Hello,

My name is Billy Taylor and I am currently living in Bratislava in Slovakia, I am from the UK originally but moved to Slovakia to be with my partner who is pregnant and she wants to be with and close to her family during this time,

Since being here I have had some time on my hands, I was watching the Ashes and thought to myself I wonder if they play Cricket here in Slovakia, so I started a little research and found out that cricket is almost unheard of here, they have one team playing in the center of Slovakia (not often) and a national side that have played just a hand full of games but are not yet approved by the ICC. As I am in Bratislava the capital city I thought I would go out and see if there was any interest for the sport here and if there is try to create a team here that can join tournaments in neighboring countries like Austria and Czech Republic and maybe even travel to the UK and other destinations.

To my surprise there actually was a very good response and I have over 35 people wanting to start playing the sport and who are spreading the word to others to get involved. We have a people from all different races and ages that have shown interest from lads who have played from a young age in India to men and children from Slovakia who have never bowled a ball or held a cricket bat.

This made me want to do all I can to help them with game time and most of all training.

I have a bowling machine on its way over from the UK also my own bat, pads, gloves etc but I do not have the funds available to please and provide for every body, and Buying cricket training equipment is almost impossible here in Slovakia.

I really would love us to be able to get a set of nets/batting cage. I have had a meeting and have been given permission on a piece of land where we can set up nets to get as many people involved as possible, it belongs to part of a restaurant and a school,

Part of the terms they gave me was

They would let me use the area free of charge if I use the restaurant after practice sessions for drinks which is fine but also if any students from the school would like to get involved with cricket they can come over and get lessons and use the nets for free,

Which is perfect and exactly what I want as the aim is to get more people in Slovakia knowing and playing the sport so we would welcome the students and really hope they learn and love cricket and would like to join Bratislava's first team.

Next step is the clean up of the area, then it will be actually trying to get the nets/cage purchased and set up for people so we could all make use of the bowling machine and grow in confidence then move this into games until we have a strong side that we can call "Bratislava Cricket Club" and start to play other teams competitively.

If anyone would be willing to help us either with a donation towards the nets , equipment and lessons or any thing you think could help us grow as a club and become a side that is no longer just a group of lads a Sunday morning using tennis balls in a park that is covered with trees, but a strong side that can develop and grow and play competitively. even if it was a old ball, or bat, we would appreciate anything to get us started, I would be more than happy to cover postage.

The next aim for me after setting this up in Bratislava would be to hope it catches the attention of others and word of mouth spreads it right across Slovakia and we can start teams from all across the country and introduce this sport nation wide.

Thank you so much for your time and for reading this message, Hopefully we will be on the map soon.