Channel Islands win ICC awards

The ICC have announced the regional winners of the ICC Development Program Awards 2006 with Guernsey, Jersey and Ireland coming out on top for the European Region.

Guernsey Cricket Board picked up the best overall cricket development program award for their development program which begins in schools, giving children as young as 7 years of age the opportunity to take part in cricket.

It also provides a player pathway to develop and feed these youngsters into senior club cricket.

Guernsey also had success in the best women’s initiative category, where a series of after school clubs resulted in the first ever match between two all-girls colleges and from this stemmed the first girls-only cricket league.

The Jersey Cricket Board picked up two awards, the first in the marketing and promotional program category, for its newsletter “Around the Boundary”.

The second the spirit of cricket initiative in association with UNAIDS, awarded for a joint venture between the Jersey Cricket Board Development Team and St James School, a school for children with emotional and behavioural disorders.

The Irish Cricket Union produced two successes in the volunteer of the year and lifetime service categories.

Richard Johnson won the volunteer award for his tireless contributions to Irish and European cricket, which included helping to stage Ireland’s first official ODI against England and organising the Under 19 European Championships in 2006.

The lifetime service award went to Clarissa Pilkington who, amongst her many contributions to women’s cricket in Ireland, led the steering committee for the formation of the Irish Women’s Cricket Union in 1982 and guided the Irish team to their first World Cup in Australia in 1987.

ICC Regional Development Manager-Europe Richard Holdsworth said: “Each year Europe’s member countries continue to produce great initiatives to develop the game, particularly at youth level.

“This area is so crucial if the game it to grow and further develop and all the very many volunteers and professionals should be congratulated on their efforts.”

“It is particularly encouraging to see the women’s game grow so quickly and participation increase by 37% in the last 12 months”.

The Development Program Annual Awards, which began in 2002, promote excellence in cricket development and recognise exceptional performance and service to the game in the ICC’s 87 Associate and Affiliate Members.