Hampshire Cricket, based at The Ageas Bowl, is celebrating after scooping three prestigious awards

Hampshire Cricket, based at The Ageas Bowl, picked up three prizes at the ECB’s 2022 Business of Cricket Awards. This included the Community Engagement Campaign of the Year award for their transformational work with Hampshire Hawks City Academy.

The honour, which celebrates the power of cricket to make a positive difference to local communities, was presented to the club for the launch of the Hampshire Hawks City Academy project. This aims to increase the number and diversity of young people playing cricket at all levels across Southampton.

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As a result of the project, which was launched in November 2021, over 3,000 children and young people have engaged in in-school taster sessions across 20 schools. The youngsters involved in the Hampshire Hawks City Academy also played seven competitive matches during the summer, culminating in a fixture on The Ageas Bowl’s main pitch.

Meanwhile, Greig Stewart, head of supporter experience at The Ageas Bowl, also took home the coveted Dinesh Patel MVP award during the event at Emirates Old Trafford. The inaugural award, named in honour of the ECB’s Dinesh Patel who sadly passed away earlier this year, celebrates an individual who goes above and beyond for fans and supporters.

During a decade of service to the club, Greig has strived to make the game as accessible as possible and is responsible for Hampshire Cricket, Hampshire Hawks and Southern Vipers putting supporter and visitor experience at the heart of everything that happens at The Ageas Bowl.

Greig said: ‘There is so much great work happening across the game and for Hampshire and The Ageas Bowl to be recognised within that company at the ECB’s 2022 Business of Cricket Awards is hugely pleasing.

‘The Community Engagement Campaign of the Year award is one we’re particularly proud of; the Hampshire Hawks City Academy has provided transformational opportunities to thousands of young people in Southampton in its first year and we look forward to growing the programme further in 2023.’

The club also won the Digital Campaign of the Year which recognised its social media output. The social media campaign – the club’s most popular on record – gained almost two million impressions, over 500,000 video views and just short of 140,000 engagements.