30th April 2021
| Mallory Gray
Cricket Wales shares in the excitement of participants across Wales at the long-anticipated return of competitive league cricket, as well as some Welsh Cup preliminary round fixtures, and numerous friendlies, scheduled for this Bank Holiday weekend - in what will be for many their first game of the season.
Despite the challenges of the last year, cricket is coming back stronger; Many of our senior leagues have witnessed a growth in teams and, in some cases, even new clubs have formed, or re-formed in the last 9 months. Excitingly, even more new women’s softball leagues and hardball teams are also starting up across Wales, and very soon clubs will be flooded - in a good way! - with pale blue and bright yellow t-shirts, as 117 All Stars Cricket clubs and 95 Dynamos Cricket centres kick into action from next month, with literally thousands of kids starting their journey into cricket.
A number of the Cricket Wales staff will be playing for their clubs and/or coaching juniors this weekend, and we wish all participants an enjoyable, safe return to the game we love.
The Cricket family of Wales may also have read about professional cricket bodies in England and Wales joining football's authorities in a boycott of social media channels from 3pm today, Friday 30th April through to 11.59pm on Monday 3rd May.
Cricket Wales has chosen to stand with our colleagues and, in particular, the players of Glamorgan Cricket, and across the game, and will join the boycott, suspending posts on Cricket Wales Twitter, Facebook and Instagram timelines for the duration of the blackout.
Cricket Wales CEO, Leshia Hawkins, explained, "While we are fully cognisant of the significance of the return of cricket in Wales this weekend, and the predominantly extremely positive nature in which social media is - and will, I'm sure, this weekend - be used by clubs and players to celebrate all that is great about our sport, we are equally mindful of our position as guardians of the recreational game, and the responsibility we bear to do anything we can to help root out and end any form of discrimination, hate or abuse in cricket, including online.
"We have therefore taken the decision to stand in solidarity with our counterparts in the professional game in joining the boycott.
"We look forward to catching up on and sharing in all of the positive imagery, energy and experiences from the first weekend back when we return next week."
The Cricket Wales' website will be fully functional throughout the boycott and registrations for both All Stars Cricket and Dynamos Cricket will remain open across the weekend.