Development Program Awards

The highlight of last weekend’s ECC Presidents’ Day at Lord’s was the presentation of the ICC Development Program Annual Awards by MCC Secretary & Chief Executive Roger Knight and ECB Chief Executive David Collier.

The outstanding achievement was by Cricket Scotland, who not only took the European awards for the Best Overall Cricket Development Program and (together with sponsors Lloyds TSB Scotland) the Best Cricket Promotional Program, but in the latter category won the ICC Global Award as well.

Lloyds TSB’s sponsorship of Scottish cricket, which began in July 2003 and has been extended until December 2007, includes both men’s and women’s national sides, youth development, and the National Cricket League.

Introducing the awards, ICC Regional Development Manager, Richard Holdsworth, paid tribute to the way in which Cricket Scotland had created a vastly improved infrastructure, and to their success in developing relationships with commercial partners, underpinning their recent successes on the field.

Accepting the Awards, Cricket Scotland President Mahendra Patel said that the organisation’s success was the result of the efforts of many people at all levels of the Scottish game.

“This is a challenge for the rest of you,” he said. “My advice is: Go for it!"

Lloyds TSB were also involved in the Best Spirit of Cricket Initiative, which involved taking Kwik Cricket into 16 of the 24 primary schools on the Isle of Man.

This has led to a highly successful interschool competition, which Lloyds will again be sponsoring next year.

The Award for the Best Women’s Cricket Initiative went to the Deutscher Cricket Bund, whose integrated approach to the development of women’s cricket in Germany owes much to the work of the DCB’s Women’s Officer Wraye Wenigmann.

The development plan covers the training of coaches, umpires and scorers as well as the players, and Ms. Wenigmann has established contacts with several English counties.

The Best Junior Cricket Initiative came from Finland, where a highly proactive youth policy has built up a sound basis for the future development of the game.

The Finnish Cricket Association has set up an academy under its Youth National Team Project, aiming at providing younger players with exposure to regular, structured professional coaching.

Matthew Allen’s photograph at a youth tournament in Zurich in July 2005 won the Photo of the Year Award.

“This photo really sums up what European cricket’s all about,” said Richard Holdsworth, introducing the Award.

Two individual awards were also made: Patrick Henderson was declared Volunteer of the Year for his work on youth development in Switzerland, which has transformed junior cricket in that country.

Belgium’s Ted Vorzanger, who has been involved in Belgian cricket for 37 years and has played a crucial role in the development of both Royal Brussels CC and the Belgian Cricket Federation, received the Lifetime Service Award.