Mortgage Quest Hitchin

I have been extremely fortunate to watch England play cricket in 11 of the 12 Test-playing nations.

Having visited these countries, I have seen first hand the poverty, the lack of facilities, the lack of opportunities, and the daily struggles people face.

In Bangladesh in 2010, friends and I bought cricket bats and balls and handed them out to children on the street. The tears and joy on their faces are something that will stay with me forever.

Years later I discovered that a schoolboy had experienced almost exactly the same thing, half a world away. Mortgage Quest Hitchin is supporting the UK-based charity Bat For a Chance. The charity believes cricket is more than a game — it is a force for social change.

During a school club cricket tour to rural Sri Lanka in 2015/2016, the charity’s founder Will, then 11, played a match against a local village side near Kandy. He saw that the opposing team of local children was incredibly talented but highly disadvantaged, sharing a single kit bag between all of them and playing on a makeshift coconut mat. That experience sparked his desire to address the economic barriers in the sport. Incredibly, his charity was set up in 2019 when he was just 14.

About Bat For a Chance
Bat For a Chance provides cricket equipment and funds Cricket for Social Change projects in the UK and around the world, working with major corporates, NGOs, sports organisations and partner charities. From supporting refugees and schools in the UK to empowering girls in the Caribbean, teaching carpentry in Sri Lanka and tackling youth unemployment in South Africa, every bat, ball and kit opens a door.
Bat For a Chance is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1200484.