British club to fund poor Indian children's cricketing lessons

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali in New Delhi

NOT that money is a constraint in Indian cricket, but a prominent British club has pledged to finance free coaching to some poor kids in India with a fund of £25,000 to begin with.

Former British Prime Minister John Major, as head of the Lords and Commons Cricket Club, one of Britain’s oldest clubs, promised the scholarship after tying up with former India Test opener Chetan Chauhan’s New Delhi-based academy, which will soon be turned into a trust for the purpose.

“I am delighted that the Lords and Commons is giving practical and lasting support to Indian cricket and Indian society, and strengthening the relationship between our countries,” British MP Crispin Blunt, who managed a Parliamentary team’s tour to India a few years ago, said in a statement here through the British High Commission.

“That said, I will have slightly mixed feelings if any of the scholars turn up here at Lord’s in a few years time for India against England,” he said.

Chauhan, who scored a century against a team of British Parliamentarians in 2004-05, said that both the coaching and academic requirements of these poor kids will be taken care of.

“We would provide free coaching and also take full care of the boys’ academics. We will have boarding facilities for them. Although the modalities are yet to be chalked out, we will have five-six trainees between 12 to 19 years of age,” Chauhan told Mail Today.

“These trainees will be poor kids. Lots of such kids keep coming to my academy, but we will hold trials to select the trainees.”

Chauhan said his academy’s profile will change soon. “We are converting the academy into a trust and the process has already begun. The money that will come from Britain will be deposited in a bank and its interest will take care of the trainees’ needs,” he said. The trainees will be called the ‘Lords and Commons Cricket India Scholars’.

A High Commission statement here said that the trustees of the Lords and Commons scholarship fund are Crispin Blunt (MP), Prisons and Probation Minister Ian Gomes, and Mark Runacres, a former British Deputy High Commissioner to India.

“Mark was instrumental in this venture. He visited several academies, including mine, about one and half months ago for this purpose, though the talks about starting the scholarship started five months ago,” said Chauhan.

Chauhan, a former member of Parliament, has had a long association with Mark as they have played against each other during the British MPs’ cricket tour of India.
“Major pledged the fund to Anirudh Chaudhry, manager of the Indian touring team, during the first Test against England at Lord’s, London, on Monday,” said the statement.
(This story first appeared in Mail Today on July 26, 2011)