SURREY CRICKET FOUNDATION
2016 ANNUAL REVIEW
Director of Cricket Development Paul Taylor looks back on a year of effort and achievement right across the county.
2016 has been another incredibly busy year for the Surrey Cricket Foundation (SCF) and whilst there are always continual challenges for us, we have enjoyed some incredible successes.
Nationally, the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have undergone significant changes to their structure. The new Participation and Growth team, led by Matt Dwyer, has been created following the restructure, with the recruitment of key leads across participation, growth, customer marketing & systems and regional operations. The latter role leads a new regional team network across seven newly created geographical regions. London region (Surrey, Middlesex, Kent and the London boroughs of Essex) will see a team of six ECB staff deployed to support us as a county.
Participation in the game has grown, however the trend of adult cricketers leaving the game is a continuing concern. Our numbers are balanced by the growth in junior numbers, particularly amongst girls.
The introduction of the new Women’s Kia Super League and Surrey securing the Surrey Stars franchise, has played a key part in the growth of interest in the women and girls game. With England players now able to secure central contracts, there is now a clear pathway for any girls wanting to play at the highest level.
Our School’s programme, supported by Chance to Shine, has seen the game introduced to over 13,500 children in 2016. Across the Street programmes we again excelled in terms of delivery and the number of attendees across our projects. An achievement that has been highlighted by Chance to Shine across the country.
Our Disabilities programme, with the fantastic support of our sponsor, First State Investments, continues to go from strength to strength. The programme is expanding and whilst there will always be challenges in certain areas of the programme, the highlights have seen our County Visually Impaired team go unbeaten all year and win an unprecedented three trophies during the season. Whilst our annual SCF’s Disabilities Day saw over 400 children enjoy the Kia Oval experience.
Our education programmes delivered by our tutoring team and supported by the coaches, officials and groundsman’s associations continue to be well attended with over 900 attendees across the various programmes.
Our facility development programme, once again, allocated over £100,000 of funding into the club network as part of the ECB small grants scheme. The ECB contribution was topped up by the SCF and we managed to support 46 clubs.
Within the Cricket Development team, I am pleased to announce that Chevy Green has been promoted into the role of Cricket Development Officer and we have recruited three new community coaches during 2016 with George Sims, Chris Morris and John Monday joining the team. They are all excellent additions to the team.
I would like to thank Surrey County Cricket Club for the support that we receive as a Foundation. We are truly blessed and lead the way in terms of cooperative working and integration across the county cricket board network.
I would also like to thank SCF Trustees, especially our Chairman, Simon Dyson, for their commitment and support in helping shape our operation and ensuring we continue to drive the development of our programmes.
In addition, a huge thank you to all the volunteers across the County for all that you do, the game wouldn’t happen without you. Thanks also to the members of our working group structure who help shape our decision making.
Lastly, I would like to thank my team for their hard work, support, passion and dedication throughout the year. They are constantly challenged in terms of capacity to deliver all that is expected and without them the successes achieved would not have been possible.
2017 will bring us some fresh challenges with new contracts being negotiated with the ECB, Chance to Shine and Sport England, however our mission to continue to support and improve recreational cricket in the County will not diminish.
SCHOOLS
This programme forms part of our Chance to Shine schools project and is funded by Chance to Shine. The schools (primary, secondary and special needs) involved have access to curriculum and extra curriculum coaching, assembly visits, teacher training, resources and equipment. The programme also links children to their local cricket club.
School’s Programme
2016 has been a successful year for the school’s programme. The figures below show some significant improvement in some areas compared to 2015, most notably, number of schools involved, coaching hours and children receiving regular coaching.
2015 2016 123 (75 Primary, 2 Middle, 37 Schools Involved 111 Secondary & 9 Special Schools) Coaching Hours 2,435 3,490 No. Children receiving 13,595 6,193 regular coaching (51% Male & 49% Female) No. Schools who Participated in National 80 143 Cricket Week
No. of inter school matches 1,093 2,112
The program also saw 40 teachers receive Informal Teacher Training and 29 teachers receive 1 to 1 mentoring from SCF coaches.
