Cricket enthusiasts of all ages gathered at Dulwich College Beijing (DCB) on Sunday, June 12 for the second annual Mike Gatting Cricket Festival.
Mike Gatting was one of the game’s top batsmen during his heyday, captaining England to victory against Australia in the world’s oldest international sporting rivalry, The Ashes, and the great man was there in person to oversee events. (You can read our exclusive interview with Gatting here, and find out what competing at the highest level has taught him about leadership and life.)
Students from DCB, Harrow Beijing, and the Pakistan Embassy College Beijing took part in games and coaching, with Gatting himself offering guidance to the young players. In the afternoon DCB staff competed against parents in a friendly twenty-over game. The staff were victorious, by a generous margin!
The idea behind the Mike Gatting Cricket Festival is to promote the playing and understanding of cricket in East Asia. Although cricket is estimated to be the world’s third most popular sport after soccer and basketball, with over two billion people regularly watching games, it remains virtually unknown in China outside Hong Kong. (The Hong Kong team is ranked 15th in the world.)
The Festival is sponsored by wealth management group Brooks Macdonald, who brought Mike over to Beijing, and support a similar event in Shanghai. beijingkids is proud to be the Festival’s media sponsor.
Photo: Courtesy of DCB
