Эбони Рейнфорд-Брент: от первой темнокожей крикетистки Англии до спортивного руководителя и комментатора.

English cricketer

Ebony Jewel Cora Lee Camellia Rosamond Rainford Brent (born 31 December 1983) is an English former cricketer who is now a commentator and Director of Women's Cricket at Surrey. She was the first black woman to play for England. She was also captain of the Surrey women's team. Rainford Brent was a member of the England team that won the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup in Australia. England beat New Zealand by 4 wickets in the final held at North Sydney Oval on 22 March 2009. In the three months following their World Cup win, the team went on to win the final of the 2009 Women's World Twenty20 (again beating New Zealand in the final), win the NatWest One Day series 4–0 against Australia, and retain the Women's Ashes. After retiring from cricket, Rainford Brent has gone on to become a sporting executive, a pundit for the BBC's flagship radio programme Test Match Special (she is one of the first female expert summarisers to commentate on men's international cricket matches), and a motivational speaker. In January 2015, Rainford Brent returned to Surrey after being appointed their first Director of Women's Cricket. Since 2017, Rainford Brent has hosted a podcast, The Art of Success. In 2020 she became a part of the Sky Sports cricket commentary team.

Born on New Year's Eve in 1983 at St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, Greater London, Rainford Brent was brought up in Herne Hill, southeast London. She was the youngest of four children; being the only girl, she was named after all her grandmothers and great grandmothers, which led to her being called Ebony Jewel Cora Lee Camellia Rosamond Rainford Brent to appease everyone. Her introduction to cricket came through the charity Cricket for Change, which visited her primary school when she was aged 9. She later attended the Grey Coat Hospital school in Westminster. Her injuries forced her to take a year out from her studies at University College London (UCL), and NHS doctors advised her to give up playing any form of sport.

Rainford Brent played for Surrey throughout her playing career, from the under 11s to the senior team. She was captain of the Surrey Women's cricket team, which in 2011 gained promotion to the top flight of domestic women's cricket – the LV County Championship Division One. As well as being a member of the England Women's World Cup winning team, her international playing career highlights include, winning Player of the Match against the West Indies in 2009, with a career best 72 not out. She was the first woman cricketer to score three consecutive ducks in WT20I history. She is a fully qualified cricket coach, tutor trainer and a Master Practitioner of neuro linguistic programming (NLP).

Rainford Brent has carried out numerous media engagements over the years. In addition to being a match host for Surrey County Cricket men's games, she has appeared as a guest presenter on BBC Newsround; also as an occasional expert and pundit on Sky Sports and BBC Breakfast. She has written numerous blogs and articles for BBC Sport, Cricket World and others. In 2012, she began to appear on BBC radio's Test Match Special (TMS). Initially summarising women's games, she later also contributed to domestic men's matches and has since appeared as a TMS summariser for several men's international matches. In November 2014, it was announced that Rainford Brent would be going to the men's 2015 Cricket World Cup as one of the team of expert summarisers for TMS. In October 2016, she worked for the TMS team in both the first and second Tests (of a two match series) between Bangladesh and England, in Chittagong and Dhaka. In 2020 she joined the Sky Sports cricket commentary team, however she has also been added as a TMS summariser for the Third Test between England and Pakistan from 21 August 2020.

During her playing career, Rainford Brent was appointed as one of the first ever Chance to Shine Coaching ambassadors: delivering cricket and motivational talks to state schools and clubs throughout England and Wales. In 2011, Rainford Brent began work as a cricket executive for the charity Lord's Taverners. She eventually became Cricket programmes manager for the charity, developing national programmes to support disadvantaged and disabled young people to access sport. In 2013, Rainford Brent was appointed as a Trustee of the England and Wales Cricket Board Trust (EWCT). In 2014, Rainford Brent was appointed as the first Director for Surrey Women's Cricket. The role involves working with Academy Director, Gareth Townsend, and the Performance Department advising on all Women's cricket played at the club. She also works with the Surrey Cricket Board on the development of the Women's game and strategies to increase participation at all levels. In this role, she was involved in the organisation of a women's Twenty20 match between Surrey and Middlesex in May 2015. Rainford Brent, in discussing the event, suggested that the game would be the inaugural match in what was intended to become an annual tournament. In January 2020 she launched Surrey's African Caribbean Engagement (ACE) programme, aimed at encouraging black teenagers into cricket. By January 2023 it had reached 10,000 children with 141 academy scholars training twice a week. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to cricket and charity. In 2023 Rainford Brent was appointed to the ECB Board as a Cricket Non executive Director. Also in 2023, she was awarded an honorary degree by Loughborough University in recognition of her contribution to cricket, TV and radio broadcasting, and her work championing diversity in sport. Rainford Brent is a Beyond Sport Ambassador.