Arthur’s Story

At a Chance to Shine Street session in Streatham, there’s one cricketer who stands out. Arthur, aged 13, shows one of his peers the best way to hold a bat, and offers them some encouragement. “He encourages everybody to have a real good go at every session,” explains one of his Chance to Shine coaches, Josh Ashbery.

But this wasn’t always the case for Arthur, who has autism and ADHD, and finds social settings challenging.

His mum, Zoe, says that before cricket, Arthur played football, but didn’t enjoy the contact, so was often left feeling isolated playing in goal. But everything changed when Eoin Morgan visited his school, Kings Avenue, for a Chance to Shine session in May 2024.

“Eoin was teaching us how to hold a bat properly, how to bowl, how to field,” says Arthur. “It was so fun to meet an England cricketer.”

This was the spark for Arthur, according to Zoe. “He came home from school and said he was going to start playing cricket. He was absolutely over the moon!” Quickly, he was enrolled at Streatham Street Cricket Club, and after starting out shy, slowly started to relish the weekly sessions.

“Arthur wasn’t too sure of what was going on, a bit in his shell,” says Josh, “so to start from that shy, reserved individual to one now where he’s confident and others are looking up to him, I think that’s a great cricketing journey already.”

The improvement has been rapid since he joined, becoming one of the club’s best players. He’s developed a fantastic bowling action, but perhaps more importantly, he’s become a leader and role model for younger participants.

Oscar, aged 9, has only known Arthur for a few months, but already sees him as a close friend. “Me and Arthur always play together for training,” he explains. “We haven’t even known each other that long, but I can tell we’re going to be really good friends.”

Now, Arthur’s ambitions are further afield, and he hopes to play cricket for Surrey and maybe England one day. “I’d like to join a club first and then go forward and do more trials and try and get into Surrey,” he says.

Although he didn’t quite make the team for one of Surrey’s high-performance sides, “his first trial was very impressive,” according to Lucas, Streatham Street Club’s other Chance to Shine coach. “His skills have grown immensely. It’s unbelievable to see the progress.”

And Zoe added: “I’m so proud that he went to that trial. There were so many children there he didn’t know, it was out of his comfort zone, but he went and did it.”

She credits plenty of Arthur’s progress to both coaches, who have been with him since the start. “I don’t think Arthur would have developed without Lucas and Josh. They’re very reassuring, I’m not sure he’d come if they weren’t here.”

Although he’s been nurtured brilliantly by his coaches, it’s Arthur who’s taken to cricket so well, and become such a positive influence at his club.

As Josh said, “he should be very proud of himself.”