Burnley's England cricket ace James Anderson bowls over Maasai Warriors (From Burnley and Pendle Citizen)

Burnley's England cricket ace James Anderson bowls over Maasai Warriors

2:14pm Thursday 29th November 2012 in News

ENGLAND fast bowler James Anderson has revealed a second career – as a film-maker producing a documentary about the Maasai Warrior cricket team.

The film, Warrior, is set to tell the story of a group of Kenyan Maasai tribesmen using cricket and the unity of sport to battle HIV and fight for women’s rights.

Anderson, who grew up in Burnley and early in his career played int he Lancashire League, took a break after England’s triumph in the Second Test against India in Mumbai to speak about Warrior and his role in the film.

He said: “Hopefully cricket can help in a small way, draw attention to the issues they have such as AIDS and domestic abuse.

“The players tour schools and educate through cricket and have recently been getting girls to start playing too.”

Dressed in their signature colourful robes, instead of the traditional cricket whites, the warriors add zing to the game by occasionally screaming war cries when hitting or throwing the ball.

The documentary will cover their work in Kenya, where they tour schools and coach cricket along with wider health education.

It will also examine the groups efforts to raise enough funds to tour England in the summer of 2013.

The film is due to be broadcast in September 2013. Anderson said he had a long standing interest in film making and didn’t rule out further work in the field.

“I’m the wrong side of 30 now so it’s time to start thinking about things to do after retirement from cricket,” he said.