The last year has been one of two halves at the Gloucestershire Cricket Board.
The first six months saw us continue to deliver existing programmes - including helping to introduce a revamped league structure and visiting Sri Lanka on our first county junior overseas tour. The second half presented us with a period of uncertainty as we waited to learn what implicationsthe ECB’s new Cricket Unleashed strategy will have for the future of the game in Gloucestershire.
The ECB’s new five-year plan aims to grow the game by inspiring more people to play and follow cricket but many of the details of how this will look in practice remain unclear.This presents us with significant challenges in trying to plan our future work and ensure we have the right people in the right roles to make a success of whatever is thrown at us.
We have already seen a number of changes as a result of Cricket Unleashedincluding the ECB introducing new regional teams to help implement the strategy. As a result, the south west & Wales team are now based in our officesat the Brightside Ground, Bristol.
We have also seen the launch of the new All Stars Cricket entry level programme for 5-8-year-olds and the appointment of a Gloucestershire Growth Development Officer to oversee a number of areas including women and girls, disability, community and casual cricket.
I am sure there will be many more exciting opportunities and announcements throughout the next year as things become clearer and I look forward to keeping you updated.One thing that is certain is that, as we always do, we will embrace any new challenges head on and ensure that whatever the future of cricket looks like, Gloucestershire will be at the forefront.
The GCB’s ability to both adapt to change and blaze our own trail were evident throughout the last 12 months. The start of the year saw the focus on trying to retain players in adult club cricket – something that was identified as a priority in the ECB’s National Cricket Playing Survey (NCPS).
Although Gloucestershire’s results bucked the national trend of a decline in teams playing “traditional” adult cricket, it was clear that changes needed to be made to safeguard the future of competitive league cricket.
As a result of consultations with clubs, the West of England Premier League and its feeder leagues – including the Gloucestershire County Cricket League (GCCL) and Bristol and District Cricket League (BDCL) – agreed to a number of changes to their structure. These included placing 2nd XI’s back into local leagues and bringing in a number of other measures to cut down on travel time and the length of day - two of the key barriers identified in the NCPS.
In addition to Saturday league cricket there was also an increase in the number of Gloucestershire clubs playing competitively on Sundays. This included an increase in entrants to both the County Trophy – which was won by Langford, and the Stuart Canvas County Cup – won by Downend. The County Cup final was given an extra boost with the final played at the Brightside Ground, Bristol for the first time in more than a decade.
The Brightside Ground also staged the semi-finals of the NatWest Under 19 T20- a competition which featured record entries in 2016. Rain intervened before the final but Bristol retained their trophy when the match was played a week later. The popularity of the Under 19 competition saw us replicate the format for Under 16 teams with Bedminster being crowned inaugural champions. 2016 also saw entries for the Gloucestershire Youth Cricket League (GYCL) go up across each of its four age groups.
Off the field there were a number of highlights in the club game including ex-England skippers Alastair Cook and Mike Gatting lending a hand at Dymock CC’s NatWest CricketForce event after it was selected as one of the ECB’s national showcase clubs. Dymock (pavilion), Frocester (pavilion) and Upton St Leonards (nets) are just a few of the clubs we have supported with major projects over the last 12 months.We were also delighted to be able help 21 clubs purchase new covers through the England and Wales Cricket Trust’s Small Grant Scheme.
2016 saw us add to the list of sponsors and partners that we work with in order to offer our clubs the best possible deals on services and equipment. Commercial energy broker Utilitrack became our official energy partner and have already helped a number of clubs save money on their bills. We also welcomed Montpellier Health as our first ever Gloucestershire Women’s sponsor and Pegler Yorkshire as Under 19 T20 sponsor and facilities management partner. We have also continued to build on and strengthen our ties with our existing partners including the Medlock Charitable Trust, St Austell Brewery and Jelf Insurance Brokers.
Our support for clubs was boosted by John Peplow joining us in June as Clubs & Programmes Officer in the south of the county. In his first six months John has already achieved a lot including heading up a project looking into the feasibility of creating more non turf pitches in Bristol’s parks and organising our 2017 club development roadshows.
John’s appointment came after his predecessor Lisa Pagett moved to a part-time role focusing solely on women’s and girls’ cricket. This was one of a number of staff changes at the GCB in 2016. In March, we were delighted to welcome Gareth Dawson as community coach in the north of the county, replacing Jamie Mitchell. And in October Crispin Shingler joined the team as Bristol Wicketz Development Officer, a new role funded by the Lord’s Taverner’s which aims to empower inner-city areas through cricket.
Lisa’s role change was one of many exciting developments for women’s and girls’ cricket. She combines her GCB role with being the manager of the Western Storm who finished as runners-up in the first ever Kia T20 Super League in 2016. Formed as a partnership between Gloucestershire and Somerset County Cricket Clubs and Exeter University, the Storm not only provided entertainment on the pitch but also helped grow the women and girls’ game by holding a number of coaching camps. Other exciting developments in women’s and girls’ cricket included the launch of informal “come and try” sessions across the county and plans to revamp Gloucestershire Under 15 Girls T20 league with coloured clothing, pink balls music and off-the-field activities. With eight ICC Women’s World Cup games being played in Bristol there is set to be many more exciting events to look forward to during 2017.
Our Performance programme enjoyed another successful year in 2016 with an increase in both the number of games played and the percentage of matches won. Highlights included both the Under 13 and Under 14 boys teams winning their respective Taunton Festival’s – the first Glos teams to do so in living memory. The Gloucestershire Women also enjoyed another positive season, finishing top of their T20 league and winning nine out of 10 games across all competitions. There have also been a number of individual successes to celebrate. On the women’s side Danielle Gibson has been selected for the England Women’s Academy winter programme while Natasha Wraith was picked in the Western Storm regional squad. On the boys’ side half of last year’s Gloucestershire Academy squad had come through our junior ranks. These included James Bracey who made his First-Class debut for Gloucestershire, Patrick Grieshaber who played his first T20 and one-day matches for the first team. Another former age group player George Hankins cemented his place in the side and fast bowler Ollie Currill was awarded with an Academy Plus contract.
Arguably the biggest highlight of the 2016 performance programme was the tour to Sri Lanka in February. Organised through our travel partner Lion Sports Travel, the trip saw a party of 30 players (a boys squad and a girls squad), five management staff and 27 parents spend 13 days travelling the country and playing in competitive fixtures. The tour proved a tremendous experience both on and off the field, with players developing their cricket skills, forming close bonds with their team mates and experiencing a new culture. We hope to take a new tour party back to Sri Lanka in 2018.
Our county age group teams were not the only Gloucestershire sides to enjoy success in 2016. Our visually impaired team the Gloucestershire Growlers reached their first ever final – a great achievement for a side that was only formed in 2012. We also introduced a second county softball team in addition to the hardball and softball teams that were already running. We continue to run a wide-reaching disability programme in schools and hope to reach 100% of SEN schools in 2017. We are also actively looking to add to our two disability club teams.
Our education programme continues to go from strength to strength thanks to the support of the Chance to Shine charity. In 2016 we visited more schools than in 2015 and had more teams entering both our primary and secondary competitions than the previous year. We have also seen more children migrate from school sessions to local clubs.
Finally, I would like to pass on my personal thanks to my team and to the army of volunteers that contribute so much to the success of grass roots cricket in Gloucestershire. From league organisers to club committee members, coaches, officials and groundsmen there are so many people who deserve recognition for all they do and I am hugely grateful for their tireless work.
With the support and commitment of so many good people the game in Gloucestershire is in good hands and as a Board we look forward to continuing to play our part in contributing to the growth and success of cricket in the county.