Satellite & Mini Satellite Clubs
Fifteen extra-curricular satellite clubs had achieved the following headline figures when the Sport England funding ceased at the end of March 2016:
• 425 regular playing members • 78 regular committee members • 288 occasional players • 151 intra-school matches • 118 inter-school matches.
As in previous years, satellite club pupils have assisted with the running of both local and county Kwik Cricket competitions. By using young leaders at these events, we are providing them with the opportunity to learn important life skills and the chance to put into practice the skills learnt during their Cricket Activators training.
School Competitions
A total of 1012 (593 primary and 419 secondary) teams entered our competitions in 2016.
School Competitions Roll of Honour 2016
Cup Age Group Winner ESCA NatWest County Cup U15 Whitgift SSCA U15 T20 Vase U15 Howard of Effingham Anderson Cup U14 St John’s U15 Girls Competition U15 St George’s U13 Girls Competition U13 Kingston GS Watcyn Evans Trophy U13 Whitgift School U14 Plate Competition U14 Wallington CGS U13 Plate Competition U13 Rutlish/Wallington U12 Plate Competition U12 TBC in April 2017 Bunbury Jubilee Trophy U12 Trinity School Verney Cup U11 Shrewsbury House Geoff Richards Trophy U11 KCJS Connellan Trophy U11 St Martins Reigate Priory (Reigate & Kwik Cricket Year 6 Open U11 Banstead Kwik Cricket Girls U11 Bishop Gilpin (Merton) Kwik Cricket Year 5 U10 Pirbright Primary School Lady Taverners Indoor U13 Oakwood Lady Taverners Indoor U15 The Charter School Year 7/8 Boys Indoor U13 Reigate Year 9/10 Boys Indoor U15 Ernest Bevin Year 7/8 Boys Inter Outdoor U13 Greenshaw Year 9/10 Boys Inter Outdoor U15 Hollyfield Year 7/8 Girls Inter Outdoor U13 Salesian Year 9/10 Girls Inter Outdoor U15 Wallington
Hobbs Trophy
SCF again supported the annual Hobbs Trophy match in 2016. This is a 40 over match between U15 players from State schools in Surrey and South London. London Schools, were asked to bat first and were bowled out for 190. In reply, Surrey Schools cruised to victory, reaching the target of 191 with 6 overs to spare.
Pinsent Masons Scholarship Programme
12 children were selected in 2016 for the Pinsent Masons scholarship which entitles the individual to a free place at an SCF development course of their choice.
The successful participants were invited to attend an on-pitch presentation at the Kia Oval during the innings interval of the Royal London One Day Cup match between Surrey and Glamorgan. Sadly, the weather prevented the presentation taking place on the outfield but it went ahead in the Ken Barrington Cricket Centre, where the awards were presented to the scholars by Pinsent Masons representative, Martin Roberts, and Surrey CCC fast bowler, Matthew Dunn.
The 2016 Pinsent Masons Scholars were; Adam Burnham, Archie Legg, Kobi Fordyce, Thomas Sullivan-Ferrarin, Anthony Whitehouse-Brown, Jamie Lowery, Leo McLean, Oliver Bennett, Daniel Bradshaw, George Dennis, Arjun Jnr. Bhinda and Lauren Streeting.
Woking Bedser Schools Cricket Scholarship Programme
SCF, in partnership with local businesses, runs a school’s cricket programme in Woking, in honour of Sir Alec and Eric Bedser. The Bedser brothers grew up and were educated in Woking. Both Alec and Eric represented Surrey CCC and Alec went on to play for England.
This programme aims to identify six children that are not currently in the Surrey CCC player pathway who have the potential to become performance cricketers. The scholarship includes cricket equipment vouchers, club subscription for 2017, one-to-one coaching, a bespoke five- week group coaching course, a bespoke cricket shirt and tickets to attend a match at the Kia Oval.
