Z/Yen's very own Ian Harris is the Middlesex trustee of the charity London Cricket Trust (LCT), which is putting cricket back into London’s public spaces. Since 2018, LCT has put over 100 facilities into London’s parks.

It is now looking at models for inner city spaces, so the trust held its 2024 awards evening on a dilapidated patch of concrete on the Collingwood Estate in Whitechapel, which it plans to revive into a multi-use gaming area with cricket at the core.

Z/Yen's very own Michael Mainelli, aka The Rt Hon. The Lord Mayor, Alderman Professor Michael Raymond Mainelli kindly agreed to present the awards this year, alongside Ed Griffiths (see below left).

The Tower Hamlets team (see above right) won an award for activating so much cricket in Victoria Park, the LCT is having to put in yet more facilities to meet the demand for nets and pitches there.

Michael knew that Ian would allude to Michael's baseball-style batting when introducing him. Michael therefore chose to get his revenge in ahead of the event, by bringing a baseball cap, pitching gloves and a baseball with him. He insisted that Ian make the first pitch on the patch planned to be a new kind of pitch for London Cricket Trust.

A little more seriously, Z/Yen has been mucking around with cricket in parks for charitable purposes since the last century. This event was a wonderful way to continue the tradition.