The tale of a cricket-mad 10-year-old and a fundraising bowlathon

LV= INSURANCE PRIDE OF CRICKET AWARDS 2021: Henry came up with the idea of a bowlathon after learning about charity at school, and did the promotional work before bowling for 100 straight minutes in the Corsham nets for three consecutive days

Henry Dummott made the most of lockdown boredom by raising £2,000 to help his Wiltshire cricket club with refurbishment work: not bad for a 10-year-old.

Henry, who has since turned 11, is the winner of the inaugural LV= Insurance Young Hero award for his fundraising efforts around Easter.

“What’s very significant about it is that we’ve been telling him how proud we are but this really validates it,” his aunt, Belle Mayo, said. “Because your family are always going to say nice things to you, aren’t they? If you’re 10, particularly.”

Henry is cricket-mad, and has been since being introduced to the game seven years ago.

“He is a lovely boy. He is really full of fun and has a great sense of humour,” Belle said.

“When he was about four, my sister gave him a cricket bat… and that just started his love for it.

^{Henry Dummott is the LV= Insurance Young Hero for 2021}

“He doesn’t think it’s ever too cold to play cricket, he doesn’t like playing in the rain but I think those are the only conditions unsuitable for him. He tried to play in the snow but found the ball didn’t bounce.

“He’s even had us out there on New Year’s Day playing cricket.

“Obviously being a professional cricket player is his No.1 goal in life, probably his only goal in life. I don’t think he could ever play enough of it.”

Henry came up with the idea of a sponsored bowlathon after learning about altruism and charity at school, and did all the promotional groundwork himself before bowling unchanged for 100 minutes in the Corsham Cricket Club nets on three consecutive days.

“He produced fliers, went around all the neighbours,” said Belle.

“He was exhausted at the end of it, he said his shoulder ached a little bit, but he’d raised over £2,000.

“People were impressed that he was 10 and that he was giving up his time to do it, and it was his idea.

“He originally thought he would raise £150.”

Corsham made sure to say thank you for Henry’s efforts, and gave him a certificate to mark his achievements.

“He feels really quite a big part of his cricket club now,” said Belle.

Henry learned of his shortlisting for the Pride of Cricket Awards the day before his 11th birthday.

“His eyes went like saucers,” said Belle. “He didn’t really know what to say.

“He hasn’t even asked me if there is a physical prize or a trophy or anything. He’s not interested in that at all.”

LV= Insurance are the new title sponsor of the Pride of Cricket Awards. For more information visit LV.com/gi/cricket