Staffordshire Cricket News

 

Staffordshire Club Development Seminar 2011

Over 50 Cricket Clubs have now signed up to the Staffordshire Club Development Seminar which takes place on Monday 31st January 2011 at Cannock Cricket and Hockey Club near to junction 12 of the M6.

This meeting will start at 7pm and the evening will consist of advice and information on NatWest CricketForce, Funding, Facilities, County board update and Volunteers (How to attract and sustain).

There will be a free raffle on the evening for the following prizes with many thanks to our supporters. To qualify your club representatives must be in the room at the time of the draw and have 3 or more representatives at the seminar.

• Weekend In a 3 Series BMW Convertible  (Courtesy of Knights BMW)
• Two Test Match Tickets (Courtesy of Warwickshire CCC)
• Four sets of multi stumps (Courtesy of ClubTurf)
• A Free Level 1 or 2 Coaching Course (Courtesy of Staffordshire Cricket)
• £100 Voucher For Trophies (Courtesy of Trent Trophies)

All clubs are invited to attend and will be given the opportunity to have four tickets each on a first come first served basis with a maximum capacity of 200.

Tickets can be ordered by contacting Andy Grice on andy.grice@ecb.co.uk  or 07831 158522. Tickets will be free initially but if a club orders tickets then doesn’t use them, there will be a charge of £10 per ticket to the club.

We advise that clubs should think about sending the following four key members: Chairman or Secretary, First Team Captain, Tea Lady or Groundsman and Junior Co-ordinator. It is vital to your club that you get a cross section of the club to come to these meetings to gain a forward thinking and diverse approach, to come from your attendance.

The evening will be attended by various ECB staff including ECB Club Programmes manager Dave Leighton, John Huband (ECB Midlands Funding and Facilities Manager), Richard Lightbown (ECB Midlands ‘V’ Manager) plus Staffordshire directors and development team members.

We hope to announce several NatWest CricketForce supporters will come along on the evening to talk about the various offers available to clubs.

Staffordshire Cricket Development Manager Jason Britton said of the seminar, “We see this as a perfect opportunity for clubs to help themselves to see a bright future. In the cricket community and sport in general we are going to find funding harder to come by, and we need to realise there are several opportunities for clubs to find extra assistance”.

Britton who has just completed the county strategic plan to 2013 continued “Staffordshire Cricket wishes to be at the forefront of all ECB initiatives and we hope to announce help in club programmes shortly into the new year. We urge all clubs to consider attending this seminar and to find ways to not only fundraise but also fundsave as well as learning new skills in the recruitment and retention of volunteers”.

Please also check our website at www.staffordshirecricket.co.uk  for more details.

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Whittington Take The Staffordshire Natwest CricketForce Showcase Club 

Over 100 local people gathered at Darnford Moors Golf Club as Whittington C.C launched the county’s NatWest CricketForce programme for 2011. An enthralling and slick presentation followed talking  about how the NatWest CricketForce could help the Cricket Club achieve its aim to build a pavilion on its new ground.

Club players, former players, juniors, Mums and Dads, sponsors, local businessmen, wives and girlfriends all crowded in to support the function, which was organized by the Cricket Club. Whittington has been chosen, by Staffordshire Cricket, as a Showcase club for NatWest CricketForce support during 2011.

Richard Abell, Club Vice Chairman and Project Leader, was the first to speak and reminded the assembly of the timetable of the project since its inception in 2001, which included the purchase of the land and then, last year, the levelling and seeding.  “We were now in a position to start building a pavilion on the ground, even though external funding was not as plentiful as before”, he said.  “It will be a facility which a large part of the community will be able to use”.

Richard was followed by Jason Britton, Cricket Development Manager for Staffordshire Cricket, who confirmed that Whittington had been selected as a Staffordshire Showcase Club and explained what that meant, and how NatWest CricketForce could benefit the Club without actual financial support.

The main speaker of the evening was David Leighton, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) National Club Programmes Manager, who gave a most motivating talk about what can be achieved through volunteers with support from NatWest CricketForce. He certainly gave his audience much food for thought.

The final guest speaker was Bill Green, from Burton Technical College, who confirmed that his teams of students, studying building skills, would be available to carry out a lot of the work on the new pavilion, hopefully from the end of February.

