In conversation with... Greenwich Millennium Village Cricket Club

Can you tell us more about the cricket club? 

Vinayak says: 'The cricket club was established in 2017. Initially, we used to play in Southern Park as a team together and, as we got to know each other more, we decided to come together and start playing some friendly cricket with other teams.’

Are all your members residents of GMV?

Most of them are residents except on or two, who previously lived at Greenwich Millennium Village and have moves house since, but 99% are residents.

How has the cricket club contributed to the community feel at GMV?

I think it’s a quite an important part of it, because of we are playing together and it’s a great way for people to get to know each other, so it drives community unity.

There’s a sense of togetherness – if anyone needs help outside of playing cricket, we’re all there to help people out or offer advice. It also gives us a chance to talk about things happening in the local community. I’ve made some great friends from the club.

What’s the best thing about being part of the club?

I think the best thing is that we are getting to know all our neighbours here. We are basically in touch with them. And the other thing is that it's bringing the community together and we spend time together. And also obviously there is the physical exercise that happens along with it.

How many members do you have?

So currently, we have around 80 people. So it's a big number of people. Actively, around 50-60 people come to play, but there are 80 people in our group. A few other people run the cricket club alongside me including Naveen Sunkada, Mohit Khandelwal, Shailendra Chaudhari, Prashant Yewale, Yusuf Thanawala and Manish Desai.

Who can join?

So far, we haven't put any restrictions in place, it's open for everyone. But we have never gone outside of Greenwich Millennium Village, because we always have people from here and there is no plan to change that.

When and where do you train / play?

Our season starts at the end of April and continues to the end of September - that's in line with the all other cricket clubs. We have booked matches across all the Kent cricket clubs – basically all the clubs which are between 30 to 40 minutes drive. We have every Sunday booked from 14th April until 29th September.

The fixtures are available online here: https://gmvcc.play-cricket.com/home, along with all our results from the season.

Do you have any social activities that you take part in as club members outside of training and playing?

We are involved in lots of other activities, because this club is very active. We organise the Holi celebration - most of the cricket players are part of that event committee. We are actively involved in arranging the Diwali event for residents towards the end of the year too. In addition, we manage multiple badminton clubs which organise matches for residents of GMV in St Mary Magdalene School and nearby centres.

How can people find out more?

The best bet is to visit the website: https://gmvcc.play-cricket.com/home, so you can find out who we are playing and when.