It is very important that each step is interpreted by the ‘County Cricket Boards’ according to specific circumstances, such as people with disability, needs of women, men, girls, boys, religion and ethnic communities, and the inner city areas. The seven steps are:
Primary Schools
Secondary Schools
Club Cricket
District Cricket
Representative Cricket
First Class County
England Teams
Primary schools
The aim is to make sure every primary school boy and girl is introduced to cricket and has equal opportunities to acquire an interest in the game.
Secondary schools
The ECB wants to ensure that all secondary school students have the opportunity to develop their respective range of cricket skills, understanding, enjoyment and appreciation of the game.
Clubs
The mission for this aspect of the national strategy is to ensure that every person, including players of all levels of experience and ability have an opportunity to play and become involved in fully structured, organised and resourced club environment.
District cricket
District cricket ensures that a range of cricket activities is structured, organised and delivered locally to offer opportunities for quality coaching and competition. It also gives county clubs opportunity to come and identify talented players so they can be given a contract.
Representing Cricket
This stage allows individuals to identify and develop selected players through high quality coaching, support and competitive programmes.
First Class County Cricket
First Class County Cricket ensures a high competitive and attractive programme, which commands the attention, interest and support of the public, media and commercial partners. The ECB has requirements for this stage. For example, they have to ensure that an appropriate network of First Class County Cricket Grounds is maintained and constantly improved in order that the staging and facility requirement can be fully fulfilled
England Teams
The mission here is to achieve consistently high levels of success on the international stage, within the framework of the ICC in a manner, which develops a strong sense of national pride in the England representative teams.
Additional Agencies and Funding
There are many additional agencies and bodies to help with the development and funding of cricket.
Cricket like most sport has sponsors who provide funding for the sport. Npower and vodafone sponsors the national team and the four day county game is sponsored by Frizzell and the one day format by Norwich Union. These provide valuable finances which without the game could not go ahead. Cricket also receives money from BSKYB and Channel 4 for television rights.
The Sports Aid Foundation is an independent charity, which provides financial support for young people with identified sporting potential. The money it distributes is raised from the private sector through donations, promotions and events. The Sports Aid Foundation works with the ECB to identify suitable applicants to grant aid.
The Cricket Foundation receives funding of £2.5 millions annually for the development and progress of the game at grassroots level. Only County Boards are eligible for the annual development funding awards upon submission of applications for a variety of development activities. The award embrace funding towards:
- County Development Officer Employment.
- County representative age range matches and coaching.
- Support of individuals on course for coaches, groundsmen, umpires, teaches, administrators, parents, etc.
Provision For Female Competitors
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is formed with the woman’s Cricket Association (WCA) to run the provision for female competitors in cricket. County Boards and County Development Officers are taking the lead in encouraging and promoting women and girls cricket. These responsibilities and programmes have had an effect on the increase of women's games. There has been an eight per cent rise in the number of clubs, resulting in a 19 per cent rise in the number of women playing cricket since 1998.
There is a strong league structure from county, through regional to the National Premier League with an annual system of promotion and relegation. Some clubs play evening league cricket and others concentrate on weekend fixtures. Also, there are many tournaments for women to enter and more and more sponsors are getting involved with women’s cricket as they are starting to rise and have an excellent market in attracting people.
Provision for Disabled
Disabled cricket was originally developed by an organisation called the CFPD over 10 years ago. Most countries have a team and compete in their own competitions. Disabled cricket is played to the full laws of cricket however there are no fielding restrictions and a player in a wheelchair can ask for a runner. Disabled cricket is becoming more popular and England sent a team to the disabled world cup in India last year.
The ECB's aim is to ensure that people with disabilities in England have the same opportunities as fully able cricketers and that players with disabilities achieve the highest standard of playing excellence that their ability allows them to. Disabled people of all ages and all forms of disabilities are encouraged to participate in cricket. Although, Disabled people are being encouraged to participate in cricket, there is lack of information about the number, ages, gender, and location of disabled people who may play cricket or whom may be interested in playing the game. Also, disabled cricket currently lacks the structure, finance and other resources to achieve with all potential players. Therefore, a 5-year plan has been formed by the ECB. In this plan it includes:
- To increase the number of people with disabilities participating in cricket.
- This objective includes participation as umpires scores, administrators and
- groundsmen as well as active players.
- To improve the skill and standards of all those participating in the game by
- Monitoring performance and identifying talent.
- To provide the opportunity for cricketers with disabilities to attain success at all levels up to and including, international competitions by organised programmes of competitive matches, leagues, tournaments, championships, and international matches.
- To ensure the provision of appropriate facilities in terms of access, equipment, pitches, and support services to enable the game to be played safely and successfully at all levels and in all forms.
Analysis
The cricketing schemes and policies of the ECB mean that there is good involvement for girls and boys and that the game is being spread to inner-city areas. The access for facilities is excellent and there is many clubs, which means that people can play cricket whenever they like. Also, the points above such as the provision of male and female are excellent and they provide opportunities to play cricket. However, like I stated above, there needs to be more clubs and opportunities for disabled participants.
The funding of cricket is very good. Many additional bodies give money and help with the grassroots development in cricket. The national strategy contributes well to the structure of cricket as it provides a guideline to participants and enables them to progress further.
Bibliography
Advanced P.E for excel
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport
http://www.cricket.au/disabled
