2nd June 2020
| Mallory Gray
We must say a great big ‘Well Done!’ to Carl Holding of Carmarthen Wanderers CC who has spearheaded *three* competitions this season already - before we even near midsummer!
To contribute to the temporarily stalled cricket scene in Wales, Carl put together an inaugural #TwitterCoinToss competition which became something of an internet sensation. This initiative started a hugely infectious trend for team managers ‘selecting’ teams and publishing their plans and for team changes, tactics and internal banter all being shared on twitter.
It was often hilarious, always enjoyed in great spirit and offered much of the camaraderie and wit that characterises cricket around our network. ...Then it got bigger!
The second version, with 128 teams entering featured a wide variety of well-known cricket people in Wales to flip the coins, including media people such as the BBC’s Nick Webb, Cricket Wales’ CEO Leshia Hawkins, and Glamorgan’s CEO Hugh Morris. Many of the coin toss videos bouncing round the twittersphere were *quite something* - notably those of @OllieGoulstone - but dozens of people contributed, including our very own @SportSafeguard.
(In fact Cricket Wales’s safeguarding lead Ieuan Watkins - he of the ‘ginger mop’ - was getting so much humorous stick he decided to raise money for @OpeningUpCC supporting #MentalWellbeing and #SuicideAwareness by promising to have it shaved off! Donate here
But back to the #TwitterCoinToss itself. After 178 matches the final between Swansea CC and Llangwm CC was played virtually, at Glamorgan’s Sophia Gardens, with build-up hosted by Mark Church (@backandacross) and the crucial toss itself overseen by Glamorgan Director of Cricket, Mark Wallace.
Swansea CC were the winners, with a range of sponsored prizes going to clubs involved in the final stages, including Cardiff University CC, the winners of the third of Carl and Carmarthen Wanderer’s competitions - the ‘plate’.
Remarkably, the void where cricket should have been had been filled; by something daft but brilliant, something which like cricket itself had thousands of us engaged and involved. So our thanks go out again to those that organised this extravaganza: to Mr Holding, in particular. And finally, as if to prove how significant these events have been, a quote from Carl that really rings true:
“if there’s one thing you will remember from Cricket during COVID-19 it will certainly be the #TwitterCoinToss!