Mike Bohndiek, Sky Sports Young Coach of the Year winner 2010, receiving his award from Steven Finn in the Long Room at Lord's

Sky Sports sponsorship of ECB Coach Education once again allows the ECB Coaches Association to identify nominations for the annual Sky Sports Coach Awards.

The awards are a way of saying thank you to people who have made a significant contribution to the support and development of coaches and coaching in cricket.

Once you have submitted your nominations you need do nothing further as we will contact all those nominated to inform them of their award.

There are three categories, and the nomination forms can be downloaded below and emailed to reward.recognition@ecb.co.uk

• Catergory 1 - Outstanding Contribution and Services to Cricket Coaching (470 KB)
• Catergory 2 - Outstanding Coaching Achievement (471 KB)
• Catergory 3 - Young Coach of the Year (472 KB)

2011 winners

Lizzie Harrison, a Level Two ECB Coach, who works with Burton Latimer Cricket Club and the Northants Girls Under 17 squad was named Young Coach of the Year. She is currently studying at Bedford University and coached Burton Latimer’s Under 15 girls’ side to victory in the National Club Finals earlier this year.

83-year-old Les Bishop from Worcester won the award for Outstanding Contribution and Services to Cricket Coaching. A founder member and former President of the Worcestershire Coaches Association, Les has been involved in cricket coaching and administration for more than 60 years and is currently Secretary/Trustee of the Lord Cobham Cricket Trust.

The Outstanding Coaching Achievement award was made to Andy McCrea, a Level Three ECB Coach, from County Antrim. A professional teacher, Andy has made a major contribution to talent development in the local area and helped achieved significant participation growth at his club, Temple CC.

The three winners were presented with their awards by England cricketer Ravi Bopara at a special presentation dinner held at Lord’s.

ECB and Sky Sports had recently announced that more than 45,000 coaches have graduated from the Sky Sports ECB Coach Education Programme since it was first launched five years ago – including 11,000 who have received new qualifications in the last year alone.

Praising the winners, ECB Chief Executive David Collier said: “These awards are an excellent way of recognising and rewarding the very significant contributions coaches make to the development of our non-First Class game. We thank Sky Sports for their continued support and send congratulations to all our winners.”

Sky Sports commentator and former England captain, Nasser Hussain said: “This is a fantastic programme that is proving how important coaching is to the game of cricket. Everyone at Sky Sports is immensely proud of our involvement and we congratulate all the winners from the Sky Sports Coach Awards.”

Saying thank you!

The Sky Sports Coach Awards were launched at the beginning of 2007 as a way of saying thank you to people who have made a significant contribution to the support and development of coaches and coaching in cricket.

There are three award categories:

Category 1 - Outstanding Contribution and Services to Cricket Coaching, is awarded to people who have made a significant contribution to the support and growth of cricket coaching in a variety of ways, which in turn, has left a legacy for either their home club or county.

This category may include a person who has provided administrative support and who has significantly aided the development of coaching communication channels locally. Alternatively it may include someone who has helped the development and growth of coaches and Coaches Association’s locally or who has used innovation and inspiration to significantly increase the amount of coaching activity and player participation locally.

Category 2 - Outstanding Coaching Achievement, is awarded to qualified coaches who have made a significant difference to shaping the lives of cricketers and cricket programmes in both club and representative cricket.

This category may include a person who has significantly encouraged the development and success of players and teams. They may have been the driving force behind the design, production and implementation of coaching programmes or have used innovation and inspirational coaching methods which have significantly improved player and team performances at all levels of ability and gender.

Category 3 - “Young Coach of the Year” aimed at recognising some of our many excellent younger coaches. This award is for qualified coaches under the age of 25 who enjoy a regular involvement in coaching, have shown a commitment to developing the game at grassroots and community level, and have had a clear impact with a local school or club.

Russell Cobb, Outstanding Coaching Achievement winner for 2010, with England's Steven Finn