International Cricket program

In 1989 Adam Gilchrist was awarded the Big Brother Cricket Scholarship to play cricket in England for five months. This opportunity enabled the first major steps in the development of an outstanding cricketer, and several years later Adam asked his father Stan to set up a program to replicate that experience.

Richmond Cricket Club, the club which had hosted Adam, happily accepted the challenge of accepting another young player from Australia and the program was launched.

The first recipient was Reece O’Connell from Bunbury in Western Australia in 2004. He was followed subsequent years by Ben Way (2005). For a full list, click here. In 2009 we were able to fund two players, meaning we needed to establish a connection with another English cricket club. Albans St Mary’s obliged, starting a strong partnership with the Gilchrist family.

The following year it was necessary to set up yet another connection as we sent Sammy-Jo Johnson,  our first female player, to Cumbria. Later Georgia Redmayne and other young ladies continued what was to become a major theme of the program – sending females to play cricket in the UK. In later years our placements for females were mostly in Ireland.

So this is a program designed to allow young male or female country cricketers who have not been successful at selections or experiences in the metropolitan pathways to spend one season playing cricket in an overseas cricket competition to develop both their cricketing ability and their maturity. Placements will usually be in England or Ireland.

Sponsored by

Apply Now

Eligibility criteria

  1. Age: Players are to be aged not less than 18 years of age as at 31st January in the year of the program.
  2. Residency: Players must be permanent residents of Australia.
  3. Playing qualification: Players must not have played for any Metropolitan-based competition, whether “Under-age” or open age for more than one full season except in Tasmania, where the applicants must have begun their cricket in a non-metropolitan region before moving to a metropolitan region.
  4. Coaching Qualification: Players must attain at least a Level 1 cricket coaching accreditation through the National Coaching Accreditation Scheme.
  5. Responsibilities of Players Selected – Click Here

Selection

  1. Nomination: Young cricketers are invited to apply through both national advertisement and by promotions through state cricket bodies.
  2. Selection: will be completed by the Gilchrist Foundation Cricket Committee.

Closing Date

For each year will be the last Friday in December of the year before the scholarship.

Benefits

Players will receive:

  1. Economy class return Air Fare
  2. Accommodation for the duration of the period spent overseas, in exchange for small periods of work as agreed with the Hosting Cricket Club
  3. All playing fees and sundry costs for the duration of the scholarship
  4. A small allowance for the duration of the scholarship.
  5. To see what the Hosting Club provides, Click Here