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18 Community & Events Nottingham Connected mojatu .com 18 ATTENBOROUGH CRICKET EVENT By Nick Allcoat Our event with The Maasai Cricket Warriors at Attenborough Cricket Club was very memorable! Despite the heavy rain for most of the day, the players - young and old - and people from the local community who came along to support the Maasais had a great time. With poor weather forecast for the day ahead, volunteers from the cricket club arrived at the ground at 8.30 in the morning to put up gazebos to provide shelter for later in the day. By the time the Maasais arrived at around 1.00pm the facilities were ready. On arrival, the Warriors played with the young Attenborough cricketers (in the rain with coats on!) before heading into the pavilion to dry off and for a well-earned cricket lunch with the Attenborough players. Around £1000 was raised for the Maasai causes through a raffle, programme sales, a cake stall and a sunglasses sale, together with Owzat Cricket, one of the Cricket Club’s sponsors kindly giving the Maasais lots of new cricket kit. Long Eaton Silver Prize Band performed for those who braved the weather - with the Maasais having a go at conducting and playing as well. The local ITV News team also turned up to report on proceedings. Attenborough CC and its players also donated lots of kit to the Maasais which was very well received. The concern was whether the Warriors would get all of these new ‘goodies’ on the plane back to Kenya! So, despite heavy rain for most of the day, a good time was had by all. The Maasais finally left The Strand late in the afternoon saying that they would like to return next year to play some cricket in the dry at Attenborough’s lovely ground. Attenborough CC also very much look forward to seeing The Maasai Cricket Warriors in action when they next visit the UK. CAVALIERS AND CARRINGTON CRICKET EVENT By Leikeisha Walters This was a Bank Holiday not to be missed! On Monday 27th August, the Cavaliers and Carrington Cricket Club went head-to-head with the Maasai Cricket Warriors for a gripping game. An eventful family day, there was something for everyone - including the children who were keen to interact with the Warriors on the boundary, when not jumping on the bouncy castle! Batting with confidence and scoring some remarkable runs, the Warriors put up a fight against their opposition who closed with a comfortable victory, but, like the sporting gentlemen that they are, (and of course, not forgetting sporting queen and Maasai Cricket Ladies’ Captain, Malawua) the Warriors remained optimistic about the results and congratulated their rivals. “It was fantastic – we had fun and the crowd was full of energy which really spurred us on,” said Memusi Christopher Ole Ng’ais, Maasai Cricket Warriors’ all- rounder and Programme Coordinator. “We would love to return for a re-match next tour, but for now we would like to congratulate Cavaliers on their win!” Following the match, both teams and supporters enjoyed a wonderful fusion of Caribbean, African and Asian cuisines, courtesy of the Club.