 to keep cricket on as the pandemic hit, 2021 has seen the community department go from strength-to-strength with all areas of the game thriving in Sussex.

“There are so many areas covered in this report highlighting the amazing work our Foundation team and I would ask you to take a few minutes to take in the breadth of our work and support us where you can to help grow our programmes.

“It feels unfair to pick out any areas over another but we have focussed hard on our work in disability cricket, girls’ and women’s cricket and our two urban plans in Brighton and Crawley. We are also very proud of our work with Sporting Memories, ‘In the bag’ with the Brighton Food Partnership and our Sussex Cricket Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub.

“Thank you to everyone for your hard work on our programmes and the support you have continued to give us through the pandemic. We are looking forward to building on this work in 2022.”

The 2021 Sussex Cricket Foundation Impact Report can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

If you or your organisation would like to learn more about Sussex Cricket Foundation, or find out how you can get involved in inspiring a passion for cricket in Sussex, please contact foundation@sussexcricket.co.uk