This years Hope for Kids cricket carnival was the most successful event we’ve ever held as a service group! Despite only having been introduced to the service this year, I was monumentally excited to get the opportunity to setup, manage and even take part in the event. The event was held on the 22nd of January in the school field. The competition involved three teams, the Pullers (blue), the Hoikers (red) and the Nudgers (white) battling it out in a three round contest, where each team played against each other and the two best played for the final. The teams consisted of teachers, parents, students and service workers with an equal number of experienced and amateur players divided between the teams. Although my team, the hoikers, came up short in the final against the nudgers, we did manage to win both round 1 and round 2 games. I even got the opportunity to fill out the scorecard while the other teams were playing. This was the most challenging scorecard i’ve ever recorded, due to the combination of not knowing the names of the players and the complexity of synchronizing the number of overs, individual scores and wickets.

The atmosphere and crowd were tremendous, with great energy from the crowd lifting the players to perform on the pitch, all the while continuing to purchase from the stalls and donating money for the cause. In addition to this, we managed to raise over 240 thousand rupees from ticket, king coconut and ice-cream sales, more than double what the service managed the previous year. Overall, it was a very successful event filled with fun and satisfaction from both the players and the crowd.