Around Scotland December 2011
We have all the happenings from the world of Scottish cricket – Scotland wicketkeeper Craig Wallace makes an impact down under, Poppy McGeown picks up her prize and Ian Ramage remains on the ICC Umpires Panel.
Competition Winner!
The winner of the U17 Women’s Logo competition, Poppy McGeown, made the trip from Belgium to collect her winning prize - a signed Australia cricket bat presented by Scotland captain, Gordon Drummond.
Poppy, who has Scottish parents, has been studying in Belgium since her teens. Pictured with Gordon, she is a keen follower of Scottish cricket and regularly watches Scotland in action when visiting family and friends here.
Poppy’s winning design will appear in news featuring the U17 Women in 2012.
Craig Wallace Down Under
Scotland internationalist Craig Wallace has been making headlines after settling in Australia for the winter.
The young Forfarshire wicket-keeper batsman, who was selected for the final CB40 games and the Hong Kong Sixes towards the end of the 2011 season, has taken a year out his university studies with the primary aim of helping Scotland qualify for the 2012 Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka.
Wallace’s selection for the Western Zone team divided opinion in the region’s cricket community but he silenced the critics with scores of 33 and 62 against Newcastle and North Costal respectively.
Cricket Scotland Summer Squad
Cricket Scotland, with funding support from ICC Europe, is recruiting a new team of community cricket coaches - the 2012 Summer Squad
This exciting programme will increase the number of children able to enjoy cricket coaching throughout Scotland, with the aim of strengthening links between cricket clubs and schools.
Starting in February, and running for twenty weeks, these community coaches will be available to work with boys and girls in primary schools for four days each week. Local Area Development Groups, with the support of Cricket Scotland’s Cricket Development Managers, can secure the services of a coach if they wish to develop better links between their schools and their local cricket clubs. Each successful Area Development Group will be granted 50% of the funds required to employ a coach, raising the other 50% themselves.
To apply for a coach position, Area Development Groups should contact their Cricket Development Manager, with the closing date for applications being 9 January 2012. Groups will be notified of whether they have been successful on 10 January 2012 with the recruitment of new coaches taking place during the same month.
West Lothian Groundsman Retirement
Twice-crowned Groundsman of the Year, George Strachan has recently announced his retirement from West Lothian Cricket Club.
At 79-years-old, George has decided it is the right time to call it a day, having spent 32 years lovingly caring for Linlithgow’s Boghall ground, which has hosted several Scotland international fixtures and the Scottish Cup final in 2005.
Taking over the ground work from George is first-team regular David Fleming.
ICC Associate and Affiliate International Umpires’ Panel for 2012 announced
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced its umpires’ panel for 2012 with Scotland’s Ian Ramage remaining on the European list of Associate and Affiliate umpires.
The panel was named by the Associate and Affiliate Selection Committee which is made up of Vince van der Bijl, ICC Umpire and Referees’ Manager, ICC regional match referee David Jukes, ex-Test umpire Brian Aldridge, ICC Match Officials Operations Manager Brent Silva and ICC Development Events Manager Edward Fitzgibbon.
Mr van der Bijl said: “The A&A umpires have performed credibly in the last year and the selectors are confident that this panel will continue to grow in stature.”
The umpires on the ICC Associate and Affiliate International Umpires’ Panel can be assigned to ODIs and T20Is involving Associate and Affiliate Members as well as officiate in under-19 and women’s international cricket.
ICC Associate and Affiliate International Umpires’ Panel 2012
Africa - Jeff Luck (Namibia), David Odhiambo (Kenya)
Americas - Roger Dill (Bermuda), Courtney Young (Cayman Islands)
Asia - Buddhi Pradhan (Nepal), Sarika Prasad (Singapore)
East Asia Pacific - Shahul Hameed (Indonesia)
Europe - Niels Bagh (Denmark), Mark Hawthorne (Ireland), Ian Ramage (Scotland), Richard Smith (Ireland)
Gavin Main signs for Durham Academy
Gavin Main, who last year represented Scotland at age group level, has been signed by Durham to play for their Academy in 2012. The youngster, who is based in Lanark, played for Uddingston last season and impressed Durham scouts with some eye-catching performances last summer for the Scotland U18s.
After extensive work re-modelling his action last winter under the guidance of Craig Wright, Main found greater consistency with the ball in 2011.
Craig Wright, Cricket Scotland’s Head of Performance Development, said:
“Bowlers with genuine pace are traditionally thin on the ground in Scotland and Gavin was a guy I identified a couple of years ago as having the raw attributes.
He has worked really hard over that period and Durham obviously like what they have seen so far.
Gavin has enormous potential and a great work ethic so hopefully he can have a good future in the game.”
Jamie Burton returns from Kenya
The Cricket Without Boundaries Kenya trip was an amazing experience for us all with memories that will last a life time. We taught thousands of children and young people HIV/AIDS awareness messages. The fact that we could potentially make a real difference to their lives through these messages through cricket, as well as spending time with them was an amazing feeling.
Amongst the highlights was the experience of coaching in 24 schools, 4 orphanages and teaching over 3,000 children.
A key achievement was coaching more than 120 coaches to achieve an ICC coaching accreditation, ensuring that the coaching of cricket would be sustained in the months ahead.
The people we met in Kenya are truly incredible and an inspiration to us all. I cannot wait to go back again in the near future.
For more information on the Kenya trip please visit the blog at www.cwbblogs.com/kenya11 and the YouTube channel www.youtubecom/cwbkenya2011
