Ebony-Jewel Rainford-Brent MBE

Winner of the Vodafone Women in Sports Innovation Award

Ebony has been a ground-breaker in women’s cricket in so many ways – as the first Black woman to play for England, as leader of the ACE Programme, which has engaged over 10,000 Black teenagers, as chair of the English Cricket Board’s African-Caribbean Engagement Programme and on the England and Wales Cricket Board where she plays a key role in shaping the future of the game at national level. But she describes her discovery of cricket as a football-loving ten year old, as a “bit of pot luck”.

“When a guy came to my school because he wanted state schools to have access to cricket, I was persuaded to give it a try and from the moment I hit the first ball I was obsessed. I played with a group at Stockwell Park School and I was the only girl with fifty boys. I was talent-scouted at a tournament where they had to have a girl on the team in order to enter. I was on a pathway from that point – by 12 I was in the junior Surrey team – but it wasn’t always easy. There weren’t people from my background and I often had to deal with comments like “are you dirty because your skin’s that colour?” My mum used to say to me “if you enjoy the sport, you can’t let these things get in the way”, so I didn’t. And I’m grateful that I stayed. It also made me realise that if I didn’t speak up and do something about changing how things were in the sport, nothing would happen. I would have preferred not to, and finding my voice wasn’t easy. But I thought about the people who’d gone before me in history, like the suffragettes and Martin Luther King, whose work had benefitted me, and I believe you have to take the baton and pass it on for the sake of the next generation. Now I see change happening and from board to grass-roots level conversations are taking place around accessibility, race, diversity and women that weren’t before. And not just in cricket but across all sports. I don’t think we’ve cracked it by any means but I’ve gone from hopeless to hopeful.”

Who are the women who have inspired you?

Growing up Denise Lewis was my role model. The athlete and the woman I wanted to be. She came from a humble background, achieved so much and spoke with such energy and power. I’m so lucky that she’s actually become an amazing friend.

The other one is Jenny Wostrack, the woman who first scouted me. She helped and supported me in so many ways and did so much fighting on my behalf behind the scenes. Having someone who made me feel seen, looked after and cared for and also taught me how to do that for others, changed my life.

What advice would you give your younger self?

That confidence is actually irrelevant. Courage is more important. It’s about taking the step, or leap towards what you want, pushing past your fears and doing what your intuition is asking you to. If I had waited to do things in my life until I felt confident, I probably wouldn’t have done 80% of what I have.

What’s one thing you can’t live without?

That would definitely be my drum kit. The amount of stress relief it gives me is incredible. Just 20 minutes playing is the best release of tension I know. It gives me pure joy and makes any stress and worry just disappear.

What’s something about you that would surprise people to know?

I’m actually a chemist. I studied chemistry, did a Masters and was going to do a PhD, but cricket took off so I left my science behind. So if I hadn’t been Ebony in cricket whites, I would have been Ebony in a white lab coat!