The 2016 Bedser Scholars were; Ollie Bell, Tilley Harries, Charlotte Lambert, Ramish Malik, Alex McPherson and Jude Silverton.
Our thanks go to the Bedser Scholarship Working group for all their support in making this programme a success.
School’s Day
Working with Surrey CCC, the SCF once again helped to deliver a successful School’s Day at the Kia Oval in 2016. The day saw over 5,000 children from around 90 primary and secondary schools at the Kia Oval to watch the Specsavers County Championship Match between Surrey and Middlesex, as well as enjoy a day of activities and other attractions around the ground. The day aims to enthuse children and create a new generation of cricket fans.
COMMUNITIES
The SCF communities programme offers different formats that are outside the traditional cricketing environments. Activity includes a range of different opportunities such as the Chance to Shine Street Programme, Urban cricket, Informal cricket, Last Man Stands and activity in local Colleges and Universities.
Chance to Shine – Street Youth & Young Adult Programmes
This programme aims to increase aspiration, promote mutual respect and enhance relationships with others, including schools, police and local communities, by providing structured coaching and competitive opportunities for young people. We have run 10 projects over 2016, 6 Street Youth (8-14 year olds) and 4 Young Adult (16-24 year olds) projects. The Youth projects have taken place in the London boroughs of Lambeth (2 Projects), Kingston, Sutton, Croydon and Merton. The Young Adult projects have taken place in the boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth and Merton.
The SCF have achieved an average attendance of 30 participants at each project in 2016. From the 314 participants, around 20% are now linked to clubs.
Using the Inspired Fund, we will be expanding our offer in 2017 for both programmes, with 3 new locations outside of the London boroughs. The new locations are Horley, Sheerwater (Woking) and Park Barn (Guildford).
ECB City Cup
The ECB City Cup league ran for 6 weeks over July and August and saw borough sides from Croydon, Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth play a series of T20 matches against each other. Wandsworth ran out winners and were also undefeated.
A select XI from the boroughs were then chosen to represent South London in the national competition. South London were triumphant over North London and Leicester on their way to the final, held at Grace Road, home of Leicestershire CCC, where they lost to Manchester in the final.
The players engaged in this competition come mainly from our South Asian & African- Caribbean networks and is pivotal in providing an exit route for our Street Young Adults participants.
CLUBS AND LEAGUES
The SCF provides support to Clubs and Leagues in several different areas such as; affiliation benefits, junior section development, player retention, coach education and development, umpires and scorers training, volunteers, facility development and groundsmanship training and support.
Junior Leagues
SCF would like to thank all the volunteers who have worked tirelessly throughout the year to ensure there is a wide variety of formats of cricket for our junior club cricketers.
Junior Leagues Roll of Honour 2016
Age Group / League Champions Age Group / League Champions League U9 East Stoke D'Abernon CC U12 South Churt CC U9 South Farnham CC U13 East East Molesey CC U9 North Royal Ascot CC U13 North Pyrford CC U10 East Ashtead CC U13 South Blackheath CC U10 North Chobham CC U14 East Esher CC West Surrey U10 South Horsley & Send CC U14 North Weybridge CC Cricket League U11 East Esher CC U14 South Horsley & Send CC U11 North Frimley CC U15 North Valley End CC U11 South Farnham CC U15 South Horsley & Send CC U12 East Sunbury CC U17 East Maori Oxshott CC U12 North Pyrford CC U17 West Bagshott CC U8 Zone A Esher CC U11 Division 1 Pairs Dulwich CC U8 Zone B Old Whitgiftians CC U11 Division 2 Pairs Trinity Mid-Whitgiftian CC U9 Zone A Spencer CC U12 Zone A Spencer CC U9 