Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers’ Association
Legends partake in classic pub games with a difference
A dart thrown at a five-time Ashes winner’s printed face, a beer mat tower demolition by a former Surrey captain and the Legend’s skipper holding the 100m world record…
It could only be the PCA England Legends Clubhouse Championship made possible by Greene King IPA as the lead sponsor of the team of former international heroes.
At Brentwood CC in Essex, six Legends gathered in the pavilion to go head-to-head in a combination of guess the player, darts, funky quizzes and beer mat castle construction.
With a combined 521 England appearances, 17,019 runs and 245 wickets there was a competitive edge to proceedings as the players were spilt into the three teams of: Paul Nixon and Monty Panesar; Owais Shah and Adam Hollioake; Ian Bell and Stuart Meaker.
Over the next two weeks, the video series will be released on the PCA’s social media channels, the PCA’s website and via a YouTube playlist available here.
Clubhouse Championships: Challenge One – Team Sheet
Watch the Legends players try and guess their team mates from their partner’s description.
Hosted by former England batter Lydia Greenway and the Legends skipper Alex Tudor, the first game called Teamsheet required players to work together to guess as many PCA England Legends players as possible in 60 seconds without saying their name or nickname.
A fun, simple game that could be copied in the clubhouse after a match or during a rain break.
Game two: Turn Back Time, game three: Hot Shot and game four: King of the Castle will be released on Monday 28 August, Thursday 31 August and Monday 4 September respectively.
Turn Back Time provided some great entertainment as some players excelled in answering the question before the one they were asked and others found it almost impossible.
Hot Shot allowed the Legends to throw darts at cut outs of each other’s faces on a dart board and answer a question about that player – with some underhand tactics employed by Hollioake and Shah!
Whilst King of the Castle required engineering skill to construct the best castle made of Greene King beer mats with Tudor as adjudicator. Despite Hollioake’s father being an engineer he appeared to be more of a ‘demolition man’.
The Legends programme enables PCA members to not only meet cricket fans all around the country, but to also crucially stay in contact with each other and continue to enjoy the game they love.
PCA England Legends player, Ian Bell, said: “It was great to be involved in such a fun and entertaining series and the games are simple enough to be recreated in any clubhouse around the country.
“Having Greene King IPA as our lead sponsor enables us to raise vital funds for host clubs so they can improve their facilities for the next generation of cricketers but also to put on an amusing and engaging series such as the Clubhouse Championship.”
PCA England Legends captain, Alex Tudor, said: “I really enjoyed hosting the Clubhouse Championship and trying to keep my teammates in order. The series was really fun to film, so thanks to Greene King IPA for making it all possible.
“Hopefully in the future we can film more engaging content like this and continue to help raise important money for the clubs that we play at so they can continue developing their grounds and youth facilities.”
Head of Marketing for Greene King IPA, Emma Hibbert, said: “It’s a continued pleasure to be a sponsor for the PCA and it’s great to see the impact we can have on host clubs and supporting grassroots cricket across the country. We look forward to seeing other clubs getting involved in the fun games.”
The PCA England Legends, sponsored by Greene King IPA, gives recreational clubs and schools a vehicle to raise significant funds for their community. Find out more about the PCA England Legends.
Name of Author: Professional Cricketers Association
The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), founded in 1967 by former England fast bowler Fred Rumsey as the Cricketers’ Association, represents past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales. In the 1970s, the PCA established a standard employment contract and minimum wage for professional cricketers. It also helped create a pension scheme in 1995 and launched the magazine All Out Cricket and the ACE UK Educational Programme in 2002.
