Community Event Hosts England Icons Devon Malcolm and Gus Fraser
Emdad Rahman
Middlesex cricket in the community organised and hosted a Q&A between England heroes Devon Malcolm and Angus Fraser, who is also the Managing Director of Cricket at Midelesex County Cricket Club.
The Q&A and exchange of views programme at Broadwater Farm Community Centre bought together a host of local coaches, volunteers and administrators.
The informative session focussed on grassroots cricket and how to best engage and develop the next generation of cricketers, especially those from inner city communities.
Describing it similar to a tug of war, Malcolm, the former England fast bowler highlighted the challenges faced, “Nowadays, there are choices, whereas previous generations had to work, study, and what little time they had was spent on recreation or playing a single sport. This itself means that more needs to be done to encourage our youngsters to build a relationship with the game.”
Malcolm and Fraser both agree that parental influence and the support of the family are crucial in nurturing a love for sport. Arsenal legend Ian Wright and Olympian Dalton Grant were used as case studies of youngsters who developed a love for sport through cricket.
Malcolm described cricket as opening a lot of doors, “I came to the UK as a student and made friends, like Angus, who I’ve known for over fortyyears.
“At college I made friends with Asian people and asked to play in the Asian League in Sheffield. I told my friends, ‘How am I going to learn about you, your culture, your people’ otherwise.”
Cricket coaches in attendance contributed ideas and shared interesting perspectives based ON knowledge of their grassroots experiences.
With young people spoilt with having so many career and recreational choices it is more of a challenge to engage them efficiently and as a result it was suggested that coaches should be equipped with the training they need to teach cricket first, and then coach as this theory will help build a lasting legacy for future generations rations.