The Cricket Association of Bengal will hold the ‘Sir Frank Worrell Day’ on its Foundation Day tomorrow at Eden Gardens only with the certificates being signed by Bengal legend Dilip Doshi.
The Foundation Day of CAB is not merely a date. It forever stands with the uplifting spirit of cricket and every ounce of sportsmanship that it oozes. The act of benevolence shown by Sir Frank Worrell in 1962 in organising a blood donation camp that ultimately saved the life of Indian touring team’s skipper Nari Contractor, has never been forgotten.
Since 1981, it was decided to bond the association’s foundation day with a blood donation camp to immortalise the act of sportsmanship and benignity of Sir Worrell by calling it ‘Sir Frank Worrell Day”. The same has continued uninterrupted from then on.
The pandemic had forced the hand of CAB to defer the blood donation camp this year as informed earlier and break this tradition as Covid protocols demanded the same. But as the new government notification on January 31, 2022 with No: 753/XXII-ISS/2M22/2020 had come with new guidelines, the CAB decided not to waste any time and keep up the tradition of blood donation on its Foundation Day.
“Preparations are being made on war footing and maintaining all Covid protocols to organise the camp in the safest possible manner maintaining in letter and spirit the demands of the new normal times. We urge the cricket lovers to come and donate blood like every year and salute the gift of life which the day stands for,” said Avishek Dalmiya, President, the Cricket Association of Bengal.
“We had requested Sri Dilip Doshi to sign the certificates to which he has gladly agreed,” said Mr Dalmiya.
The blood donation camp will commence like always from 9am and continue till 6pm. The blood donation camps in the districts could not be arranged at such a short notice. But it shall be done in the befitting manner at a later date.