West Itchen Community Trust In Southampton Gets Cage Cricket Kit

A new Cage Cricket kit, funded by Southampton City Council’s Community Chest Grant’s Scheme, has now gone into St Mary’s – one of the most diverse and deprived communities in Southampton. The kit will be maintained by West Itchen Community Trust (WICT), based in Derby Road.

Over 60 people of all ages and abilities took turns to bat, bowl, field and lead the game from the Red Zone, 90% of whom were trying out any form of cricket for the first time.

WICT are already looking into “All Girl” sessions as well as more sessions for the young people and adults who attended the launch.

Abdoulie Sanneh, from WICT provided the following;

“On behalf of the Saint Mary’s community, IKAN and West Itchen Community project, I just want to say thank you so much for the amazing day of Cage Cricket. We all loved it. I thought you would like to see some of the feedback from people who attended on the day.

– We really enjoyed it and cannot wait for the next event

– We are looking forwards to girls and ladies only Cage Cricket sessions

– Can’t wait to have family games. My son wants to play Cage Cricket with me and thinks that Cage was the best sport he has ever played. My daughter is autistic and this was the first time I saw her get involved and enjoy any sport. It is amazing to see that… This could be a therapy for her and many others like her.

– The children are falling in love with Cage and are already asking when we will be organising another session.”

Simon Young, Managing Director of Cage 4 All CIC stated,

“This has been a long time in planning, and WICT have shown great foresight in seeing how the resource of Cage Cricket can aid community issues such as integration, education and personal social development. Southampton City Council, and in particular Councillor Jeremy Moulton, have been so supportive; not just in funding this initial kit, but in also pushing for the programme to be developed further for everyone within the community.”