Zone B Trinity Mid-Whitgiftian CC U12 Zone B Old Whitgiftians CC North East & U9 Softball Trinity Mid-Whitgiftian CC U12 B Team Dulwich CC Central Surrey U9 B Team Cheam CC U13 Division 1 Cheam CC Colts League U10 Division 1 Spencer CC U13 Division 2 Outwood CC U10 Division 2 Cheam CC U14 Zone A Sutton CC U10 B Team Wimbledon CC U14 Zone B Oxted & Limpsfield CC U11 Division 1 Spencer CC U15 Banstead CC U11 Division 2 Spencer CC U16 Sutton CC U10 Pairs Wimbledon CC U14 Division 1 Esher CC U14 Mixed August U11 Division 1 Esher CC Cheam CC League Group A U14 Mixed August Mid-Surrey U11 Division 2 Spencer CC East Molesey CC League Group B Colts League U12 Division 1 Wimbledon CC U15 Division 1 Esher CC U12 Division 2B Spencer CC U15 Division 2 Hampton Wick Royal CC U13 Division 1 Spencer CC U17 Richmond CC U13 Division 2 Bank of England CC U8 Fernhurst CC - Falcons U13 Division 1 Guildford CC Two Counties U9 Division 1 Grayshott CC - Tigers U13 Division 2 Elstead CC League U9 Division 2 Frensham CC U13 8s Cup Elstead CC U10 Division 1 Brook CC U15 Division 1 Guildford CC
U10 Division 2 Chobham CC U15 Division 2 Wood Street Village CC U11 Division 1 Finchampstead CC U15 8s Cup Grayshott CC U11 Division 2 Chiddingfold CC U17 8s Cup Wood Street Village CC U12 Division 1 Guildford CC U19 Grayshott CC U12 Division 2 Churt CC - Blues U8 Oxted & Limpsfield CC U13 Horley CC U9 Oxted & Limpsfield CC U14 Lingfield CC East Surrey U10 Newdigate CC U15 Oxted & Limpsfield CC Colts League U11 Lingfield CC U16 Reigate Priory CC U12 Merstham CC U17 Ifield CC
Following a review by the Junior Leagues Working Group, 2017 will see the introduction of the Surrey Invitation League at the U13 and U15 age groups. This will be a T20 format and the best club teams from the junior leagues set up will be invited to take part in this league. It is hoped that this new structure for Junior cricket will provide 'Better cricket for more players NOT more cricket for better players', whilst also reducing the number of one sided matches that can occur in junior cricket.
NatWest U19 T20
The NatWest U19 T20 aims to improve retention rates for teenage players in club cricket. The Surrey Trust League took on the administration of the competition and our thanks go to them and Eric Sands for administering such a well-run event.
This year’s competition saw 29 teams from across Surrey participate in the competition with a finals day kindly hosted by Epsom CC in August. The semi-finals were contested between Spencer CC, Guildford CC, Ashtead CC and Normandy CC with Guildford CC the eventual winners in a close final against Normandy CC.
Surrey Senior Cricketers Association (SSCA)
Rain decimated the early season programme for the SSCA 50+ section. However, despite the weather, the 1st XI finished third in the South-East Group and then remarkably reached the quarter-finals of the National Knock-Out competition before losing to a strong Essex side.
The Home Counties 2nd XI won the group and the Wasim Raja Shield and reached the play- off final of the competition, losing to Essex in the final. The Southern Counties 2nd XI finished third in the East group.
The 60+/70+ Sections of SSCA enjoyed a successful year. The 1st XI were top of the Seevent National County Championship South Division and reached the semi-final of the national play offs, only to be beaten by Cheshire. The 2nd XI achieved some fine wins but losing 4 games resulted in them coming 4th in the South Division of the Seevent Championship. However, they won the Bowl Competition, beating Somerset in the final. The 3rd XI came 2nd in their Seevent Division and played positive cricket throughout. The 4th XI, in their inaugural year, played several friendlies against other counties and won 3 games. The 70+ XI came 2nd in their East/South Division and they reached the play offs, losing in the semi-final to Worcestershire.
Brian Aspital and Bill Early need special mention for their endless support in arranging over 120 fixtures and re-arranging many of them due to the early season weather.
