ENGLAND’S cricket team has paid tribute to the efforts of one of Teesdale’s superstars during the pandemic.
Key worker heroes were honoured by having their names displayed on the training shirts of the England team ahead of the start of the first Test Match against the West Indies. It was part of the #raisethebat campaign to celebrate people who have been going above and beyond to help others during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fast bowler Mark Wood wore the name of Susan Bainbridge on his shirt.
Ms Bainbridge is a volunteer at the North East Ambulance Service but in her spare time runs Zumba classes for older people throughout Teesdale. During the pandemic, the Middleton-in-Teesdale cricketer has taken her exercise classes online through Zoom to ensure the community can keep active. She is also a parish councillor and has been actively involved in village life for years.
The people named on the shirts were all nominated by their local cricket clubs and include teachers, doctors, nurses, carers and other vital professions. Ms Bainbridge said she had told the England Cricket Board (ECB) that she wasn’t a key worker because she volunteered. But despite this, officials thought her efforts were still worthy of the recognition.
She said “It’s a bit surreal. It’s an honour. I feel quite emotional and I’m not an emotional person. Somebody said that my mother would be proud. She was the volunteer of her time and would light fires and get the coal in for people younger than her when she was 88. When someone said that, it made me cry.”
Each key worker will now receive the shirt bearing their name, signed by the player who wore it, to thank them for the work they’ve been doing. Their names and photos have also been highlighted in Sky and BBC’s coverage and displayed across the ground on the big screens and LED banners. My nephew rang up to say he had seen me on TV – he said ‘you get everywhere’,” Ms Bainbridge joked.
She said she hoped that the shirt would fit her and that she hoped to use it to promote Middleton’s cricket team.
Stand-in England cricket captain Ben Stokes said: “Wearing their names is a real honour for us, and is a small sign of our appreciation for the incredible work they have done. They have truly gone in to bat for us all, and it makes me proud of how the whole cricket family has responded to help us get through these unprecedented times.”
Tom Harrison, ECB chief executive officer, said: “Key workers and volunteers across the country have often put their own lives on the line to keep us safe, and it’s right that we say a small thank you.”
