15th March 2022
| Matt Thompson
Ahead of the national counties season starting next month, Wales have confirmed ‘The Rainbreak’ podcast as their inaugural charity partner for 2022.
In the team’s bid to give something back to cricket off the field, players opted back in September last year to support the Ruth Strauss Foundation – the charity established by former England cricket captain Sir Andrew Strauss in 2019 in memory of his wife Ruth, to support families facing the death of a parent. The initiative will mean that for every six hit by Wales across all NCCA competitions (T20, 50 over and 3-day championship), The Rainbreak will donate £5.
That figure stood at 34 last season, with leading run scorer Oskar Kolk the main culprit with 18, although that did not include an entire group stage of T20 after the tournament was unable to begin during the early part of a COVID-19 restricted period. With the likes of Sam Pearce and Tom Bevan demonstrating their hitting capability in the last year’s European T10 tournament, that figure should surpass the 50 mark in 2022.
Established in early 2021, The Rainbreak is a not for profit company set up to help clubs raise funds in the uncertain times following the coronavirus pandemic. It has been set up to help cricket clubs invest into their future. As well as producing cricket matches, they also produce end of season Awards Nights, and can bring a well known professional cricketers for a Q&A session as part of the event. This is recorded and turned into a podcast which is a long-lasting way of thanking sponsors and celebrating the achievements of your cricket club.
Co-founder Mark Fellowes – who also works with the ECB in producing the Bunbury festival and the PCA’s festival of cricket day – commented on the partnership with Wales NC, “'The Rainbreak are extremely happy to be working with Cricket Wales/Wales NC and raising some money for The Ruth Strauss Foundation by sponsoring 6's hit in their NCCA competitions. We wish them luck for the coming season.”
Cricket Wales Head of Talent Pathway Matt Thompson, who also oversees the National County operations said, “we’re delighted that Fellowes Productions have come forward to assist us in supporting such an amazing charity. There are so many great ones out there and our players were almost unanimous in wanting to support the Ruth Strauss Foundation this time around. We’re all keen to ensure we give something back off the field, and this is a lovely way to do just that.”
Nik Hart (Ruth Strauss Foundation Events and Community Manager), also said: “We’re thrilled to have the support of Wales National County and delighted that they will be part of our 2022 campaign to ‘Turn Cricket Red’ to help raise awareness of our mission. The money raised will help us support families facing the death of a parent and drive the need for more research into non-smoking lung cancers, so we hope the batsmen are all in great form next season!”
For more information on The Rain Break, go to: www.therainbreak.com
You can also follow them on Twitter: @rain_break
For more information on The Ruth Strauss Foundation, go to: https://ruthstraussfoundation.com/
You can also follow them on Twitter: @RuthStraussFdn