South Asian Engagement
The South Asian Working Group has been using the Kia Oval as a hub over 2016. The group and SCF have started several initiatives with the goal of improving participation in the South Asian community. This has been done by supporting leagues with facilities, up-skilling the volunteer workforce through umpiring, scoring and coaching courses and developing community cricket clubs.
The SCF continue to support Sutton Challengers CC who currently have three senior sides and an expanding junior section. We provide support for facility hire and coaching equipment. Playing as ‘Bec Old Boys B’, they won Division 3 of the Surrey Cricket League in 2016 and were also undefeated. They will play under their own name next season with the 1st XI playing in the Premier Division and 2nd XI in Division 3.
The African Caribbean Cricket Association
The African Caribbean Cricket Association use the Kia Oval as a hub to host monthly pan- London meetings to help develop their needs as a group, with the SCF, Club Cricket Conference and ECB all offering advice.
Clubmark
Due to Clubmark taking a year out due to the program being reviewed by the ECB, there were no new Clubmark accreditations in 2016 and clubs were only asked to complete online health checks.
In lieu of the Clubmark site visits, the SCF took the opportunity to undertake several informal club development visits over the Summer which was widely viewed as a positive initiative.
16 Surrey Clubs were involved in the testing of the ECB’s new online system, ‘My Club’, which has now gone live and is beginning to be rolled out to clubs.
SCF Clubs Conference
The SCF Clubs Conference, this year sponsored by Dataquest, was held at the Kia Oval in March. Over 120 delegates from 78 Surrey clubs attended workshops and presentations throughout the day that covered key development areas. Feedback from the event was once again strong.
Coach Education
Coach Support Workers
The number of Coach Support Workers (CSW) trained nearly doubled in 2016, with 214 being trained (108 in 2015). This significant increase was aided by the SCF running several club based CSW courses, with Newdigate CC, East Moseley CC, Walton-on-Thames CC, Battersea Ironsides CC & Spencer CC all hosting a club CSW. We are planning to deliver more next season.
Level 2
2016 saw 164 newly qualified Level 2 coaches trained (106 in 2015) – a new record for the SCF. This included a bespoke course held for the Surrey CCC Academy and members of the South Asian community. This year also saw some candidates from Surrey attend the new Level 2 Diploma.
ECB Coaches Association – Surrey
As in previous years, we hosted the annual Coach of the Year awards at the Outstanding Services to Cricket Awards.
Our winners for 2016 were:
Young coach of the Year – Harry Pearce, Chessington CC
Outstanding Coaching Achievement – Jack Goodman, Wallington CC
Outstanding Services to Cricket Coaching Sponsored by I-View London – John Blackburn, Chipstead, Coulsdon & Walcountians CC
2016 saw the launch of a new range of Coach Development Workshops that were supported by the Surrey CA and SCF. These courses have been designed to cover areas of development that are not covered in detail within the ECB Coach Education syllabus. So far, three modules have been run covering areas such as ‘Using visualisation to improve player performance’, ‘Strength & Conditioning for Players’ and ‘Methods for Introducing Technical Changes’.
OSCAs (The Outstanding Services to Cricket Awards)
The Surrey OSCAs were held in August during the rain-affected Royal London Cup match between Surrey and Glamorgan.
The OSCAs aim to recognise and reward the voluntary hours that people put into recreational cricket around the country, enabling our great game to thrive and survive at grassroots level.
In 2016, we received a record number of nominations, with 109 nominations (73 in 2015). This year the nominees and guests were treated to a Q&A with Monty Panesar, courtesy of Lashing All-Stars, and Monty was also on hand to present the awards.
OSCAs Winners 2016
Young Volunteer Sponsored by Dennis (UK) – Ryan Somes, Worcester Park CC
David Edwards Officiating Award – Jennifer Bowman, I’Anson Cricket League
Heartbeat of the Club Sponsored by Alphyn Education – Craig Stevenson, Tadworth CC
Getting the Game On Sponsored by Pitchero – Simon Rider, Weybridge CC
NatWest Cricket Force – Leighton Jones & Jim Paulett, South Nutfield CC
Leagues & Boards Sponsored by Fidelity Energy – Gill Rooney, I’Anson League
Lifetime Achievement - Sponsored by Lashings All-Stars – Mick Martin, Surrey Championship
We would like to congratulate all the winners and nominees in every category for the amazing work they do. Without them there would be no recreational cricket in Surrey!
