Cricket Scotland’s special partnership with “Beyond Boundaries” has come under spotlight as they were recognized at the ICC Development Awards with a special award for their inspiring work of spreading cricket around all parts of society.
“ICC Cricket 4 Good Social Impact Initiative of the Year Award” acknowledges the outstanding project where cricket is used as a vehicle for social change or development.
Whether it be female empowerment, health, education, or community initiatives, the project will have used cricket as a platform to deliver and impact on wider social development issues during the year.
And Cricket Scotland were the well-deserved winner in this category for 2023 after successfully delivering a holistic social impact program in partnership with Beyond Boundaries.
“We are absolutely delighted to accept this award in partnership with Beyond Boundaries. The key to transforming lives is partnership working, and while Cricket Scotland works with many charities, Beyond Boundaries focuses on funding a wide range of cricket programs for underrepresented groups solely within Scotland,” Head of Development for Cricket Scotland, Nicola Wilson said.
“Our partnership covers so many aspects of the work we do; this includes our Disability Champion Clubs, the growth of women’s and girls’ cricket through the Wee Bash, the Female Coach Development Program and the Women’s Beyond Boundaries Twenty20 Scottish Cup, and the HOWZAT program for five to 11-year olds.
“It is fantastic to see the success of these programs, which have positively impacted so many people across Scotland, being given global recognition,” Wilson elaborated furthermore.
'Beyond Boundaries' is a young Scottish charity which funds programs that use cricket, in any of its forms, to transform the lives of young, disadvantaged and underrepresented people in Scotland.
The partnership has seen programs funded and delivered to support the growth of women and girls cricket, establish disability cricket in clubs and provide free community cricket sessions for children in disadvantaged areas.
Additionally, through the partnership, 16 female coaches have benefitted from additional support, removing barriers for female participants to start their coaching journey.
In 2023, Cricket Scotland added Falkland Cricket Club and Meigle Cricket Club in Disability Champion Clubs (total eight clubs now) in a bid to create more opportunities for people with disabilities to get involved in cricket.
Launched in 2021, the Disability Cricket Champion Club Program was developed to help cricket clubs open their doors to everyone in the community.
The Wee Bash was launched in 2017 as the brand new indoor cricket tournaments for women and girls.
Initially it was a monthly tournament but with support from 'Beyond Boundaries', Wee Bash is now a year-round event at different venues around the country.
The short five-over format in Wee Bash is fast and exciting to play.
A number of mother-daughter combinations have starred The Wee Bash in the past and it has become popular.
Beyond Boundaries Women’s T20 Scottish Cup was started back in 2010 and it was held in 2023 as well where West of Scotland was the champion and Watsonians became runner-up.
The HOWZAT! program, meanwhile, is aimed at a younger age group, offering free community cricket programs to five-11-year olds in disadvantaged communities.
This feeds into Cricket Scotland’s Wicketz hubs, situated in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Glasgow and Edinburgh, which offer lifestyle workshops on topics such as knife-crime, healthy eating, CV writing and discrimination as well as a cricketing outlet.
“It’s about providing the opportunity to engage with cricket not in a club setting,” Wilson said.
“It provides outlets for families who can’t get to a club because of financial barriers or lack of transport.”
With so many initiatives Scotland Cricket is delivering the message that cricket as a sport is not just for fun and for a certain group of people.
It is for all and can be used as a tool for the welfare of various aspects of society as well.
Now boosted by international recognition in the form of receiving the ICC Development Award in 2024, Wilson hopes to continue these brilliant works which will spread cricket among every part of society, and even beyond boundaries.
