A cricket charity is encouraging young people of African and Caribbean heritage to get into the game.
The ACE programme in Handsworth, Birmingham, is run by Warwickshire County Cricket Board on behalf of the ACE charity and aims to increase access to the sport for black communities.
Coinciding with Black History Month, the programme has been visited by Denzil McCarthy, a.k.a. Tim, a former player in the pioneering Birmingham Commonwealth Cricket League, which was set up in 1976 amid a challenging social climate. Reminiscing on his playing days, he said: "In my day we had none of this here".
A member of the Windrush Generation, he went on: "It would've been really, really nice to have some coaches years ago. I see so many people here giving up their time to teach these youngsters."
The situation was not always so positive. Ahmed Kazi, one of the founders of the Birmingham Commonwealth Cricket League, reflected on the social climate of the 1970s, saying that when the game was primarily played in local parks, there were lots of problems when it came to colour.
"A lot of insults were given, so we decided that it was time to form a Black league'," he explained.” Nearly half a century later, the ACE programme has built on those efforts.
In 2021, the West Midlands became the second national centre for the programme which seeks to ensure that a generation of young people do not miss out on the game.