To conclude the meeting, an appeal was made for sponsors, volunteers and businesses to consider what they might be able to do help provide building materials, labour and other support, particularly during the weekend of 19th/20th March, when a NatWest CricketForce weekend will be held at the new ground.  Details of this will be published nearer the time.

For further details, if required, please contact:  Barrie Taylor – tel: 01543 418242 – e-mail: barrie.taylor@talktalk.net  or Andy Grice 07831 158522 or by e mail andy.grice@ecb.co.uk

Staffordshire Cricket Development Manager Jason Britton said “Staffordshire has been at the forefront of NatWest CricketForce during the last three years. We hope Whittington alongside Staffordshire Cricket can deliver another quality facility to match the efforts of Old Wulfrunians Tettenhall, Cheadle and Uttoxeter  the latter two who have both been national finalist at the NatWest OSCAs in 2009 and 2010 respectively.”

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Danielle Opens for England in Australia

   

 

Staffordshire Women’s star Danielle Wyatt has had many further opportunities to continue her cricket education as she has played a prominent part in the England Women’s tour of Australia. The 19 year old from Newcastle Under Lyme has had some tremendous game time culminating in games at the test match venues of Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.

Danielle hit 46 in the 2nd warm up match in Perth against Western Australia played as a pre-cursor to the three One Day Internationals (ODI’s) at the WACA at the start of the month. This innings persuaded the England coaches to give Danielle an opening batting spot for the three ODI’s.

The attacking pattern set by Wyatt culminated in a brisk 30 during the third game, which saw England to victory avenging two defeats in the previous games but resulting in a series defeat, but gave the side momentum before the T20 game at Adelaide.

Upon reaching South Australia, the girls were put through their paces as they got ready to play their game directly before the mens game and also shown live on Sky Sports back in England.

Danielle was given another role in the T20, this time batting at number three, going in after regular T20 openers Laura Marsh and captain Charlotte Edwards. Danielle shone in this form of the game with fantastic displays not only with the bat, but also in the fields and picking up odd wickets with her off spin.

With England enduring an injury nightmare that saw the worlds leading batter Claire Taylor and Beth Morgan both sent home and leading pace bowler Katherine Brunt miss the whole series, the squad were rocked to learn vice captain Jenny Gunn was also going to miss the first two matches at Adelaide and Melbourne. Captain Charlotte Edwards knew that to gain a first series win on Australian soil, her team were going to have to do it the hard way, with the young guns of the squad all blooded during the early part of the series. Her team were not going to disappoint.

Fantastic displays at Adelaide Oval, the MCG and Canberra (where the final three games were played), saw England win the first four games of the five match series, an incredible effort against the World T20 champions.

Danielle was to the fore as she imposed her attacking game on the Australian bowlers and although she was out in the teens three times, she scored at a rate of above a run a ball regularly playing some esquisite cover drives along the way. 

Kent batter Lydia Greenway was the star of the first game scoring 38 not out as England chased down 141 to win by 4 wickets then backing that up to again see England home by 5 wickets in a rain affected game at the MCG.

The girls did not let their standards drop as the series progressed to Australian capital city Canberra. Australia again batting first scoring 146 but again disappointed as England securing the series with a 4 wicket victory, as Jenny Gunn saw the team home after a superb opening partnership of 71 between Edwards and Marsh.

England batted first as they won the fourth game by 13 runs thanks again to 43 from Marsh, but the hosts came back to finally win a shorter format game by 52 runs as the England girls turned the attentions towards the upcoming test match.

Captain Charlotte Edwards lit up the test on day one with a most delightful hundred, in hugely testing conditions with ball dominating bat for the first three days. The Aussies however took control on day 4 and chasing a total of 198 to win the game totally dominated the day winning the game comfortably by 7 wickets. A poor end to the tour but plenty of positives especially in the victorious T20 series, and with plenty of youngsters given some fantastic opportunities.

Danielle said “I am absolutely delighted to get these opportunities. Hopefully batting high is a long term goal for me within the England set up, especially in the T20 games. I just have to work hard to improve my game and show the selectors what I can do to influence games in a positive way.”

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One To One Coaching Available

 

Staffordshire Cricket is now operating a one to one coaching programme at all ages.

Development work in all areas of the game is now available with specialist coaches taken from the representative teams of the county.

 

 

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