A Gloucestershire cricket club is hosting an international match with a life-saving difference.
The England and Wales Transplant Cricket Team is a side consisting of cricketers who have received life-saving organ, tissue and stem cell transplants.
The match is being played on Sunday, June 25, from 10am at Rockhampton Cricket Club, near Berkeley, against a team from the NHS Blood and Transplant made up of players from different hospital trusts involved in organ donation.
Transplant team captain Adam Phillips from Berkshire, who had kidney transplants in 1996 and 2012, said: “We are all celebrating our second innings in life. This match is a reminder of the generosity of our donors – be they family, friends or complete strangers who offer us a new chance by helping to give us the greatest gift – the gift of life.”
Transplant team manager Jo Windridge added: “This will be the team’s first fixture since the Covid pandemic. It means a great deal to us to play this fixture – it’s a fantastic way for us to show the amazing team of organ donation specialists and how they work to enable transplant recipients to lead a healthy and active life post transplant.”
Lewis Daniels, aged 24, from Haxey in Lincolnshire, is a member of the team. He received a kidney from his mother as a living donor in 2019.
He said: “Playing in our first match after Covid is going to be a childhood dream in somewhat bizarre circumstances – to actually play cricket for my country.”
The match is being sponsored by Stagecoach and Hampshire Hospitals and entry is free.
Match organiser George Brann-Liff, a specialist organ donation nurse in Hampshire, said: “The aim of the game is to highlight to the public how truly life changing organ donation and transplantation can be.”
The England and Wales Transplant Team includes the following cricketers:
Adam Phillips (Captain) – Kidney Transplant 1996 & 2012 (Berkshire)
Adam Newell – Kidney Transplant 2018 (Lincolnshire)
Chris Stabler – Kidney Transplant 2017 (Middlesex)
Ian Ward – Liver Transplant 2017 (Warwickshire)
Lewis Daniels- Kidney Transplant 2019 (Lincolnshire)
Nigel Goodger – Liver Transplant 2012 (Solihull)
Paul Stairs – Kidney Transplant 2010 (Buckinghamshire)
Robin Watson – Kidney Transplant 2011 (Gloucestershire)
Steven Harrison – Kidney Transplant 2016 (Cheshire)
Attendance at the match is free and can be registered via the following link: