Staffordshire Cricket News

  

 

Threat to continued investment in Cricket in Staffordshire

 

Staffordshire Cricket and Staffordshire County Cricket Club have today written to local MPs to express our joint concern at the threat to continued investment in cricket in Staffordshire. A consultation currently being held by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport into sporting events which should be listed could mean an income loss to cricket in England and Wales of at least £100m during a four year period. With loses of this magnitude the impact would be felt at all levels of the game.

 

Increased investment at all levels of cricket has generated impressive results with year on year increases in participation, focus clubs, volunteers and coaches in Staffordshire. Added to this at a national level the Men's, Women's and Disability teams have won their respective Ashes, and last year the England Women's team won the ICC Women’s World Cup and the ICC Women’s World Twenty20.

 

Staffordshire Cricket’s ability to make significant investments in the grassroots and community cricket in the county and establish a successful performance pathway from schools and clubs through to the county teams and on to the England set up has been in large part due to the fact that ECB has been able to negotiate a fair market price for cricket with a broadcaster who have demonstrated a desire and commitment to our sport. Accepting recommendations by the Davies review to list the home Ashes Test Series and the subsequent loss of income to the ECB and ourselves would have a disastrous impact on our ability to support and develop cricket in Staffordshire.

 

Gerald Williams, Chair of the Staffordshire Cricket Board, commented: “During the 12 months to September 2008, Staffordshire Cricket saw continued increases in key areas of improvement for its 55 focus clubs; participation in the game of cricket increased by 5%; the number of clubs achieving Clubmark accreditation increased by 8%, club membership went up by 13% and volunteer roles increased by 19%.”

 

Mr Williams continued: “The period from October 2008 to September 2009 saw that growth consolidated with a 30% increase in participation to over 14,500 participants; a 37% increase in Clubmarked clubs; a 17% increase in club membership with nearly 7,000 members of focus clubs; 30% and 28% increases in coaching and volunteer roles respectively. We are very concerned that the Davies Report proposal could seriously affect the grassroots, and recreational game within our county and undo the good work that cricket has been working hard to sustain.”

 

Staffordshire Cricket has already committed to short term improvement targets in 2010 including increasing the number of Clubmark accredited clubs from 51 to 55, running a total of 13 Chance-2-Shine programmes within over 120 schools and increasing number of school teams taking part in cricket competition to well over 300.

 

Jason Britton, Cricket Development Manager for the county, said: “Staffordshire Cricket runs 15 youth cricket teams for both boys and girls for county and district levels at age ranges from under-9 to under-17 catering for over 620 junior cricketers at representative level as well as a senior Women’s team; in addition Staffordshire County Cricket Club has a long established reputation as one of the premier non-first class county teams.”

 

Britton continued, “In the last six years Staffordshire Cricket has seen 20 of its young cricketers progress to first class county academies and contracts, with no less than four of our ranks representing England during the last two seasons. We continue to support a sustainable cricket workforce with a comprehensive Coach Education Programme. The last three years has seen over 500 coaches educated to ECB levels I, II and III with a coach tutor workforce of 14 being upskilled to support the safe and structured delivery of cricket in the county. The Davies proposal seriously jeopardises all elements of grassroots cricket provision and ongoing development of the recreational game.”

 

David Collier, ECB chief executive, said: "We are extremely concerned that should the government choose to accept the recommendations in the Davies review the entire structure of the game in this country could be undermined. Cricket is currently thriving across the country with more coaches, improved stadia, cricket returning to state schools through the Chance to Shine programme and world class support structures for the men's, women's and disabled teams. A loss of income of at least £100m over four years would have a devastating impact on our ability to maintain and improve cricket in this country and we would urge the Government to consider these wider implications before making any decisions."

 

Over the coming period Staffordshire Cricket will be working with stakeholders to ensure that the future of cricket in Staffordshire is protected and we are hopeful that the Government will consider returning to the current arrangement which allows quality coverage of cricket on paid for and free to air media platforms and ensures a level of investment to support and improve cricket in Staffordshire.

 

Please check our news section of our website for templates of letters to M.P’s www.staffordshirecricket.co.uk

 

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'Time to Listen' Courses 

 

‘Time to Listen Courses’ are now available to book.

All courses are £25 and can be booked via Staffordshire Cricket.

 

Please contact Steve Walker via e mail stephen.walker@ecb.co.uk or for further details phone Alison Grimley 07708 129643.

 

Courses currently available for booking are : 

Stafford CC    4 March  2010  6.30pm to 9.30pm

Himley CC    18 March  2010  6.30pm to 9.30pm

 

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Staffordshire Cricket One to One coaching

 

Staffordshire Cricket have announced new programmes for one to one coaching in March 2010. The programmes will be coached by representative level coaches from the Staffordshire Cricket staff.

 

There will be 4 week programmes in each month at two centres, Clayton Sports Centre in the north of the county and Streetley High School in the south.

 

These programmes sold out during November, December, January and February. There will be a charge of £110 per 4 week programme with a coach writing a report at the end of the sessions.

 

Staffordshire Cricket will also be holding school holiday camps during Easter arranged by the county development team and featuring representative team coaches from across the age groups.

 

Camps will be available at Stafford Grammar School and Clayton Sports Centre featuring courses in softball and hardball introductions to cricket.

 

Please contact Andy Grice on 07831 158522 to book your place. Andy can also be contacted by e-mail andy.grice@ecb.co.uk  

 

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World Cup Winning Captain Due In Staffordshire

 

Knypersley Cricket Club have confirmed that Charlotte Edwards the England World Cup winning captain will be speaking at the club and invited guests include local England squad member Danielle Wyatt.

 

Charlotte will be guest speaker at a sports person's evening at the club on Friday March 26th 2010. Tickets are expected to be £10 per person. Further information can be obtained from Roger Butler on 07842 440828.

 

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Staffordshire County Cricket over 50’s.

 

With the cricket season quickly approaching the Staffordshire over 50’s team is on the lookout for new players! Players need to be 50 from the date of the games in the season and available to play midweek against other counties.

 

Pre-season nets have been arranged for Easter time at Wolgarston School in Penkridge on the 28^th March and 11^th April between 3.30pm and 5.30pm. The season begins with a friendly against Derbyshire early May before they meet Worcestershire at home on the 19^th May.

 

Games against Wales, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Warwickshire follow, and this year the team are confident they can push on to the National round where they will meet the winners of the other regions.

 

The home games will be played throughout Staffordshire and players from all clubs are invited to register their interest and come along to the net sessions.

 

Please contact Jamie Fleet or Alan Blank for further details.

 

Jamie.fleet1@btinternet.com or 07774 970751

amblank@btopenworld.com or 07944 028786

 

Andy Grice
Funding and Marketing Director
Tel: 07831 158522
Email: andy.grice@ecb.co.uk