Marathon Batting Challenge

Covid 19 - has had a huge impact on Southend on Sea and EMT Cricket Club: our membership has declined because some members are of the BAME community and consider themselves vulnerable, others have decided that the risk of playing isn't worth taking this summer; the annual subs we charge members to play haven't been paid as most of the season has been cancelled, match fees we take from these games which equates to approximately £400 per week is now not coming in. Due to government guidelines we have not been able to open our bar and last year this brought in £5000 profit most of which went into keeping costs down.

What we hope to do:

1) Raise crucial funds for the club so we can pay our bills and survive the crisis we find ourselves in 

2) Bring more youth cricketers into the club so we can come out of this and progress once cricket resumes fully. 

About the club

Southend on Sea and EMT Cricket Club was formed in 2010 as an amalgamation of two local clubs who combined have over 250 years of history.

We are a community club that has a strong history of providing opportunities for young boys and girls to start their cricket career and some have gone on to representative cricket with some boys and girls in our youth set up hopefully destined for higher honours.

This year we planned a lot of initiatives for our youth cricketers to build on the success of the men and women's National teams who are both World Champions in the 50 Over Game. Unfortunately, due to the current situation we are only permitted to do very limited things and we now have to look at ways to keep the club afloat and interest in the game.

The club in the community:

Southchurch Park has long been a hub for the local community and our pavilion is regularly used not just as a cricket club and the closure of it would mean trouble for other institutions like the Southend Model Boat Club (https://southendmbc.weebly.com/ ) who share the facilities and rely on the pavilion as a place to store their boats and meet. Our pavilion also provides changing facilities for local football teams who play at Southchurch Park then have a drink and socialise afterwards.

The club also hosts social events for local residents and has held birthday parties, family gatherings and this year acted as a place where a children's group has met while their facilities were being renovated.

Moving forward the aim is to get even more community groups making use of the facilities we can offer but without money coming in the prospect of the club staying open is less than it was 6 months ago.

How we aim to raise money:

We understand these are tough times for both our membership and the local community so instead of just putting out a begging bowl and asking for cash for nothing one of our Youth Coaches, Scott Elliott has come up with an idea that will allow anyone to get involved with cricket and raise money for the club.

On 4th and 5th July, he is aiming to bat for the same length of time that ex England captain and now Sky Sports Cricket Commentator, Michael Atherton batted to save the game for England against South Africa in Johannesburg back in 1995 (643 minutes!!).

This will be done over two days to replicate the famous innings and we are hoping that you will support us in backing his efforts with a small donation. A donation of £10 will secure the chance for yourself to bowl at Scott and test your skills!!

Bowling is not limited to club members only so please share with friends, family etc because without being too dramatic the future of our great club is at stake this summer.