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Warwickshire Cricket Board Report 2015 by Ed McCabe
2015 was a year of consolidation for WCB after
significant staffing changes in 2014. There was a lot of good
work, and much to celebrate. Highlights of the Year were...
The emergence of the Edgbaston Foundation Ground
WCB is proud to have been part of the process and
work involved in developing this new ground. We took full
advantage of the new facility and organised a considerable
number of school & community festivals there as well
as matches, meetings and finals. The opening event on
Monday 27th July went really well and Ian Bell performed
the honours in style.
It is imperative that we thank Persimmon Homes, the
England & Wales Cricket Board, Birmingham City Council
and Sport England for their sizable contributions and
support.
The Warwickshire OSCAs
The Warwickshire Cricket Board honoured volunteers
working in the grassroots of the game across the region
by staging its NatWest Outstanding Services to Cricket
Awards (OSCAs) ceremony at Edgbaston in September.
Six dedicated and hardworking volunteers who do so much
for the grassroots game in Warwickshire and the West
Midlands were presented with their awards in a special
lunch ceremony in the Committee Room at Edgbaston,
with Warwickshire Cricket Board Chairman Mike Williams
presenting the honours.
The Heartbeat of the Club award was presented to
Roger Lewis of Solihull Blossomfield CC who has been
acting as the club’s chairman for more than 15 years.
Seventeen year-old Tom Randle received the Young
Volunteer Award for his role as a player, coach, groundsman
and integral member of Corley CC.
Amjad Aziz, who won the Behind the Scenes Award at
last year’s Asian Cricket Awards, was presented with the
Leagues Award for his management role in the Birmingham
Parks League for the last 15 years.
The Coach of the Year prize went to Martyn Collis for
his role in disability cricket with the Warwickshire Cricket
Board. In the last 12 months Martyn set-up a Table Cricket
League for Special Schools and helped many children with
impairments play cricket.
Alan Hyatt from Kings Heath CC and the Warwickshire
Cricket Board was the recipient of the Lifetime Coach Award
for his years of coaching and administrative service. Alan
then went on to win the National Title at the Lord’s OSCA –
many congratulations.
The marquee OSCA of Lifetime Achievement went to
Rick Coleman who has recently retired as the County
Welfare Officer after 13 years of dedicated service. Rick is
also well known for being the Club’s resident tour guide
here at Edgbaston, as well as occupying a similar role for
Birmingham City Foot-ball Club at St Andrew’s.
Ed McCabe, General Manager of WCB said “These
awards are a great way of recognising the hard work that
thousands of volunteers put in to support grassroots cricket
in Warwickshire and the West Midlands. “The selfless
amount of work they put in often goes unnoticed but this is
a wonderful time to say thank you for all your efforts.”
Cricket in the Community
Through investment from ECB and Chance to Shine
we were able to continue and develop our comprehensive
participation programme for children and adults in the inner
Cities. The Street cricket programme, in particular is really
impactful providing hundreds of opportunities to regularly
play the great game. A massive highlight was when
Moeen Ali visited the Sparkhill Park sessions and was
bowled out by.
Ismail Aziz (aged 14)! We also started a programme of
pupil integration through cricket through Deloitte and this
will really grow in 2016.
Club Cricket
22 Warwickshire Clubs received ECB Small Grants in
2015 for covers as part of the Get the Game On Campaign
in a County-wide investment programme of over £60,000.
We also developed many good working relationships with
the various leagues in the County. The ECB’s research
showed a stabilisation in adult participation figures and the
work our leagues are doing to get the right playing offers
and formats in place are highly commendable. This involves
our own youth competitions, which were once again highly
productive.
Congratulations to all our Youth League winners and
runners up detailed in the table overleaf.
In total 17 clubs are represented in the table which
demonstrates the amount of cricket being played in clubs
across the county. As well as recognising sides who win
at this time of year it’s also a good time to recognise the
enormous effort put in at the 70+ clubs who enter one or
more of our competitions. There are countless hours input
by volunteer coaches / managers and scorers (many of
whom will be reading this) so on behalf of WCB a massive
thank you.
2015 saw a number of new incentives in our offer with
competitions running from U9 hardball to Under 19 t20s.
The Under 9 hardball ran for the first time with a 16 yard
wicket which helped the level of play and the standard
was excellent for players so young. In the Under 19s we
encouraged players to take ownership of their cricket
and organise games them-selves. This resulted in some
excellent initiatives which increased club usage and got
players re involved in the game. We saw BBQs, Music,
Coloured clothing and lots of people at the ground when
they wouldn’t normally be there. Both will continue in 2016.
Cricket Force at Portland Road
Alan Hyatt receives his awards
