
Who We Are
Opening Up Cricket was formed in 2014 in response to the death of Sefton Park CC wicket keeper Alex Miller and a will to promote positive mental health in our sport.
Alex took his own life in December 2012 and in the year that followed team mates supported the work of C.A.L.M to pay tribute. This has continued but as the season following his passing came to a close there was a thought to do something lasting and further reaching.

As a result, the organisation was created with the aim of speaking to local cricketers about the experience of losing Alex in the hope that more conversations about this topic could prevent further tragedies.
Now, in 2022, we have delivered over 400 sessions across the United Kingdom and Australia. The desire to get our message to the cricketing community remains as strong as ever.

We are run by unpaid volunteers with help from the National Lottery Community Fund who have provided a grant for sessions costs so that groups can receive them without charge. We also owe a lot of thanks to the support provided by clubs, leagues and partners who have supported in many ways more to allow us to go further than the grant.
Currently we are registered as a Community Interest Company but are now in the process of applying for registered charity status.

Our Team
Trustees

Mark Boyns
Mark founded Opening Up Cricket in 2014 and has since ran the campaign alongside delivering sessions across the country. By profession he is a History & Politics teacher which he does alongside training as a counsellor and still attempting to play at Sefton Park CC.

Kate Cross
Kate has been a long term supporter of Opening Up Cricket and as a trustee wishes to continue raising awareness of mental health in the sport. An England international cricketer, she still has strong ties to her childhood club of Heywood CC.

Simon Howes
Simon was present at the very start of Opening Up Cricket through his role as Merseyside CALMzone manager and has kept involved ever since. He is motivated by aiding us to grow sustainably and reach more cricketers across the country.

Jon Northcroft
Jon was a team mate of Alex at Sefton Park and supported with the founding of Opening Up Cricket. As a football journalist he has become increasingly aware of the importance of mental health in sport and wishes to continue the conversations within cricket.

Mike Rotheram
Mike places the importance of sharing how we feel and showing vulnerability at the hear of his work as a performance psychologist, most recently with the ECB. His desire to promote this led him to join the trustees of Opening Up Cricket, prompted in part by his club Rainhill CC being near neighbours to Mark.
Session Hosts

Mark Boyns
Founder & Campaign Manager

Paul Horton
Former Lancashire and Leicestershire batter

Tara Norris
Southern Vipers and Southern Brave

Charlie Roebuck
Former England Under 19s and Yorkshire batter

Dan Rowe
Mental Health trainer and Andy’s Man Club facilitator

Paul Smith

Tom Flowers
ECB Level 4 coach

Ethan Bamber

Fi Morris
Western Storm and Southern Brave

Tom Alsop
Online Hosts

Tim Macdonald
A former Western Australia & Tasmania bowler now assistant coach for England Women’s, Tim hosts our ‘Hanging Up My Boots’ podcast.

Ollie Runswick
Ollie is a lecturer in Performance Psychology at King’ College London and edits our ‘The Review’ series.