Officials Development (Surrey Association of Cricket Officials)
Our training teams continued their excellent work in 2016. They provided a variety of courses, from introductory courses up to Level 2 courses, to develop Umpires and Scorers. The number of attendees at each course can be seen below:
• 80 on Introduction to Umpiring Courses • 60 on Level 1 Umpiring Courses • 30 on Level 1a Umpiring Courses • 45 on Level 1 Scoring Courses
Thank you to all the tutor teams, who help encourage, train and attract new officials.
Compliance & Welfare
Compliance and Welfare is headed up by County Welfare Officer, Heidi Langrish, and her deputy, Nigel Legg, who volunteer countless hours to work towards ensuring the safety and welfare of our young cricketers. The SCF is extremely grateful for their continued commitment to Surrey.
In 2016, Surrey trained 44 welfare officers on the Safe Hands Course and delivered a programme of county wide roadshows for Club Welfare Officers. These seminars covered a range of subject areas and included presentations from the Surrey and Metropolitan Police.
FACILITIES
Facility Development
One of the biggest successes of 2016 for the Facilities Working Group was the delivery of the ECB Small Grants Scheme. Once again, the SCF contributed an additional 40k to the ECB Small Grants pot of 60k, resulting in £136k worth of projects being delivered by 46 clubs across Surrey.
The Facilities Working Group also began working with several clubs across the county who have facility development projects in progress. This support included a workshop in June where clubs were given bespoke support to help move their plans forward. Projects range from small purchases to pavilion refurbishments and rebuilds.
NatWest CricketForce
85 Surrey clubs registered for NatWest CricketForce in 2016 with 74 of these clubs also signing up for the Jewson Privilege Card offer from the ECB which saw them receive a £300 ‘micro grant’ to help them prepare for the season.
South Nutfield CC was our showcase club for NatWest CricketForce ‘Project Warm Welcome’ this year. ‘Project Warm Welcome’ aims to identify a club which could be transformed in a day to make it more welcoming to its members, guests and future members.
Several projects were identified by the club and around 50 club members were joined by an additional 50 members of the SCF and ECB, including former England Opening batsman and ECB Director of England Cricket, Andrew Strauss, to completely transform the club in April. The projects included full internal and external decoration of the pavilion and machinery garage, landscaping the ground and the monumental task of relaying the drive with 100 tonnes of shingle.
The project was made possible thanks to several contributions from various organisations including Caterham School and A.N.D Projects. In addition, funding contributions were provided by Jewson through the NatWest CricketForce Privilege Card Scheme, SCF and the ECB via the Small Grants Scheme.
Kennington Park Extension
Funding was secured from the ECB which was topped up by Surrey CCC and the SCF for the Kennington Park Extension match pitch and net refurbishment. The £40k project was complete in June and is being well used by the local community to facilitate both formal and informal cricket opportunities.
SPECIAL PROJECTS
The SCF’s special projects covers a variety of different areas. The special projects offer consists of programs and activities such as Women and Girl’s Cricket, Disabilities Cricket, multi- cultural communities cricket, Junior Coaching Courses and Player retention (especially 14+).
Women & Girls Cricket
With the launch of the Women’s Kia Super League, 2016 provided a great opportunity to raise the awareness of the Women and Girls game. The SCF have capitalised on this and it was a highly successful year for the Women and Girls game with several activities taking place.
We now have 14 Women’s specific clubs and 49 clubs offering Girls cricket activity. In 2016, 13 teams entered the Surrey Women’s Trust League where fixtures were played on a weekly basis and 7 Surrey teams entered the regional Women’s Cricket Southern League. 16 Clubs also participated in the U9, U11 and U13 girl’s leagues this year.
