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Maidenhead & Bray Cricket Club

As part of Waitrose’s ongoing commitment to grass roots cricket, England’s star one day batsmen Eoin Morgan paid a visit to Maidenhead & Bray CC on Sunday August 17th. The Middlesex star took time out from a busy summer of international cricket as part of an ECB initiative to boost participation at recreational cricket clubs through the hosting of a Club Open Day, in partnership with Waitrose.

Whilst at the club, Morgan oversaw junior coaching sessions and provided a batting masterclass to members of the Berkshire club, where Sir Michael Parkinson holds the President position. The England one day specialist also passed on his comments and thoughts ahead of the Royal London One day international series with India in a specially hosted Q&A session, before finishing the day by signing autiographs for the lucky juniors who had turned up.

The event was a great success and continued a busy summer of activity for Waitrose. During the 2014 season, almost 1,000 clubs held similar Club Open Day on England’s international cricket weekends. Each event is supported by Waitrose who are donating £100 worth of food and drink to clubs, with the aim of attracting more players and volunteers through the doors of clubs.

Commenting on the event, Eoin Morgan said: “Hosting a Club Open Day is a great way of bringing new blood into cricket clubs. Cricket clubs are often hubs of the community, and long may that continue. It was brilliant to meet and coach the young players at Maidenhead & Bray and hopefully they will be inspired enough to get more involved.”

Sir Michael Parkinson said: “I’m very excited that Maidenhead & Bray hosted an ECB Club Open Day to open our doors to the community. Our younger members were certainly thrilled to have a star like Eoin Morgan visiting our beautiful ground.  Having my son Mike here as Chairman and grandson Felix in the under-11’s shows that cricket clubs are a great environment for families to be part of.”

Jack Rexworthy, employee at Maidenhead Waitrose and a volunteer on the day said: “We're all really enjoyed the event. I played at the club as a child so it was rewarding to volunteer and give something back through helping to encourage young people to play cricket. Being a positive part of the community is an important part of what we do at Waitrose - and this was a fun day out too.”