October news from Staffordshire Cricket

 

George Hawbrook Lands National Volunteer Honour

 

Seventeen year-old George Hawbrook from Stone SP Cricket Club picked up the Young Volunteer Award at the NatWest Outstanding Service to Cricket awards (OSCAs) 2011, collecting his prize from former England wicket-keeper Paul Nixon. A member of the club’s committee, George is a groundsman at the club, preparing wickets, cutting the outfield and doing general maintenance. He has gained his UKCC Level One coaching qualification in the last twelve months and also manages one of the club’s junior sides. The award is seen as recognition for the many hours of work George puts into the club in a volunteer capacity and is the second Staffordshire National OSCA following on from the Lifetime Achiever award won in 2010 by Bob Cherry.

 

A host of current and former England cricketers including James Anderson, Matthew Prior, Claire Taylor and Michael Vaughan turned out in force to recognise the efforts of grass-roots volunteers at the OSCAs.

 

Pictured: George Hawbrook and Paul Nixon

The event, which was staged at Lord’s and hosted by BBC Radio Test Match Special commentator Jonathan Agnew, brought together more than 350 people from across the recreational game to celebrate achievements in volunteering roles in eight different categories.

 

James Anderson and Matthew Prior presented Richard Fowkes from Kegworth CC in Leicestershire with the Lifetime Achievement award. Richard has been the club’s groundsman for thirty years, helping make their pitch one of the best in Leicestershire league cricket. A former player, he also umpires at county Premier League level and has been involved with the club for more than 50 years in a variety of different roles.

 

The NatWest CricketForce award was presented by Michael Vaughan to Patricia Brown and Karen Shead for their joint efforts in improving the facilities and ground at Notts and Arnold Amateurs CC in Nottinghamshire. Both were highly praised by the judges for their drive and enthusiasm in enlisting help and contributions from local businesses and volunteers. Richard Abell from Whittington Cricket Club the Staffordshire county showcase club was runner up in a fiercely contested category. Richard has shown tremendous drive and enthusiasm to manage what is a £500k project.

 

A special award, Outstanding Contribution to Disability Cricket, was also presented to The Cricket Federation for People with Disabilities. This award was made in honour of Dick and Fred Wildgoose from Oswestry in Shropshire for their pioneering work in developing opportunities for people with different types of physical and learning disability to play the game.

 

Paying tribute to the winners, Mike Gatting said: “Volunteers play a vital role in ensuring that our grass-roots game can continue to flourish and these awards are a fantastic way of recognising their contribution.

 

“It’s thanks to their tireless work and self sacrifice that pitches get prepared, pavilions maintained and cricket teas made. Congratulations to all the winners – you are the unsung heroes of our game and your awards are richly deserved.”

 

Dominic Warne, Senior Marketing Manager, NatWest, said: "We’re proud to once again be sponsoring the OSCAs. It’s so important to recognise and celebrate the efforts of volunteers at the end of another fantastic season of cricket, something this event does so uniquely. We know that many grassroots clubs would struggle to function without the time, hard work and dedication of these volunteers which is one of the reasons why we launched the NatWest Cricket Club this summer. We’re helping to find the next generation of volunteers and reward those who play an active role in supporting the grassroots of the game.”

 

Now in its ninth year, the NatWest OSCAs forms part of the ECB’s Volunteering programme which gives cricket clubs advice on recruiting, educating and rewarding volunteers in all areas of the recreational game.

 

Staffordshire Cricket Development Manager Jason Britton commented “I am delighted for George and everyone at Stone SP should feel justifiably proud of his achievement. Staffordshire Cricket has a reputation for some outstanding candidates at these awards and we would like clubs to encourage more nominations for our county awards in 2012.”

 

Also present from Staffordshire were Sue Haynes the loyal county Women’s scorer, Tony Gubby the Staffordshire Young Cricketers Chairman, Stan Ward the hard working Brewood groundsman, Andrew Mandleberg who is leading a piomeering development group project aimed at girls cricket in East Staffordshire, Andy Grice the organiser of the Staffordshire OSCAs and Jason Britton the Staffordshire Cricket Development Manager.