Through funding from the ECB and Chance to Shine, the SCF, with the support of the Surrey Stars, led numerous club based activities around the county. Activities included 5 Surrey Stars roadshows, 2 Super Camps, 3 fielding masterclasses and a tactical awareness session.
Women & Girls Day
Women and Girls Day saw a record number of attendees with over 1,200 people (300 in 2015) at the Kia Oval over the course of the day for both the activities during the day and Pemberton Greenish London Cup between Middlesex & Surrey in the evening.
18 schools took part in a range of cricket activities on the outfield and in the KBCC. The feedback for the event has improved significantly in comparison to previous years and we exceeded all targets that we set prior to the event.
We want to say thank you to the Women and Girls working group who provide an enormous amount of experience and innovation to the game within Surrey.
Disability Cricket
Learning Difficulty/Physical Disability (LD/PD) County Cricket
Unfortunately, due to the weather, the LD/PD squad’s season was severely affected. The team struggled when they managed to get onto the pitch in 2016 but did enjoy 3 end of season friendlies which helped to finish the season on a high. The squad are hoping to bounce back positively in 2017.
Visually–Impaired (VI) County Cricket
The Surrey VI team completed an unprecedented treble and were unbeaten throughout 2016. The team won the BCEW Regional League South & East league comfortably by 23 points. A few weeks later, they beat Gloucestershire at Frimley CC to win the BCEW Regional South & West T20 Cup and finally to complete the treble, they won the Brian Johnston Memorial Trust blind cricket tournament in Leicester.
To achieve this in just their second season competing in competitive cricket, was a truly remarkable achievement for the VI squad.
Deaf County Cricket
Coming into the last round of matches, Surrey Deaf CCC were top of the mainstream (hearing) Thameside Sunday Cricket League but needed results to go their way to win. Sadly, this was not to be, and the side ended up finishing in 3rd place in their first season in Division 1.
Throughout the season, 24 different players were used, displaying the strength of Deaf cricket in Surrey. The team has also been nominated for ‘Team of the year’ at the 2016 Deaf Sports Personality of the Year awards.
Disabilities Community Activities
Across our disability community programmes this year, we have engaged with 1,572 participants, 35 schools/colleges and run 4 community hubs and 6 regular Lord’s Taverners Disability Cricket Championship (LTDCC) hub sites in Croydon, Kingston, Lambeth, Southwark, Merton and Wandsworth.
The Kingston “Hub” team has been part of the LTDCC project for almost 3 years now, and built on their last finals day earlier in 2016, to beat Westminster in the final to lift the trophy for the first time.
Disabilities Day
SCF’s annual Disabilities Day was a great success in 2016 with over 400 disabled children from 29 SEN schools across Surrey and South London coming to the Kia Oval to take part in a wide variety of fully inclusive cricket activities that were delivered by SCF coaches with the support of 40 First State Investment Volunteers.
Activities included batting, bowling, fielding stations on the outfield, Cricket Factory on the pavilion forecourt and table cricket inside the Bedser stand. The children also had the opportunity to try VI cricket which was run by our Surrey VI squad and coaches. The VI station even saw England spinner & Surrey CCC captain, Gareth Batty, come and join in which was great to see!
Meanwhile on the other half of the outfield, there was a Deaf game between Surrey CCC Deaf squad and an invitational Deaf XI, giving the players a unique opportunity to play at the Kia Oval.
Pride of Lions Junior coaching courses
In 2016, the Pride of Lions Junior Coaching courses covered children from age 3 to age 16. 2016 saw 1,725 children attend and participate in the Pride of Lions Junior Coaching Courses (1,605 in 2015). The 2016 programme culminated in a fantastic Train like the Pros session at the Kia Oval, with former Surrey stalwart, Tim Linley, putting a crop of young players through their paces during his Bowling Masterclass.
An increase in venues means the we are aiming to hit 2,000 places at these courses in 2017.