clubs to professional. The centre features five practice lanes with one spin and four seam
bowling lanes with cushioned surfaces, bowling machines, superb lighting and video
recording and analysis equipment which are all available for hire by the public.
At Durham CCC there is a large focus on youth cricket at grassroots development
schemes. Through cricket development officers and youth development officers Durham
CCC oversees the work of school coaches who provide high quality coaching in many
primary schools and secondary schools across the county. Introduction of the
“HOWZAT” system provides primary schools with equipment for cross curricular
activities and secondary schools with CD roms linking cricket with IT.
Although Durham CCC is such a large well known organization there are also similar
schemes which are run at local clubs such as those which take place at Hetton Lyons CC.
Here there are grass roots schemes for children around the ages of 8-11 and other
coaching available for intermediate players of around 12-17 years old. Similar schemes
aimed at youth cricket are also put into practice at other local clubs such as South Hetton
CC and Eppleton CC.
A lot of coaching schemes like these are available due to funding by a variation if
different large organizations. It is said that over the next three years English cricket will
receive £10.7million in Lottery funding through Sport England and the money provided
to the ECB will be invested in grassroots and community cricket.
Durham CCC as well as most other major county organizations support the ECB strategy
in delivering the 7 steps of cricket development. This strategy focuses on developing the
levels of those at grassroots through the different stages to make them better players. The
stages which the ECB show involvement with are primary schools, secondary schools,
clubs, district cricket, representative cricket, first class cricket and national squads. For
young crickets who are particularly talented Durham CCC spreads its area of expertise to
cover the county. Junior talent ID schemes identifies those who have potential to become
regional academy students. If youngsters are selected for these sort of courses they will
train and play matches for Durham CCC as well as their local clubs. Once they reach the
age of around16 to 17 they will be put through a selection process for the Durham CCC
Junior Academy where they will either be selected or released from the club. After
playing in the Junior Academy squad leading players will get their chance to play for the
full Durham Academy where only some of the best players in the county will play. It is
then from this Academy where the elite players for Durham CCC’s first and second team
are selected. It is then using players from county first teams around the country which
builds up Englands International side.
As well as many clubs around the country showing a great interest in the developing
skills of junior cricket the women's game in England continues to go from strength to
strength and grow at a rapid pace. In 2003 there was a 33 per cent increase in the number
of new clubs which catered for womens cricket., with many more girls playing the game
at primary and secondary schools, and new club events at U15 and U13 level having
joined the array of domestic competitions. Since the ECB took over the running of
women’s cricket in 1998 the number of women's clubs has risen steadily. And in 2003
the ECB announced there were in excess of two million participants in girls’ cricket for
the first time.
The ECB not only shows a great interest in the development of womens cricket but as the
governing body responsible for all cricket in England and Wales, the ECB produced an
inclusive disabilities development plan in 2001 and set up an official disabilities sub-
group. This provides a coordinated approach to advice and support for those with
physical and learning disabilities, visual impairment and hearing impairment.
Disabilities initiatives include the Disabilities Strategy, Disabilities Consultant, County
Competition and Table Cricket.