 

2011 NatWest OSCAs winners:

• Young Volunteer – George Hawbrook, Staffordshire
• Behind the Scenes: Keith Gray, Yorkshire
• Building Partnerships: Taj Butt, Yorkshire
• Leagues and Boards: Christopher Whitehouse, Surrey
• Lifetime Achiever: Richard Fowkes, Leicestershire
• NatWest CricketForce: Patricia Brown, Karen Sheed, Nottinghamshire
• Officiating – Umpires and Scorers – Mervyn Goode, Sussex
• Outstanding Contribution to Disability Cricket – Cricket Federation for People with Disabilities.

 

13 Year-Old Awarded Fearnley Scholarship

 

Porthill Park 13 year old Louis Allison was awarded the lucrative £750 Fearnley Cricket sponsorship prize as Staffordshire Cricket celebrated the achievements of the 2011 season at the Areva Club in Stafford. Allison, who was first selected by Staffordshire as an under 12 player has had a remarkable season. Firstly he scored back to back hundreds against Oxfordshire and Warwickshire in the victorious ECB Cup campaign with the county winning all nine matches. Louis then achieved the stunning achievement of one thousand runs in a county season bringing up the milestone in the final match at Taunton as his side won the Kings School Festival.  The Porthill star’s achievements were also noted by the county as he was awarded a place on the Emerging Players Programme (EPP) for 2011-12.

 

Pictured: Paul Fearnley (event sponsor), Louis Allison and Jason Britton

England under 19 and Nottinghamshire star Sam Kelsall was on hand to present the awards which saw a celebration of yet another successful year for Staffordshire Cricket in 2011. The season saw some a remarkable team achievements by the county under 13 squad noted above and also the under 14 squad winning their ECB Regional Group but losing out narrowly in the national semi final while the under 12’s won the Shrewsbury Festival T20 Trophy.

 

Also commended on the evening were the under 15 girls who also won their ECB Regional Group before losing out to Sussex in a close national quarter final.

 

There were two Outstanding Individual Achievement awards given out on the evening with Will Davis of Milford Hall presented with a trophy to mark his selection for the ECB England Development Programme who only select ten players each year that excel at under 15 level. Tony Thane of Walsall, a stalwart of Staffordshire Youth Cricket and former chairman of the county’s youth cricket was also recognised for his loyal and unswerving dedication to the county. Thane has recently stepped down as the county under 17 manager due to work and personal issues.

 

Overall there were 33 trophies awarded on the evening to batsman, bowler and fielder at 12 age groups of girls and boys in conjunction with Trent Trophies. The manager and coach’s player of the year in each age group won a £25 voucher courtesy of event sponsors Fearnley Cricket. There were 14 individual  performance awards given for boys or girls who either scored a century during the season or took five wickets or more in as game, James Middleton of Walsall scoring the highest individual score of 136 not out against Cheshire while Wolverhampton spinner Shoaib Malik returned the best county figures with 6-20 in the under 14 game at home to Shropshire.

 

Trophies for county hundreds were awarded to the following players in addition to the above Tom Steele (Leek), Austen Crump (Meir Heath), Sam Moores (Moddershall), Richard Brazier (Stafford), Alex Grant (Wolverhampton) and Kurtis Lally (Hem Heath)

Five wickets or more in a county match were achieved by the following Ben Cotton (Porthill Park), Stephanie Butler (Kidsgrove), Adam Purcell (Stone SP), Zoe Hallam (Meir Heath), Greg Massingham (Kidsgrove). 

 

Staffordshire Cricket Development Manager Jason Britton said “The awards are a very important part of the year for Staffordshire Cricket, to recognise the outstanding performance of our age groups, players, coaches and managers in 2011. The results achieved in 2011 are a fitting outcome following the incredible dedication and commitment of our teams and the support of their parents and clubs.”

 

Paul Fearnley brand manager of Fearnley Cricket commented “This is the fourth year that Fearnley cricket have supported Youth Cricket in Staffordshire. We as a company are proud to be associated with such a high performing county. I sincerely hope the award given to Louis will help him in a small way towards his cricketing goals.”

 

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.

 

For more information please contact Andy Grice on 07831 158522. Andy can also be contacted by e mail andy.grice@ecb.co.uk