England cricketers to debate at Cranleigh

England cricketers past and present will form a distinguished panel at a forthcoming MCC Spirit of Cricket event, sponsored by Artemis Investment Management and being held at Cranleigh School, Surrey, on Monday 21st April.

Former Test captain Chris Cowdrey will host an evening of lively debate and will be joined by England spin bowler Monty Panesar, Middlesex captain Ed Smith and the National Selector, Geoff Miller, in discussing the spirit of cricket and issues affecting the game today.

The MCC Spirit of Cricket evening at Cranleigh is a spin-off of the hugely popular annual Cowdrey Lecture (first delivered by Richie Benaud in 2001) - an event that has quickly established itself as an important date in the cricket calendar.

The invited audience will be comprised of young school and club cricketers and their coaches. In what promises to be an entertaining evening, the host, Chris Cowdrey, said:

"I'm proud of my father's achievement, along with Ted Dexter, of setting out a vision for the spirit of cricket. It was terrific for this to become part of the Laws of Cricket but the challenge now is to make this relevant to cricketers of the future. Cranleigh School has set us the challenge of having a fun evening which also gets to grips with some of the big questions facing the game today. At such a busy time of the cricketing year, we are extremely grateful to Monty, Ed and Geoff for giving up their time to debate these issues with us, and to Artemis Investment Management for sponsoring the event."

MCC Secretary & Chief Executive, Keith Bradshaw, said: "MCC retains a passionate commitment to promoting the spirit of cricket. The Cowdrey Lecture serves an important function in discussing the cricketing issues of the day and the evening at Cranleigh School promises to be an exciting extension of this. I am particularly pleased that the event will be held in the early season and will be attended by a young audience. With such an impressive panel, I'm sure that the topics raised will inspire each young cricketer as they approach the beginning of their own cricket season."

Managing Director of Artemis Fund Managers, Dick Turpin, said: "Artemis is delighted to support such an important venture. The Spirit of Cricket must play a central part in the future of the game worldwide".

Guy Waller, Headmaster of Cranleigh School, said: "We are thrilled to be hosting this event. Those of us involved in Schools' cricket like to think that we play the game in the best possible spirit but it is never something to be complacent about. "