Cricketers' charity 'hundred' match raises four hundred for Mind

Player of the Match Connor Parsons batting for the Guest XI with Jonny Clark of Horncastle wicket keeping

In honour of The Hundred cricket league being launched last season, Horncastle Cricket Club held its own Hundred tournament, raising funds for mental health charity Mind.

Club captain Rob Bee said the idea came about when The Hundred was launched last year, with Trent Rockets beating Manchester Originals in the final game on September 3.

Rob said: "We wanted to pay a Hundred match but thought we could go one better and hold a tournament for people to come down and enjoy over the bank holiday, and it all snowballed from there.”

Horncastle Cricket Club's Hundred team, with 'mascots' Rory and Elsie Bee (centre).

The Hundred is a brand new format of cricket, which was launched in 2021, and sees 100 balls bowled per innings and whoever scores the most runs in those 100 overs wins.

Alford, Revesby and a guest 11 team – made up of a combination of players from across the area and ex players – joined in the tournament, with the guest 11 beating Revesby and Horncastle’s team beat Alford to reach the finals.

The guest 11 team eventually went on to win the tournament, in part thanks to their opening batsman hitting an astonishing seven sixes during his innings.

"It was a great event,” Rob said, “The players were really getting into it and sixes were being hit all over the place, it was great.”

Last year, the cricket club raised more than £1,200 for Cancer Research UK, last season’s chosen charity, taking part in a sponsored walk from Lincoln Cathedral to the cricket club, following a route totalling just over 26 miles, and this year’s charity was Mind.

The Hundred event raised £400 for Mind through their fundraising raffle and the players’ match fees, with some leftover for club funds.

Rob said they were really pleased with how it went:

"We decided that this year’s chosen charity would be Mind, as many people have struggled with their mental health since Covid-19 and we wanted to do something similar to raise money for them.

"We wore their logo on our shirts when we did our tour of Norfolk and we’re really pleased we raised so much for them.”