The Johnners Trust Awards Panel met by Zoom on 16 April 2021 and once again we agreed to support Blind Cricket England and Wales (BCEW) both for their annual Development Festival at Leicester University and their flourishing women and girls programme throughout the country. The total funding for both these applications was in excess of £17,000. The ongoing discussion about the future development of visually impaired cricket in England and Wales, involving the ECB, BCEW, the Johnners Trust and the Lord’s Taverners, is still a work in progress.

We also agreed in principle to grant Johnners cricket scholarships to a number of talented young cricketers in need of financial assistance to help them progress in the game. However, because of the pandemic leading to the late start in cricket activities throughout the country, we were advised by David Graveney to defer such awards until later in the year when the element of need would become clearer. The panel did agree to support an application from Cricket East (Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire) for scholarships to be awarded to 15 talented young cricketers (both girls and boys) on the Wicketz programme; these young players cannot afford the cost of kit and travel and have been selected for county age group representative squads.