Northamptonshire County Cricket Club urges its fans and partners alike to get behind the Professional Cricketers’ Trust as this year’s domestic season comes to a close on Vitality Blast Finals Day.
A number of individuals associated with the Club have a close relationship with the Trust, including former bowler Patrick Foster, who publicly revealed his personal struggle with gambling addiction in January 2019.
Foster came close to suicide before being pulled out of the darkness by a helping hand from the Trust, which has given the bowler, who never managed a first team appearance at The County Ground, the support he needs ever since.
Foster now travels across the UK and draws upon his own experiences to deliver gambling harm awareness workshops on behalf of his employer EPIC Risk Management.
The Trust is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping current and former professional cricketers who have fallen on hard times, as well as their immediate families.
Life-changing assistance offered by the charity includes the provision of a Confidential Helpline run by the Sporting Chance Clinic, specialist medical equipment, emotional counselling and more.
The charity has supported a range of PCA members, from former cricketers like Winston Davis, who became paralysed from the waist down after a tragic accident in 1997, right through to current England internationals like Dom Bess, who recently opened up about his mental health struggles in conversation with Marcus Trescothick.
The Trust has offered mental health support to 283 individuals since 2017. That includes a significant spike towards the end of this Covid-19 affected season, which has increased anxiety around financial uncertainty caused by short-term contracts.
Finals Day, which this year takes place on Saturday 3 October at its usual home of Edgbaston Stadium, will see the PCA collaborate with the ECB, Sky Sports and Vitality to showcase the work of the Trust.
Fans watching at home will be able to text to donate to the charity, whilst other fundraising activities will include an online auction and raffle, as well as the sale of merchandise adorned with the Professional Cricketers’ Trust logo.
2020 has seen the charity face a shortfall of up to £250,000, as a result of much of the PCA’s annual events calendar being wiped out. As a result, the need for support from the cricketing community and general public alike has never been greater for the Trust.
Donate to the Professional Cricketers’ Trust.
Text ‘TRUSTCRICKET’ followed by any amount between three and 20 to 70085 to donate between £3 – £20 to the Professional Cricketers’ Trust. For example, ‘TRUSTCRICKET10’ to donate £10.