Twenty two of the world’s greatest living fast bowlers came to London this week in support of cricket’s favourite charity, The Lord’s Taverners, for a series of special events that will never again be repeated.

In a busy week of activities across the capital, the legendary pacemen visited the spiritual home of cricket, Lord’s Cricket Ground, on Tuesday before joining a Street Elite coaching session at the Archbishop Tenison’s School in Lambeth on Wednesday. Glenn McGrath, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Devon Malcolm, Sir Richard Hadlee and Makhaya Ntini spent the morning passing on tips to the pupils who, despite going to school in the shadows of The Oval, have very little access to cricket or outdoor sports.

As cricket’s number one charity, The Lord’s Taverners is dedicated to giving youngsters access to recreational opportunities. Wednesday’s Street Elite session, supported by the Berkeley Group, is just one of many programmes which are run throughout the country, designed to provide children with positive sporting and recreational outlets.

With much of the country having been affected by recent riots and the lack of sporting and recreational opportunities sighted as a possible cause for unrest among youngsters, The Lord’s Taverners programmes are addressing these issues with over £3 million donated every year to help give children the opportunity to take part in sporting activities.

Speaking after the Archbishop Tenison’s School coaching session, Glenn McGrath, who played in 124 Test matches for Australia and has taken more test wickets than any other fast bowler, said, "It’s been good fun today. We've given these kids a few tips on bowling action as we've done quite a bit of it ourselves so it's nice to pass that on! You can see they’re really enjoying it, you just can't stop them.

"The Lord's Taverners do a lot of great work getting young people more involved in sport so we are more than happy to do our bit with them.

“I can't think of another occasion when all of these guys have been together at the same time. It's amazing to look around, especially with the older fast bowlers; players that I really looked up to all the time when I started in the game, real legends of cricket."

Matthew Patten, Chief Executive, The Lord’s Taverners said, “The issue of providing youngsters with access to sport has never been more pressing. Recent government cuts meant there is going to be a shortfall in local council funding of £100 million for youth initiatives so it’s vital that projects like Street Elite are supported and can reach out to local communities throughout the country.

“The Lord’s Taverners aims to directly engage with the children at the front line of Broken Britain and give them the opportunity to take control their own world, and avoid the influences of gangs, drugs and violence. For us sport is the perfect vehicle for engaging with youngsters which can then lead to positive social outcomes.”

On Wednesday evening the bowlers turned out in force for the Macquarie Fast Bowlers Dinner, helping to raise an astonishing £100,000 for The Lord’s Taverners. Over 900 cricket fans gathered at the London Hilton on Park Lane for the once-in-a-lifetime occasion. Guests were treated to five Q&A sessions including each of the 22 bowlers, plus some of the batsmen who had the unenviable task of facing them at the crease during their playing careers, while Sir Ian Botham, Dennis Lillee and Brett Lee all sent video messages.

To mark the occasion, The Lord’s Taverners announced a new bowling award for young cricketers. The ‘Five-fer Award’, which is endorsed by all 22 of the fast bowling legends who attended Wednesday’s dinner, acknowledges the achievement of young bowlers (under 18) taking their first five-wicket haul in an organised cricket match.

The first recipient of the Five-fer Award is Jonathon Gale (17), who took five wickets against Kent earlier this season while playing for the Surrey CCC team for people with a disability. Jon received his certificate from Glenn McGrath to cap a memorable year, having also been given the opportunity to tour South Africa this winter with the England Learning Difficulties team. A wonderful achievement and a worthy winner.

Nominations for the Five-fer Award must be made by an adult. Details of the five-fer (player’s name and date of birth, date of game, club played for/against) should be emailed to contact@lordstaverners.org. A personalised certificate, signed by some of the greatest bowlers of all time, will be emailed to the applicant completely free of charge and the player added to the Five-fer Award Hall of Fame.

Our thanks go to all of the fast bowlers who travelled from far and wide (full list below); Mark Nicholas for hosting the evening; our partner Macquarie Capital; event supporters Emirates, Barbados Tourist Authority, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Grange Hotels, Gunn & Moore and Gray-Nicolls; all of our generous patrons; the committee of John Ayling OBE, Peter Kirvan and Roger Oakley and Andrea Ward; all of our guests for their support; and finally and extra special thank you to Brian and Shirley Downing, who put a huge amount of work into the event.

Attending fast bowlers:

Alan Davidson (Aus)
Glenn McGrath (Aus)
Jeff Thomson (Aus)
Andrew Caddick (Eng)
Darren Gough (Eng)
Devon Malcolm (Eng)
John Snow (Eng)
Bob Willis (Eng)
Sir Richard Hadlee (NZ)
Mike Procter (SA)
Makhaya Ntini (SA)
Clive Rice (SA)
Curtly Ambrose (WI)
Colin Croft (WI)
Andy Roberts (WI)
Courtney Walsh (WI)
Joel Garner (WI)
Charlie Griffith (WI)
Wes Hall (WI)
Sir Garry Sobers (WI)
Michael Holding (WI)
Kapil Dev (Ind)

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