October news from Staffordshire Cricket

 

Staffordshire Cricket Celebrate 2008

Staffordshire Cricket recently celebrated their 2008 season at an awards ceremony at the Arreva sports club in Stafford attended by Derbyshire and England under 19 starlet Dan Redfern.



Georgia Elwiss walked away with the top award after an outstanding season for the Wolverhampton 17 year old. Georgia not only led Staffordshire to the national under 17 national final but also broke into both the Derbyshire and England Academy programme.

Players celebrated were in all age groups from under 10 to under 17 boys programmes and under 11 through to under 17 in the girls programmes.

Particular individual successes were also recognised. Jack Manuel on gaining a century on debut for England under 17’s, Sam Kelsall three half centuries for England under 15’s including a game at Lords and Ben McGuire for a double century for Staffordshire under 16’s against Shropshire.

Manuel and Kelsall were also recognised for their awards for first class counties, Manuel picking up the academy player of the year award for Worcestershire and Kelsall a similar award in Nottinghamshire’s academy.

In the girls' programme Danielle Wyatt was recognised for joining Georgia Elwiss in reaching the England and Derbyshire academy programme and also the two sharing a double century opening stand against Wales.

Several other players represented the midlands and credit must go to the Tom Fell, Greg Chance, Richard Brazier, Greg Massingham, Alex Hughes, Ben McGuire and Michael Hill who all achieved recognition by the region in their various age groups.

Staffordshire Cricket head coach Alan Hill was also recognised as one of the three national coach’s of the year which culminated in him attending a dinner at Lords in September. Staffordshire continue to progress under the tutelage of Hill and his team of talented coaches, keeping the county at the pinnacle of age group cricket in England, a fact readily recognised by the county board.

Paul Fearnley, of Staffordshire’s official kit supplier Fearnley Cricket, was also at hand to help Redfern present prizes to the player of the year and also to show the brand new kit the county will be wearing from 2009.

The official player of the year awards were as follows :

 

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Staffordshire Cricket Celebrate The OSCAs

Staffordshire Cricket recently rewards its thousands of volunteers in the outstanding service to cricket awards (OSCAs).

With no black tie or red carpet involved this time and no tearful acceptance speeches in sight, Staffordshire Cricket rightly spent some time waxing lyrical about six of it’s finest achievers. All six were all also invited to a lunch at Lords to celebrate their achievements in front of three hundred national volunteers and also past and present England players Ravi Bopara, Charlotte Edwards and Mike Gatting.

Robert Nield of Tamworth was rightly recognised as the ‘young volunteer of the year’ for an outstanding effort organising the ‘Kwik Cricket’ events at his club. Rob also has endless enthusiasm for coaching and his organisational skills are well recognised by parents and his club alike.

John Whistance is a legend in West Midland youth cricket. His work at Wednesbury is noted with his dedication to his club in doing the job of groundsman, secretary and youth organiser. John’s telling contribution in his community is his organisation of the West midlands Youth Cricket League, a league that would have died long ago without his passion for keeping youth cricket alive in the area.

Mick Jones won the ‘Building Partnerships’ award for his work with local schools in the Tamworth area. Mick has not only built up over twenty hours of coaching every week but has also now started up an under 15 competition which all local high schools participate.

Barbara Horne is an inspiration to all at Bignall End Cricket Club. Barbara won the award for ‘Behind the Scenes’ for her tireless work as a treasurer and trustee of the club. Barbara also lives close by and is always on hand to help open changing rooms, work behind the bar and take all function bookings at the club. Barbara is a prize asset the club could not do without.

Mike Nield is a legend at Tamworth C.C and won the award for best ‘Cricket Force’ project in 2008. Mike changed people’s view within the club from apathy to ‘we can do’ and his work is an inspiration to all in the county. Mike costed the project at £35,000 on the open market but through donations from local and national suppliers brought the project through at a fraction of the cost. His encouragement of gaining the time of tradesman for free is a template for all clubs in Staffordshire.

The final award was that of ‘Lifetime Achiever’.

