On Tuesday 12th July the Bunbury English Schools Cricket Association celebrated its 30th birthday at a glittering black tie event at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane.
The evening was the brainchild of Dr David English who has been the drive and inspiration behind the English Schools Cricket Association. The Dinner was organised by the Chairman of the Bunbury Committee, Mr Naynesh Desai, a Solicitor and Senior Partner of DDO Solicitors and a close friend of David English.
The Bunbury English Schools Cricket Association has been at the forefront of developing and promoting cricket at a junior level, developing the most promising schoolboys in the country. The success of the Bunburys can be judged by the fact that more than 700 participants have gone on to play first class cricket. 70 of them indeed have been capped by England, including the majority of the current England Test Team.
Amongst illustrious names who have come through the Bunbury Festivals are Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff and from the current team Joe Root, Mooen Ali, Steve Finn, Johnny Bairstow and Alastair Cook.
The Dinner held to celebrate 30 years of the Bunburys was also a fundraising event to raise monies for the English Schools Festival which takes place annually. The current year’s Festival is taking place at Radley College in Oxfordshire from which will hopefully come future stars of the England Team.
The evening, hosted by renowned cricket commentator Mark Nicholas, also saw in attendance the likes of legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar from India, Wasim Akram from Pakistan as well as former England cricketers Allan Lamb, Mike Gatting, Devon Malcolm, Gladstone Small and Mark Ramprakash. The evening was graced by the presence of the current England Test Team and their Coaches Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace.
After a sumptuous 3 course dinner, members of the England Cricket Team, including Joe Root, Johnny Bairstow, Alastair Cook and Eoin Morgan took part in a Question and Answer Session hosted by Mark Nicholas. This was followed by a charity fundraising auction which was undertaken by Lord Jeffrey Archer who has been a great supporter of the Association.
Chairman, Naynesh Desai, said he was extremely grateful to all the people who had supported the evening and to the England Cricket Team and their Coaches for taking time out from their busy schedules to support this event.
The current England side plays its own unique brand of thrilling, exciting and swashbuckling cricket. Indeed many of the current team say they play now just like they had when they were Bunburys.
