Prestigious:

“MCC [the Marylebone Cricket Club] doesn’t have the resources to help everyone, but it will do its best to support where it possibly can,” its President, former Sussex captain John Barclay, told us exclusively. The days when MCC ran the game are long gone, but it still retains prestige and influence around the world. Its sponsorship of the recent Spirit of Cricket Series between Pakistan and Australia deservedly won it the admiration of the cricketing world, but there is far more to MCC than this.

Africa’s football World Cup is over and legacy projects abound. Now the under-fire African Cup of Nations spreads development projects throughout the continent. Infrastructures – not just football ones – have to be developed with forward planning and clear plans. Ghana for one benefited immensely from hosting the tournament in 2008. But what about cricket? Does it have a role in developing the oldest inhabited continent?

“I think any initiative that can be financed to achieve an end that brings nations together, giving opportunities – not necessarily producing great cricketers or great footballers – but bringing nations together in greater harmony, so much the better,” Barclay told us. “MCC works very closely with ICC [the International Cricket Council] to try and work through the nations of the world. It’s really ICC’s responsibility now to put that into action, but we are great supporters where we possibly can in Africa or America.”

Commitment:

Barclay is keen to help, recognising the importance of developing cricketing ties in countries that have not traditionally been cricketing nations, but he is realistic too. “MCC can’t do everything,” he says. “For a long time back they’ve been involved in the affiliate countries – developing countries. On each expedition to countries – let’s say ones I’ve been to like Sierra Leone: Ghana, little Gambia in West Africa, Nigeria. Nigeria’s a big country actually. They play a bit of cricket there.”

It would be fair to say that it hasn’t taken off in West-Africa, but seeds have been planted that will benefit both the sport and countries too. Barclay rejects the notion that cricket is a sport for Asians in Africa. He insists that not only do Africans play, but that the sport has attracted black Africans too – essential if cricket is to develop in Africa outside of South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

“I’m going back a bit now, but I’d say, it’s a mixture actually of Asians and Africans,” says Barclay. “Certainly there were some Africans in Sierra Leone. I’d say it was more than a mixture in Sierra Leone and Gambia, that’s going back a while – a little bit of mixture. As you know Asians are passionate about cricket and probably Africans are a little bit less absorbed, so you’ve got a good point, there were a lot of Asians playing, but there certainly were some Africans as well and that will be something to encourage.”

MCC and Barclay are committed to utilising the power of cricket to develop smaller cricketing nations for both altruistic and also selfish reasons. Cricket needs them to grow and survive and they need cricket to survive and grow. “For years the MCC has given the majority of its support to associate and affiliate members of ICC not the main Test Match playing countries, but to those beneath them such as Kenya and some of the African countries – indeed some European countries and South America,” he says. “They really put their heart and soul into coaching tours in particular, so that has been the main thrust.”