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Welsh
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Club News We now have 28 clubs, Pontblyddyn, Newport, Pontardulais, Bronwydd, Swansea, Carmarthen Wanderers, Llantwit Major, Cowbridge, Haverfordwest, Pentyrch, Penarth, Croesyceiliog, Gowerton, Brymbo, Neath, Whitchurch Heath, Ebbw Vale, Ynystawe, Lisvane, Miskin, Whitland, Prestatyn, Usk, Hawarden Park, Colwyn Bay, St Fagans, Cresselly and Malpas who have achieved Clubmark accreditation. In recognition of the work required to achieve and maintain accreditation status we have introduced some tangible benefits to the clubs involved. These include access to ECB machinery grants and the Chance to Shine scheme which are covered in more detail below. Accreditation is open to any club with a junior section and those interested should contact their local CDO who will be happy to assist. England and Wales Cricket Trust Machinery Fund The England and Wales Cricket Trust launched the machinery grant in 2007 and Wales was allocated £60k. This was available to Clubmark accredited clubs and Groundsmans associations and proved to be a tremendous success with 19 grant awards used to purchase machinery valued at just over £80k. The EWCT has confirmed the release of a second year of machinery grant funding in 2008 which is great news for all concerned!. Club School links programme (Chance to Shine) By linking schools with a local club, the aim has been to encourage youngsters at school to continue playing cricket within a club environment. This embraces club development by offering the potential to increase club membership with additional opportunities to develop and enhance training for coaches and volunteers. We have funded our own programme over the past two seasons as we have been excluded from the Cricket Foundations Chance to Shine scheme. We are delighted that in partnership with the Sports Council for Wales and the Cricket Foundation that clubs in Wales will be included in the Chance to Shine scheme in 2008. U13&U15 National Knock out Cups U13 Final Gowerton, Northop and Miskin were the winners of the Western, Northern and Southern groups. Unfortunately the final was cancelled (twice) due to bad weather and we were unable to rearrange in September. Northop went on to represent Wales in the UK finals. U15 Portman Cup Final Gowerton, Northop and Newport were the winners of the Western, Northern and Southern groups at U15 level. After a few cancellations we eventually completed the final at Northop Hall CC. This was a very exciting day of cricket with Newport the eventual winners. Newport went on to represent Wales and finished as runners up in the UK final. Kwik Cricket We owe a huge thank you to the many volunteers who organise and coordinate the kwik cricket and provide opportunities for around 700 schools and 7000 boys and girls to take part. The festivals took place during June and July when the weather was not very good however the sun shone when Sir Garfield Sobers was the special guest at the Vale of Glamorgan event held at Penarth Cricket Club. Sageston Primary School, Tenby and Ysgol Owen Jones, Northop were the winners of the South and North Wales finals and went on to the National final at Headingley. Inter Cricket 58 secondary schools in Wales took part in the 2007 Nat West Inter cricket competition and the final was held on Thursday 8th March at the indoor cricket centre Sophia Gardens. Simon Jones was on hand to present the trophy to Greenhill School (Tenby) who won a very exciting final against Cowbridge off the very last ball. Tom Cartwright Memorial Game In 2007 we suffered the very sad loss of Tom Cartwright who played a hugely significant role in the development of cricket in Wales. We will play an annual memorial fixture with Coventry District Cricket Association in Tom’s memory and the inaugural match took place at Bronwydd CC on Thursday 23rd August. National Squads Our Wales U13, U15 and U16 boys sides were all crowned ECB County Champions and our U14 boys and U13 Girls also reached the ECB finals. This was an outstandingly successful season and full details of all of the squad results can be found on our website www.cbw.org.uk International Honours. Congratulations to David Lloyd (North East Wales Region and Brymbo CC), Imran Hassan (Gwent and Newport CC), Daniel Roberts (West Glam and Pontardulais CC) and Gareth Thomas (Carmarthenshire and Carmarthen Wanderers CC) on being selected for the England U15 side following the Bunbury Cricket week. Imran was also selected for the England U16’s. WACD (Wales Association of Cricketers with a Disability) The WACD enter sides in both the ECB hard ball and incrediball ECB County Championship and finished runners up to Lancashire in the final of the hard ball competition after topping the southern group. The incrediball side narrowly missed out on a final appearance after finishing in second spot to Somerset in the southern group. Congratulations to Steve Dancer and Ian Crumplin who were selected for the England squads this season. Regional Cricket The weather caused a few difficulties during the season however we managed to complete both zonal competitions and all of our festivals apart from the U12’s at Swansea. Special thanks to all of the clubs who hosted games and congratulations to the winners of each of the age group competitions; Gwent U11 &U13, Cardiff &Vale U14 and North East Wales U15. Coach EducationCoach Education plays a pivotal role in the overall development of cricket within Wales and we will run a number of Level 1 and Level 2 courses and Coach Development workshops throughout the autumn/winter months of 2007/8 to expand and improve the existing coaching base. All coaches must have a clear CRB check if they are to be coaching children and full details of the course dates can be found on our website www.cbw.org.uk
Regards
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