Glamorgan quartet support stricken Derrick Glamorgan players past and present, Hugh Morris, Ian Thomas, Mike Powell and Mark Wallace, have rallied to support their stricken former county coach John Derrick. Derrick, 53, played for Glamorgan from 1983 to 1991 and then moved into coaching, initially in Glamorgan’s youth sides but then as first team coach in a spell in which the county won National League titles in 2002 and 2004. He is currently performance manager of the Cricket Board of Wales, with responsibility for all the national age group teams but was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour, which required surgery, and he is currently receiving treatment. The Professional Cricketers’ Association Professional Cricketers’ Trust, generously supported by Royal London, has already helped Derrick by making his living arrangements more comfortable. But former England opening batsman Morris, now Glamorgan’s chief executive, Thomas, the PCA’s National Personal Development Manager, Powell, who now works as an insurance broker, and Wallace, the current Glamorgan wicketkeeper and PCA Chairman, have shown great initiative by organising their own fund-raising activities to support their former team-mate and coach which will supplement that provided by the PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust.. The Glamorgan quartet have organised a dinner at the SSE SWALEC on December 8 where Geoff Miller, the former England off-spinner and National Selector, will be the guest speaker and he is giving his services free of charge. A JustGiving page has also been set up so that those who cannot attend the dinner can donate with all proceeds going towards helping Derrick. ” John has been my coach since I was ten. He was a bit of father figure throughout my career. If it wasn’t for John I would definitely not have played first-class cricket, so I owe my career to him,” Powell said. ” We said that we would raise as much our end to marry up with what the PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust was doing. We got our heads together and decided to do a dinner for John. ” John has been involved in cricket for more than 35 years so it is a very easy phone call for us to make asking people to support him. ” The response has been phenomenal. Within two weeks we had sold 300 people for the dinner and we are looking to get towards 400. ” The JustGiving page has only been going a week and we are already up to £ 2,000. The response for auction prizes, whether it is dinners with British Lions rugby players or four balls at great golf courses, everyone has dug in and wished us good luck. ” It’s been very humbling to see Welsh cricket pulling in tight when we have needed it. Cricket clubs around Glamorgan have been phenomenal. A lot of them have taken a table at the dinner, which shows how much John is loved in this part of the world.” Anyone who wishes to book a ticket for the dinner should contact Holly Littleton at Glamorgan CCC on 02920 419320 or holly.littleton@glamorgancricket.co.uk Donations can be made online at: www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/pcabenevolent/JohnDerrickDinner or by sending cheques to Glamorgan CCC made payable to the ‘PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust’ and marked ‘for John Derrick’. The Professional Cricketers’ Trust is part of the PCA’s commitment to helping current and former players and their dependants in times of hardship and upheaval or to readjust to the world beyond the game. The Fund also supports players and their dependants who might be in need of a helping hand with medical advice, a much-needed operation or those who require specialist advice, care or assistance. {{ak_sharing}}
