This article, by Will Barker, originally featured in this week's edition of The Cricket Paper.
The inaugural T20 match between Percy Main Cricket Club and Walking With North Tyneside kicked off celebrations for Refugee Week, drawing over 100 spectators and strengthening relations within the community.
Walking With’s side, including refugees and asylum seekers they support across the area, chased down the total set by the Percy Main President’s XI in 16 overs, with captain Akakhel Mashal top scoring.
Those in attendance raised over £400 through donations, food sales and a raffle. While these funds will make tangible improvements to the charity’s output, Club Secretary and First XI Captain Alex Young believed the community aspect of the day was central to its success.
He said: “We weren’t looking to make this a massive fundraiser, that wasn’t the primary goal. The biggest goal was getting people involved in the club, getting people playing cricket, meeting each other and building the community side of it. Any money made on top of that was a bonus”
“We’ve jumped off from the starting point of ‘let’s have a game of cricket’ and seen where it’s taken us, and seen what people can do to help out, and made it as big an event as we could.”
“Apart from the fact that we got beaten, I think it was a pretty good success,” Young joked. “The day was cracking! Rain mainly stayed away, which is always an advantage.”
The idea for the game came as a celebration of Refugee Week, which took place between June 16 and 22.
Though there were many events dedicated to the week, the prospect of a game of cricket drew the most excitement, and the chance for friendly competition between teammates and members of the club.
Young said: “The first thing that Akakhel [Mashal] said to Shams [Moussa, the event’s organiser] was ‘I want to have a game of cricket, and I want to beat Alex.’”
One of the major drives of the initiative was to show people supported by the charity that the club was there, providing them an opportunity to come down, watch and play, regardless of cricketing experience or where they are from.
“Most of [the refugee players] are based around Wallsend in North Tyneside, with the majority of those coming from Afghanistan or Pakistan.
“There was a real variety of cricket experience there, a variety of backgrounds, and variety of journeys to the UK.
“We also had the best cricket tea I’ve had in my entire life. One of the guys supported by the charity used to be a chef in Afghanistan.
“He cooked up an absolute feast of pakoras, curry, rice, salad, and a load of [the charity’s] volunteers brought cakes along. Without a doubt the best cricket tea I’ll have all year!”
The club has historical roots in the area, having been founded in 1860, and despite tough times in the last 10 years, they are committed to building participation in sport in North Tyneside.
Percy Main have always prided themselves on inclusion, placing accessibility and enjoyment as highest priorities.
“We have a club policy of we don’t deny anyone playing cricket for financial reasons. We make sure that if you’re struggling, because you’re out of work or whatever it is, then that’s never going to be a barrier to you playing cricket for us. We wanted to do exactly the same thing on the day.”
The day provided a chance to build relationships within the community, and was healthily supported by club members, as well as outside influences, with the Chair of Tyneside Council in attendance to hand out medals to the two teams.
“The ECB sent across a whole load of tops for the lads to wear, and gave some England kit for raffle prizes.”
“We had Pip Gibb-Kirk from the Northumberland Cricket Board get involved. The board donated some cricket balls and kit, and came down on the day to support too.”
The club and charity are keen to make this an annual event, wanting to grow the inclusion and impact in the North Shields Area.
Young said: “We decided to christen the trophy the Mashal-Roys Trophy, in honour of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, after the two team captains we had on the day.
“We’re really keen to make this an annual fixture in our diaries. We started off with just one T20 game yesterday, if we can get a few more teams going, we can make a tournament.
“The more people we can get in the same place doing something that everyone enjoys, the better that works to create common ground between people.”