ASTWOOD Bank Cricket Club will rename its ground in memory of former player Josh Baker.
The Redditch club’s home will be known as the ‘Josh Baker Oval’ in a permanent tribute to the 20-year-old on June 27.
And the club will mark the occasion with a T20 game between a Josh Baker invitational team and Worcestershire CCC at Astwood Bank to raise cash for the JB33 Foundation.
Josh died suddenly in May last year.
The popular left-arm spinner first played cricket for Astwood Bank at the age of seven before later moving to Worcestershire.
He represented England at under-19 level.
Josh’s parents, Paul and Lisa, set-up the JB33 Foundation charity in his memory to support local cricket clubs.
In a statement released by the JB33 Foundation, they said: “We are truly humbled and touched by the offer of Astwood Bank CC to rename the club’s ground at Sambourne Lane in Josh’s memory.
“Josh joined Astwood Bank as a seven-year-old and we, as a family, soon became involved in the club, helping wherever we could.
“Astwood Bank played a huge part in not only Josh’s cricketing education and journey to a professional cricketer but also his development as a human being.
“At 12 years old, Josh became a life member of the club and through his cricketing journey at the club made lifelong friends.
“He always considered himself a ‘Banker’ and would go and watch his mates play whenever he could – evidenced by him watching the first team play just five days before he left us.
“We’ve given a great deal of thought to the name of the ground, neither of us wanted memorial within the name, we want the name to be long lasting and, in time, somewhere we can go and look back fondly on the many happy memories we hold of Josh training and playing on the ground.
“We have decided on the ‘Josh Baker Oval’ – for us this links in with and pays tribute to his time in Australia, it uses all of Josh’s initials JOB and we hope it’s a name the Astwood Bank family approves of and will use moving forward.”
Baker took 70 wickets in 47 appearances for Worcestershire after making his first-class debut for the county in 2021.
Worcestershire retired the number 33 shirt in his memory and awarded life memberships to his parents Paul and Lisa.
