Kent County Cricket Club in England has on Wednesday 27th July, 2016 donated Kwik Cricket sets equipment (Bats, Stumps and Balls), Cones, and Shirts to the Kent Cricket Club in Sierra Leone. The equipment donated are made of high quality plastic, which makes them light enough for children of all ages to handle in playing cricket. In 2013, Kent Cricket Club in Sierra Leone established a unique partnership with Kent County Cricket Club in England. The County Club in England has been donating kits and equipment in the past and has been very supportive in other areas to the Kent Cricket Club (KCC).
During the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Jamie Clifford, the Chief Executive Officer of Kent County Cricket Club in England, wrote a letter to the then British Prime Minister, David Cameron, asking the British government to increase its support to Sierra Leone in the fight to end the epidemic.
“We have a passion for developing cricket and we are extending our philanthropy to support other countries, and have been in partnership with Kent Cricket Club in Sierra Leone for several years now. Equipment is needed for the development of Cricket globally, so it is a privilege to give kwik Cricket sets to a developing country in Cricket like Sierra Leone, our aim is to give children in Sierra Leone the opportunity to play Cricket with standard equipment as a way of enabling them materialise their passionate potential in Cricket”, Andy Griffiths, Director of Community Cricket at Kent Country Cricket Club in England affirmed through a telephone conversation.
“Kent Cricket Club (KCC) in Sierra Leone is striving to deliver cricket to as many young people as possible, with the aim of helping young cricketers reach their full potential, we will continue to support in ways that are appropriate for the Kent Cricket Club (SL), we are hoping that the already established relationship between us and the KCC will serve as an opportunity for the growth and development of Cricket in Sierra Leone” continued Andy Griffiths.
Emmanuel Pessima, Chief Executive Officer of Kent Cricket Club in Sierra Leone, in his statement while receiving the equipment said, he is “excited about the donation as it comes in at a time when the KCC is deeply in need of equipment for its community cricket projects. We want to see the game of Cricket become more popular throughout Sierra Leone, and produce Cricketers that will represent Sierra Leone in the future"
Pessima continued that, now that his Club has got these equipment, they will continue to focus on grassroots cricket programs. “For us at the KCC Schools Cricket cannot be ignored as the future of Cricket lies on our School children” Pessima emphasized. “On behalf of everyone at the Kent Cricket Club (KCC), I want to say thanks to Andy Griffiths, Jamie Clifford, David Turner and everyone at the Kent County Cricket Club in England for your continued support to the Kent Cricket Club (KCC), Pessima concluded.