Mitchell Starc will support The Chappell Foundation and join some of Australia’s top sports heroes in sleeping on the hallowed turf of the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) for an entirely new reason next month, as they look to raise funds for youth homelessness. The event on August 5, will coincide with the start of Homelessness Week.

Fittingly for the SCG venue, Australia’s cricketers will form a healthy contingent of participants, including Greg Chappell, his brother Trevor, former women’s captain Lisa Sthalekar, Moises Henriques, plus Mitch and his wife Alyssa Healy, who is also an ambassador for The Chappell Foundation.

The 2011 census found around 44,000 young people were homeless every night in Australia, a combination of those sleeping rough, couch surfing or staying in unsuitable accommodation, while a 2017 Mission Australia Report found mental health was a major contributing factor to youth homelessness.

Greg Chappell said his foundation has raised around $400,000 supporting the youth homelessness issue in recent years, helping in particular a group in Armidale called Backtrack. Chappell hoped the first year of the SCG sleepout would substantially raise that figure.

Mitch was happy to support the sleepout event.

“I definitely haven’t slept out on the SCG before, but I’ve been out there on a few cold nights playing,” he laughed.

“Youth homelessness is a growing issue. There’s over 44,000 young Australians homeless which is an alarming statistic. It’s the least we can do. There’s a lot of cricketers supporting this great initiative by The Chappell Foundation and it’s just something small we can do, to help raise awareness for this important issue,” said Mitch.