How one county pro took it on himself to help the community in lockdown

LOCKDOWN HEROES: THE WINNERS - PRO HERO: Olly Hannon-Dalby was an influential figure at Edgbaston through the coronavirus pandemic, playing a vital role in Warwickshire's community outreach programmes

Making phone calls to vulnerable members, collecting from foodbanks and sending birthday messages to young cricket fans - Olly Hannon-Dalby is a worthy winner of The Cricketer's Pro Hero in the Lockdown Heroes awards.

The tall seamer was an influential figure at Edgbaston through the coronavirus pandemic, playing a vital role in Warwickshire's community outreach programmes.

Early on in the process he led the way in the club’s #MakeThatCall campaign, which saw players and management unite to call elderly club members and ground stewards who were required to self-isolate in the early stages of lockdown.

“Olly spent 45 minutes on the phone for his first call, which was absolutely phenomenal really – to think that he’d give up that much of his time to chat about all things,” said Tom Rawlings, head of media and communications at the club.

"Most clubs always have somebody who's happy to be part of a photo or help with a membership initiative, but Olly goes above and beyond that"

“He came back to me after he’d made his first ten calls to ask for more numbers. He was regularly coming back and actually saying to me: ‘Are there some more numbers, because I’d love to engage with our members and chat more to them?’”

From early May, Hannon-Dalby then joined furloughed members of staff at the Edgbaston storage and food distribution centre, which has been helping the charity Thrive Together Birmingham in sourcing and deliver non-perishable food to local food banks and community groups.

“We launched a food hub here to support local charities because lockdown was causing problems for the local foodbanks,” Rawlings added.

“We worked with a charity and Olly gave time to be part of those shifts on Fridays and Tuesdays. Friday was for collections and counting, Tuesday was for repackaging. He threw himself into those sessions.

“We would normally send birthday cards for our junior members, but we started doing video messages instead. Olly came forward and did that. We spoke to him for various media activities. He could never do enough for us.

“I’ve known for a while how good a bloke Olly is because he’s been here since 2013. He does everything with a smile on his face, no matter whether it’s a good or bad day. Whatever it is, Olly always relishes the oppourtnity to do it.

“I think most clubs always have somebody who’s always happy to be part of a photo or help with a membership initiative, but I’d say that Olly goes above and beyond that.”

Since the county game returned, he has taken his off-field form onto the pitch. Nationwide, only Simon Harmer has taken more Bob Willis Trophy wickets than Hannon-Dalby, whose 18 included career-best figures of 6 for 33 against Gloucestershire. In the second innings of that game, he added a further six-wicket haul, before taking four wickets against Somerset in a draw at Edgbaston.

Olly's was one of dozens of stories of kindness, compassion and creativity during lockdown submitted to The Cricketer as part of the Lockdown Heroes project. You can read about every Pro Hero nominee by clicking here