From All stars to Old Trafford - Cargill's Gift to the Next Generation of Urmston Cricket

There is a moment, somewhere between a child picking up a bat for the very first time and that same child walking out to represent their club on a Saturday afternoon, where a cricket club becomes something more than a sports ground. It becomes a place that shapes people.

At Urmston Cricket Club, that journey begins on a Friday evening.

The club's All stars programme - the England and Wales Cricket Board's introduction to the game for boys and girls aged five to eight - has been running at Urmston for years, and the numbers tell their own story. Around 500 children have now completed the course at the club. That is 500 children who arrived not knowing how to hold a bat, and left with something that could last a lifetime.

The club does not have to look far for proof of what is possible. Arav Shetty, who picked up a bat at Urmston Cricket Club at the age of six, is now a professional cricketer at Lancashire. The off-spin bowling all-rounder made his first-team debut across all three formats during the second half of 2025, and signed a professional contract at Emirates Old Trafford at the start of 2026. He is twenty-one years old. He started here.

That journey - from a six-year-old on a Friday evening to a professional at one of England's great cricket counties - is the story Urmston Cricket Club is quietly, proudly telling every season.

Which is exactly why a donation like Cargill's matters so much.

The global food and agriculture company, through its community giving programme Cargill Cares, has donated a collection of junior coaching equipment to the club for this season. Batting tees, fielding practice bats, junior wicket-keeping gear, plastic stump sets, ramps, twelve 'incrediballs' (https://incrediballs.com/) for the Under 10s, and a supply of tennis balls will all now be used by the youngest members of the Urmston cricketing family.

The gift was made possible by Russ and the Cargill Cares team - and it sits entirely in keeping with how Cargill operates in the communities around it. In the UK, Cargill's employee-led Cargill Cares Councils actively support civic and non-profit organisations in their local areas, working to strengthen the communities in which they have a presence. In Greater Manchester, that commitment has already been felt - through support for Fare Share's regional operations and volunteer work on the River Irwell. The donation to Urmston Cricket Club is another expression of the same values: investing in people, investing in place.

The club is keen to make sure that generosity does not go unacknowledged.

"On behalf of everyone at Urmston Cricket Club, especially our junior section, I want to express our sincere thanks for this generous donation," said Sumeet Ricky Mandell, a proud Urmston parent. "Contributions like these help create opportunities for young players to learn, grow, and fall in love with the game."

At grassroots level, equipment like this is not a luxury. A batting tee properly used can transform a child's technique in a single session. A ramp turns a fielding drill into something that feels like play. These are the small tools that build big cricketers - and for a junior programme operating on a community club budget, donations of this kind make a genuine, tangible difference to what coaches can offer every Friday evening.

For Urmston Cricket Club, the message is simple. Every Allstar who walks through the gate this summer is a potential future first-teamer. Some of them, given time and the right support, might go further than that.

Arav Shetty already has.

Thanks to Cargill, the next generation will have a little more to work with when they get here.

To find out more about the All stars programme at UCC, visit the club website.

Cargill's Gift to the Next Generation of Urmston Cricket