Cricket Foundation: £2.7m boost for grass roots cricket

The Cricket Foundation has announced its development funding awards for 2000 / 2001. A total of £2.7m has been awarded to the 38 County Boards, plus the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands, together with awards for a number of other national cricket projects.

The annual awards to County Boards range from £136,000 to Yorkshire County Board to £40,000 to Huntingdonshire County Board.

Of the £2.7m award, £1m is designated towards the on-going employment of County Development Officers, whose work is so vital to the development and progress of the game, and towards supporting the army of volunteers upon whom the game relies so heavily.

In addition to the funding to County Boards, the Cricket Foundation trustees have committed £132,000 to improving the ECB National Coaching Scheme by the introduction of a nationwide, county by county, network of workshops and conferences.

An award of £80,000 has also been made to an ECB project to improve the standard of pitches in club cricket, which, it is recognised, have become 'lower and slower' over the years. The first step in this project will be to appoint pitch advisors to undertake testing of club squares and carry out subsequent remedial work, in order to improve their pace and bounce.

Since the re-constitution of the Cricket Foundation five years ago, awards have totalled £12.5m. This money has been used to increase cricket participation in schools and club junior sections and to improve the quality of players, coaches, groundsmanship and umpiring as well as the teaching of the game in schools.

Terry Bates, Secretary to the Cricket Foundation, is confident that the £12.5m investment is already having a positive and beneficial effect.

"The Foundation funding has enabled County Boards to establish realistic and sustainable programmes to increase participation and improve standards across the board.

"One of the major achievements of the funding has been an increase in specialist middle and net coaching sessions, on grass, in season, for the county representative age range squads. In the past there has been an overloaded match programme for talented players with the majority of coaching concentrated, indoors, on artificial surfaces and out of season. We hope that, as a result of our efforts, youngsters will be better prepared when they join County Cricket Clubs.

"It is pleasing to note that the ECB meets the Government's recently stated requirement for governing bodies to invest at least 5% of its broadcasting income in the grass roots. Cricket invests 11%".

The Cricket Foundation awards money to County Boards subject to receiving relevant funding bids. These bids ask for Cricket Foundation support in a number of development activities, such as: county representative age group development, match and coaching programmes, coaching in primary and secondary schools, improving club/school links and supporting candidates on coaching, groundsmanship and umpiring courses.

For further information, please contact Mark Hodgson in ECB Corporate Affairs, Tel: 020 7432 1251, or Terry Bates: 0385 527 103