John Bosson is rightly well thought of by all on the Staffordshire Cricket Board. John has been a great servant to Staffordshire Cricket as a treasurer of the highest order. John has recently suffered some health issues which would have stopped many in their tracks but you can always look forward to his cheery smile and friendly prescence. John, despite these health issues has been a big driver in seeing the new Staffordshire Cricket website up and running, as well as examining the fine detail to make sure all is correct. John, a former banker has seen things through from a small cricket club to running the finances of a large county board and his prudent spending policies have left Staffordshire Cricket in a healthy state.

A winner of this award and a true gentleman John Bosson is a well deserved lifetime achiever in Staffordshire Cricket.

 

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Staffordshire Academy/Epp Programme 2008-9

 

The Staffordshire Cricket Board is delighted to announce that the Staffordshire Academy which has operated successfully for the past three years has now been integrated into the ECB Emerging Players Programme(EPP) for 2008-9

 

The academy will continue to be supported by Derbyshire County Cricket Club who over the three year period, have taken four players from our academy onto their first class academy including Georgia Elwiss and Danielle Wyatt who graduated at the start of the 2008 season.

 

Consequently, they are keen to maintain links with Staffordshire cricket and willing to assist the county to further develop our talented young cricketers in the hope that more young players will progress to the first class ranks.

 

The integration of the academy into the EPP programme has led to an expansion and enhancement of the programme which will now incorporate the following elements:

 

• 20 x 3 hour sessions operating on a Friday evening, the addition of an extra hour to each session enabling improved development notably in the area of strength and conditioning.
• A series of sessions based at Staffordshire University( Stoke site) which will focus on key elements of sports science including, psychology, nutrition, lifestyle and fitness testing. This will operate over an eight day period during the  school holidays.
• Individual one to one sessions organised at venues around the county on a weekly/ fortnightly basis. These will focus on individual skill development.
• Players Given full E.P.P training kit donated kindly by Paul Fearnley of Fearnley Crciket.
• In addition, players will also have the opportunity to attend several additional sessions at the Derbyshire Academy under the watchful eye of Karl Krikken, the County Academy Director.

The full list of  players  involved is as follows:

                       

1 Richard Brazier(U14 – Stafford CC)    2 Greg Massingham (U14 – Little Stoke CC) 

3 James Middleton (U15 – Walsall CC)  4 Greg Chance (U16 – Walsall CC)  

5 Jack Warren(U16 – Dunstall CC)       6 Lewis Jelfs (U16 – Wolverhampton CC) 

7 Chris Beech(U17 – Blythe CC)                  

 

Alan Hill, the Emerging Players Programme Head Coach, commented: ‘The integration of our academy into the EPP programme has allowed us to enhance the programme and that can only benefit the participants.’ We are also very grateful to Fearnley Cricket for backing our scheme and making sure the players look professional.

Karl Krikken  stated: ‘We have been delighted with the link that we have established with the  Staffordshire Cricket Academy  over the past three years. It has been successful with a number of players graduating to our own academy. This expanded, improved programme should help to maintain these high standards’.

 

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Go Green Fund

In answer to recent questions with regard to the Go Green Fund, Staffordshire Cricket has the following advice but be quick as this fund is running out fast.

The ‘Go Green’ Club Fund is open to all ECB affiliated Clubs who registered for, and participated in, NatWest CricketForce in 2008.

The fund is designed to promote the concept of cricket clubs ‘going green’ and to support the UK’s short target to reduce CO2 omissions by 20 per cent by 2010.

All projects must evidence an environmental theme and/or improve energy efficiency.

Examples of the type of project that will be supported include:

  Solar Panels
  Wind Turbines
  Low energy lighting
  Improved thermal efficiency of walls, windows and roofs
  Installation of energy efficient products e.g. boilers
  Provision of bicycle storage
  Water conservation
  Composting / Recycling Schemes

Grants cannot exceed 75 per cent of the total project costs and are limited to a maximum of £10,000 per club. However, EWCT reserves the right to review other projects under special circumstances.

  

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For further information concerning Staffordshire Cricket please contact Andy Grice:

Email: andy.grice@ecb.co.uk
Tel: 07831 158522.