LV= INSURANCE PRIDE OF CRICKET AWARDS: 2023 WINNERS

The winners of the 2023 awards have been announced.

Their stories are below.

PRIDE OF CRICKET AWARD

TIM HOWARD, SHEPHERD'S BUSH CC

For the best part of 50 years, Tim Howard has featured prominently in the continued evolution and development of Shepherd's Bush CC.

Tim's involvement in the club began aged seven when his parents moved to Acton and placed him in a local primary school, whose headmaster was the club's fixture secretary.

He has been hooked ever since. Starting as a colt, he made his first-team debut in 1981 and continued playing in the 1st XI until he retired in 2012.

By then, Tim had already taken on a new role as groundsman, a post that started as something to do between jobs – and for which he trained in his spare time – but then became an 11-year calling.

So, while the records will show that he is without doubt the most successful allrounder to have played for the club, it is his off-field contribution to Shepherd's Bush that stands him apart.

MEDIA HERO

TOM JONES

From maintaining a new fitness regime, perfecting the perfect batch of banana bread or actually learning the names of the seven dwarfs - many of us failed to keep lockdown promises.

Tom Jones puts us all to shame. A business coach with a deep interest in improving individuals by day, he has taken that into his sporting endeavours.

Operating as part of his Cricket Coach 365 venture but unable to be hands-on during the pandemic, he took his sessions online in the form of online webinars, videos and quizzes to keep youngsters engaged as the wait to resume playing went on.

Such was the interest, it was suggested that he develop a podcast, choosing to focus on women's and girls' cricket.

Across more than 100 episodes, subjects have included former England men's head coach Peter Moores (currently at Nottinghamshire), Chance to Shine chief executive Laura Cordingley, umpire Sue Redfern and high-profile players including Nida Dar, Danielle Gibson and Fran Wilson, as well as individuals from across the grassroots circuit.

FUNDRAISING HERO

JACQUI NOLAN, CHILCOMPTON SPORTS CC

Considering they were turfed out of their original home of 93 years in 2015, it's a wonder that Chilcompton Sports Cricket Club exists at all today.

But that the Somerset club thrives and grows less than a decade on is only possible thanks to the funds raised by the tireless Jacqui Nolan.

As a team with an ageing set of players and no youth section, having to find a new home could easily have rung the death knell for Chilcompton. But having had previous experience of fundraising for other ventures, the club turned to Jacqui – a mum to one of its players – for help.

"I was always brought up to support my local community, my son played for Stratton-on-the-Fosse [Chilcompton's former name] as it was, and my husband and I always supported whatever he was involved in with whatever skills we had to help… and fundraising was not new to me," says Jacqui on why she was asked to assist.

With a mere £500 in the club's coffers and facing enormous bills just to move grounds and get a game on, Jacqui was handed a shopping list. Her work since has landed her with an LV= Insurance Pride of Cricket Awards 2023 winner's trophy.

COMMUNITY HERO

TANVIR AHAMED, LONDON TIGERS

Spend just a short period of time inside the cricket operation at London Tigers and you'll get a true sense of the meaning of community spirit.

From the complex, located in the heart of Southall - home to a thriving South Asian population - to the warmth of the players who frequent it, it is a wholesome environment.

Cricket head coach Tanvir Ahamed epitomises the positive energy running through the club. He is respected by his community and idolised by his players. It is difficult to imagine what the club, which showcases more than a dozen teams, would look like without him.

"We need a lot of Tanvirs in this country," Tigers chair Shahidul Alam Ratan, chief executive of Capital Kids Cricket, told The Cricketer.

"He is a role model and I think people should follow how he engages with the community, the players and how he encourages them. Those stories need to be told and shown to the people and this is how we can get more Tanvirs."

YOUNG HERO

FREDDIE COLLINSON, GLOUCESTER CC

"I was looking at photos the other day: there's a picture of Fred asleep with his cricket ball and his fingers round it in a bowling grip. That sums Fred up. Cricket has run through his blood since a young age. It's everything to him."

There's no doubt that 17-year-old Freddie Collinson is a cricket obsessive. As a county cricketer since the age of nine and with a place on Gloucestershire's Emerging Player Programme, a bright future in the game was certainly on the cards.

That was until he was given the earth-shattering diagnosis in September 2020 that he had a rare bone cancer in his right tibia called Ewing's Sarcoma.

After Freddie had to retire early with leg pain during his very first Gloucester CC 1st XI match, it was a physio at his school who first twigged that this was more than a mere muscular problem. His dad took him for an X-ray and the radiographer soon picked up that the problem was serious.

"I had a call from the school asking us to go in to meet with a consultant," says Sarah Collinson, Fred's mum. "We went into a children's oncology ward and were given the devastating news that it was bone cancer. Everything just stops and goes into slow motion - you're absolutely staggered."

CLUB HERO

RACHEL SHEPPARD, COALPIT HEATH CC

"Every club needs a Rach". So says Michelle Parker, whose clubmate Rachel Sheppard has been crowned LV= Club Hero in the 2023 Pride of Cricket Awards.

Rachel arrived at Coalpit Heath CC as a cricket mum, lured in by the promise of a Friday night barbecue after her son had caught the cricketing bug during a Chance to Shine session at school, but she quickly became an integral part of the day-to-day running of the club.

After being "strong-armed" into joining the women's team, she now serves as the captain, responsible for organising fixtures and festivals, and recently completed her level one coaching qualification.

She manages the social media accounts and takes an active role in recruiting new players – her flyer campaign ahead of the 2023 season brought in 15 new members. And she's even undertaken till training in order to work behind the bar.

"As the kids got more involved, I got more involved in helping out with [their] teams, starting the ladies up, and as you see what goes on, the opportunities and the enjoyment that everyone gets, you just get sucked in really. Someone needs to do it, so you find yourself volunteering. It's good fun," Rachel says.