Promoting the Spirit of Cricket

The success of the Spirit of Cricket initiative depends upon the willingness of players, coaches, officials and administrators at all levels to embrace the concept and apply it in their approach to every game. Since publishing the new Code of Laws, in 2000, MCC has been promoting the Preamble, which discusses the Spirit of Cricket, as actively as possible.

Over 40,000 MCC Spirit of Cricket cards, featuring the text of the Preamble, have been distributed around the world. The cards are available in fourteen languages - English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Italian, Croatian, Hebrew, Greek, Hindi and Marathi - and carry the endorsement of leading international cricketers. Copies may be obtained by e-mailing communications@mcc.org.uk. Larger, poster-size versions may also be available.

In 2001, MCC initiated The Cowdrey Lecture in memory of Colin Cowdrey, who died in December 2000. The inaugural Lecture was delivered in July 2001 by Richie Benaud to an audience of invited guests. Subsequent Lecturers have been Barry Richards (in 2002), Sunil Gavaskar (2003), Clive Lloyd (2004), Geoffrey Boycott (2005), Martin Crowe (2006) and Christopher Martin-Jenkins (2007). Each Lecture has been followed by a high-level Question & Answer Session, hosted by Mark Nicholas and featuring panellists including: England captains Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood; the former South Africa wicket-keeper/batsman and current ICC General Manager (Cricket), Dave Richardson; and the ex-Australia wicket-keeper/batsman, Ian Healy.

Since 2001, an MCC Spirit of Cricket Award has been presented at the Professional Cricketers’ Association end-of-season Awards Dinner to the county team that has displayed the best on-pitch attitude over the course of the previous summer. Points are given by the umpires to each team at the end of every County Championship, NatWest Pro40 and Twenty20 Cup group match, based on the conduct of all members of the side. Each county’s points tally is logged in a table, and the winning team announced at the PCA Dinner. (The 2007 Award was won by Darren Gough's Yorkshire side.)

To promote the Spirit of Cricket to younger players, MCC Spirit of Cricket sponsors the U-13 National Club Championships. The MCC Spirit of Cricket U-13 Championship involves over 1,700 teams nationwide in a competition that runs from June to August each year, with a Finals Week held at Oakham School in Rutland. The winning team receives the Ken Barrington Trophy, while a Spirit of Cricket Award is made to the team that shows the best on-pitch attitude throughout the Finals Week. The 2005 competition saw Bath CC crowned as champions while Northrop CC won the Spirit of Cricket Award.

The MCC Spirit of Cricket Challenge is a programme designed to introduce cricket to primary schoolchildren. It has at its core the principles of fair play, as enshrined in the Preamble to the Laws, to encourage the youngsters who take part to being playing the game they way they mean to go on.

MCC will continue to maintain the momentum of its Spirit of Cricket campaign. Further projects are planned to promote MCC's message to cricketers at all levels - both in Britain and overseas - in 2007 and beyond.