Creating futures from cricket

By Uditha Jayasinghe 

“What is more important for a fast bowler; line or length?” asked Sir Richard Hadlee from a line of awestruck teenage fast-bowler aspirants. They looked up at the towering Sir Hadlee and hesitantly volunteered their answers. About half of them were right but all of them had to demonstrate the answer before one of the best fast bowlers in history. 

“The right answer is line. Once you get your line right, you can wary your length within that line,” he tells them as a coach from Cricket Live Foundation translated. It is a balmy afternoon and Sir Hadlee has been warmly welcomed by the Sunandopananda Vidyalaya in Moratuwa where Cricket Live Foundation has organised a cricket camp with their patron Sir Richard Hadlee.

Cricket Live Foundation is a non-profit based in New Zealand, which raises funds to help children from low income backgrounds. The organisation came to the area in 2014 and Sunandopananda is one of several schools with modest means selected for the programme.

Presently 288 children divided into Under 13 and Under 15 categories are helped by the programme, with more girls to be added through a separate project from July. The Foundation also recently expanded to Siyambalanduwa where they oversee 96 kids from a school that was six months away from closing down but was given a new lease of life.

Catalyst to improve life skills of students

Cricket is used as a catalyst to improve life skills of students. Linked to the cricket practice are sessions about thrice a week where they learn teamwork, time management, respect, discipline and even to wash clothes and cook under the nutrition segment. Mathematics is the Achilles heel of the local education system where about 50% of kids who sit for the Ordinary Level exams fail each year so Cricket Live Foundation started tuition classes in the subject for the students.  

One of the perks is getting to meet Sir Richard Hadlee and even get a once-in-a-lifetime coaching session. Even the patchy, overgrown ground of the school, surrounded by a handful of modest buildings, cannot dim the allure of such a chance and Sir Hadlee patiently poses for numerous photos, signs autographs, including a massive poster of himself, and is affability itself. 

Many have written odes to Sir Richard John Hadlee. Regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers and all-rounders in cricketing history, he rubbed shoulders with Imran Khan, Kapil Dev and Ian Botham and was arguably the best bowler of them all. Interestingly, during a New Zealand tour to Sri Lanka in April 1987 Sir Hadlee managed to do more damage with the bat scoring his second test century of 151 to help his side save the test. But the tour was tragically cut short when a bomb exploded in Fort, killing 113 people and cancelling the rest of the matches. 

Sir Hadlee has clearly put all that behind him and speaks fondly of his Sri Lanka tours. Hadlee went onto grab many other accolades. He was appointed MBE in 1980 and knighted in 1990 for services to cricket. He is a former chairman of the New Zealand board of selectors. In December 2002, he was chosen by Wisden as the second greatest Test bowler of all time. In March 2009, Hadlee was commemorated as one of the Twelve Local Heroes, and a bronze bust of him was unveiled outside the Christchurch Arts Centre where he was born. The local cricket club also bears his name. 

Just a month later Sir Richard Hadlee was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. 

Giving back

“I’ve played international cricket for 18 years and I’ve had a lot out of the game in different roles and it’s time to give back and one way of giving back is to be involved in something like the Cricket Live Foundation and once I heard about what they are trying to achieve I offered by my services to become patron of the organisation to give the foundation a figurehead or even fatherhood role if you like,” he said on the sidelines of the camp. 

While most patron roles are limited to paper Sir Hadlee decided to kick things up a notch and get personally involved. 

“When I get involved I like to have more of a proactive role and be seen to be part of it and actually contributing to the process. I needed to be on the ground here to physically, visually see how it operates and just to see the smiles on the kids’ faces, the interaction, the numbers and the plan of what they do. More than cricket it is the life skills to see how they can become better people and give them a chance in life. In other words someone is taking the initiative and interest, not only in their lives but their future. It does give me a bit of a buzz.” 

Shooting for the stars

Dubbed the 300 Club, Cricket Live Foundation encourages donors to give 300 New Zealand dollars to sponsor a child in Sri Lanka for a whole year. Donors do not get the chance to directly interact with their beneficiaries but Sir Hadlee had the chance during his visit. Gayan Milinda is an aspiring 14-year old fast bowler passionate about playing for the Sri Lanka national team someday.

Gayan’s father is a carpenter who has modest means to support his cricket dreams but with Cricket Live his odds are better and Sir Hadlee believes in shooting for the stars. 

“These kids come from mixed backgrounds and few of them have been given purpose or direction. Now we have coaches doing mentoring roles, I wouldn’t say substituting their parents or anything like that but supporting the parents and giving the kids the guidance and direction that they need. These kids will then start thinking about their goals and where they want to be in five, 10 or 15 years. So it is important that they have a purpose or goal that they can try and achieve.”

Sir Hadlee’s optimism is supported by one 15-year-old student under the Cricket Live Foundation programme recently being selected for the national pool and having a shot at making the Under 19 team. Yet dreams do not have to be limited to cricket, he insisted. 

“The fact that some of them want to play for the Sri Lankan team is fantastic but their might only be one… or 10 over a period of time. But that would be a remarkable achievement given where they have come from, to come through the system to be better people and potentially better cricketers. All of the sudden there is one person potentially making a breakthrough. If that person is successful that gives hope to the others. If there is a support system around them, then the world is yours.” 

Cricket can change someone’s world

Sir Hadlee talks about his life as an example of how cricket can change someone’s world. “Cricket has changed my life, particularly on values. It changes the type of person you are. I think I played within the spirit of the game and respected the traditions and history, respect the people. Those sorts of things are important. I have come through an education system and so have these kids here and it means they can learn. If you have knowledge, you can use it to open doors. A lot of doors opened for me by being successful in cricket.”

The programme gave fresh life to the school, believes principal A.S. Silva with attendance increasing by 50%. “This is not a star school in Moratuwa. We have only 483 students and last year only four passed their A/Ls but that number has nearly tripled this year. More parents want to send their students to this school now and it’s mostly because of Cricket Live.” 

“Students have better discipline; they are more interested in their education and are more loyal to the school.” 

The sky is the limit

Cricket Live operates in partnership with the Merril J. Fernando Foundation, named after famed tea company Dilmah’s founder. Cricket Live Foundation Chairman and Founder Alex Reese is already in talks with Indian giant TATA to expand the programme to the subcontinent and is grateful for “good people” and “good relationships” in Sri Lanka that launched the programme. 

Older students are given career guidance and diploma programmes to help them in different careers including a scholarship programme. Expansion to other parts of the country is also in the pipeline. 

“I want to take Cricket Live as far as it can go. For us the sky is the limit.”

- Pix by Gitika Taludar