Hospice to benefit from cricket match

Springhill Hospice will be the beneficiaries when Rochdale based British Asian Sports and Arts Foundation (BASAF) host an international quality six-a-side cricket tournament during the upcoming bank holiday weekend.

The tournament will take place on Monday 25 August at Thornham Cricket Club and the organisers hope to raise more than £1000 for the Hospice.

Khalid Abbas, of BASAF, said: "We wanted one of the organisations in our town to benefit from this event so we chose the Hospice. The Hospice does a fantastic job and we know they are in constant need of funds. It does a superb job within all communities in Rochdale because illness does not discriminate against colour.

"We hope that people will support this event and enjoy the cricket and have some food with us."

Ten teams will take part in the tournament, which will include professional players from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and England.

The first game begins at 10.30am at Thornham Cricket Club on Rochdale Road, Castleton - behind the All In One Garden Centre.

Ian Jenkins, fundraising manager at Springhill Hospice, said: "We are delighted to be the chosen beneficiaries of this cricket match. We hope the weather is good otherwise it might be a case of rain stopped fundraising!

"This is a fantastic gesture and we wish the British Asian Sports and Arts Foundation all the best in their endeavours."

BASAF has been running for just over a month with aim of getting children who are good at sport playing with local clubs. Mr Abbas continued: "Our aim is to get youngsters who are playing on the street to be fed into clubs, be it football, cricket or whatever sport. We hope to bridge the gap between the community and Rochdale's sports clubs because no-one is doing that at the moment.

"It can be intimidating for youngsters going into clubs for the first time and help them make contacts through our partnership with the council and other leading bodies."

For more information about the cricket tournament at Thornham or about BASAF in general, contact Khalid Abbas on 07878 986719.