22/11/2021
I must admit I’ve been reading quite a bit of negative press about historical racist or discriminatory stories regarding Essex County Cricket Club in recent times.
Firstly, like most people am saddened by these historical incidents (but not surprised), I really hope that those genuine individuals get the justice they deserve. Maurice Chambers and Zoheb Sharif are good friends of mine and my heart goes out to them.
Perhaps I can share my own experience. I come from a working class family in East London where my father worked and mother was a house wife. Along with my brother Arfan Akram, at the age of 11 Essex Cricket got me on their pathway, I played throughout the ages (great memories playing under the likes of Graham Jelley and Cliff Greenhill), represented South of England U15’s and worked my way in to Essex 2nd XI (massive thanks to John Childs, Keith Fletcher, & Alan Butcher for always believing in me).
I am hugely grateful to the then University of Cambridge Cricket Head Coach Chris Scott who recruited both my brother and me. I got the opportunity to play 9 First Class games (one against Bangladesh A) in which I scored 2 First Class Hundreds and a 98 in a match winning game against Northants.
So why am I not bitter? Is it because I faced awful injuries which massively hindered me at a critical age? Or is it because the club had to make a call on who was best between me, my brother, Ravi Bopara, Sir Alastair Cook, Varun Chopra etc etc for a couple of potential spots?
I completely respect that during my time at Essex Cricket I had faced many challenges, we did bring our own food on the fair that neither team would have halal (or vegetarian) provisions.
Let’s now move forward to recent times.
What seems to be frustrating me is not enough is being talked about or highlighted with regards to the work the Club has done in recent years to become a more inclusive club.
I genuinely think Essex is a club that if many understood it’s unprecedented commitment to being more inclusive then many will try and replicate the model. We all have reasons and incidents for what happened as to why we never got to where we wanted to be in cricket, the truth is we should be asking ourselves what is being done to ensure things are different now and for the future cricketers regardless of their background.
I remember all be it briefly speaking with Dan Feist a number of years ago about how he wanted Essex to be a more inclusive club.
The proof in what Essex Cricket has done in recent years speaks volumes. You are all aware that my brother works for Essex Cricket. We are bloody competitive and I will definitely not use this platform to speak positive about him (he will somehow get a copy of this and use it!).
Perhaps I can share my experience at Wanstead as a model.
Going back to my early days, I spent most of the summer at Wanstead Cricket Club and most of my winter at the legendary Ilford Cricket School (best known as Joe’s Cricket School).
When I first joined Wanstead at the age of 11, I was greeted by three middle aged white men in John Smith, Trevor Hebden and Len Enoch. I became the age group captain that very year and remained captain until U16’s age group. This is significant, as at the time the Junior and Adult section was over 90% White English. A reflection of the Private Members Club at the time I guess.
However, these three gentleman, made our family so welcome and at home. Not to forget Mr President John Gray and Mr Chairman Martin Pluck. In my time as a Junior at the club, I came across people from so many different races and social classes who to this day remain as my friends. I am a Pakistani Muslim, most of these guys are from all different faiths and cultures.
As I progressed in the years, the club invested through the Management Committee many consultations to ensure it embraced the diverse demographic of the local area. When we (finally) won the Matchplay at U16’s, our team had players from White, Indian, Pakistani, West Indian backgrounds. I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t noticed as all we wanted to do is play cricket with my mates so nothing else really mattered. A compliment of the club who embraced our backgrounds.
As I moved in to Adult cricket, our 1st XI captain at the time was Jonathan Hinton, father English mother West Indian. This was in my opinion the first non-white to captain the first XI. He like the club made it so natural to play at the club and do what I love, simply play cricket. I love going down on a Friday night and seeing such a diverse club, more exciting is that the coaches and role models are from diverse backgrounds.
In my humble opinion, the reason for this was the amazing work going on behind the scenes to ensure the club was inclusive throughout (have a look at their Development Plan)… A model that so many other clubs have adopted in recent years. Let’s also not forget the ladies section, this was a new thing when I was growing up in the club, huge credit to Pauline Osborn and the late Pamela Gadd
Let’s not forget another legacy of Wanstead Cricket Club is the number of cricket tours we’ve been on. A big part of our tours is to participate and promote cricket to those communities less fortunate to us. We’ve toured Jamaica and promoting the Courtney Walsh Foundation on a number of occasions and also toured South Africa courtesy of Gwen Johnson and her wonderful colleague Suene… big thanks to Don Topley who got us the contact details for these great ladies. Through their hard work we did a training session in a Township and also visited Robin Island. Our most recent tour was to Sri Lanka where we saw the devastating impact on communities from the Tsunami
So back to Essex, with the success of Wanstead CC recently, it’s no surprise that we have had many professional cricketers come through the club in to county cricket from diverse backgrounds. As I mentioned the historic allegations should be investigated and let’s see what comes out. But what is evident is that Essex cricket have gone in a similar journey to that at Wanstead in recent times (well done to them on adopting and evolving our thinking) to celebrate diversity and inclusivity. The proof is in the amount BAME players on their pathway and receiving contracts recently. This takes time, but like my own story professional cricket is ruthless only the best make a career.
Talking to the pros who are pros in recent years, they share the culture within the 1st/2nd XI environment and they talk of one that celebrates each other’s faiths. That perhaps wasn’t the case when I played at performance level (ignorance, or perhaps driven by feeling threatened, that I don’t know).
If we are to move on, then we need to understand Essex have been doing some good stuff of recent time. I know I can talk to my brother on this subject, but why do I need to when I can see it for myself. My message to those young players, regardless of background, keep letting the bat, ball and fielding do the talking as the future for you won’t be one for an excuse on your background, I hope anyway.
To all those friends I made in my time playing cricket, thank you for positively impacting my life.
Ps; just been further reflecting after I wrote the initial post and I must give a massive shout out to Mr Andrew Weeks (my PE teacher at Warwick school for boys, loved beating all the private schools and cleaning up) as well two legends in Derek Steward and the late Haydn Davis who were instrumental along with John Smith giving support for kids from all backgrounds so much support and guidance.
