As Durham County Cricket Board ended the season with success across junior, girls’ and women’s cricket, the organisation looks forward to 2019 in a strong position for further development and growth.
In 2018 Durham Cricket Board expanded their women’s pathway at all levels – from participation to performance, attracted nearly 2,500 five to eight-year-olds to local cricket clubs and connected junior cricket to the elite in partnership with Durham CCC via their Sticker Book.
Schools
The Cricket Board delivered school coaching in partnership with the national cricket charity Chance to Shine to over 16,000 pupils in Durham in 104 primary schools and through inter-school competitions.
The charity that changed their delivery model to focus on KS1 and KS2 activity following further investment from ECB and to create a pathway to link in with the new cricket offer for children as young as 5 through All Stars Cricket, has seen positive implementation and feedback across Durham.
Chance to Shine delivery was key for the promotion of All Stars Cricket and younger pupils taking up the sport with over 50% of signups to ECB’s entry-level programme in Durham resulting from school engagement.
Durham’s delivery model has been nationally recognised with Durham winning County Board of the Year at this year’s Chance to Shine Awards.
All Stars Cricket
Nearly 2,500 five to eight-year-old boys and girls took part in All Stars Cricket in Durham this summer, more than double the amount of last year’s campaign.
The eight-week programme, aimed at bringing younger children into the game, was delivered in 62 cricket clubs in the county, 20 clubs more than in 2017, giving kids a great first experience in cricket.
The campaign delivered in Durham was the sixth most well-performing All Stars Cricket campaign nationally in terms of overall number of participants, and fourth in regards to average number of children signing up to programmes.
The campaign proved successful with girls, with every one in four participants in Durham being a girl. The 6.0% growth of girls signing up from last year contributed to Durham ranking fourth nationally on percentage breakdown of girls.
Women's and girls' cricket
For the first season ever, Durham Cricket Board were in a position to deliver a comprehensive women’s and girls’ campaign across the county to support every level of the game – from participation to senior and performance.
At entry level, the Board organised their “Ladies Days” for a second season running, looking to create more competition for girls’ teams while also attracting new women into the game.
The events involved competitive girls’ soft ball festivals, aimed at existing girls’ teams, and women’s soft ball festivals, offering opportunities to women to give cricket a go and get involved in the sport in the summer.
“Ladies Days” were held at 12 local cricket clubs, attracting 659 unique participants.
Durham’s Women’s T20 League was fully revamped following a poor 2017 season, when only a single game was played. In 2018, 52 games went ahead resulting in more practice and competition for players at club and county level.
Philadelphia Cricket Club were the winners of the league this summer ahead of runners-up Leadgate Cricket Club and third-placed Shotley Bridge Cricket Club.
A new women’s cricket tournament, named Super 4s, was launched to strengthen the women’s pathway in Durham and bridge the gap between the T20 League and the performance level in Durham, represented by the DCCC Women’s Academy – the Northern Jets.
The Super 4s is the first non-club-based competition in the North and saw four teams, compiled of the best female cricketers in the North of the country, showcase the highest level of women’s grassroots cricket the region has to offer.
At senior level, Durham Women finished their season with promotion to Division Two in the ECB Women’s County Championship.
Connecting grassroots cricket with the professional game
Durham Cricket Board in partnership with Durham CCC drove their Sticker Book initiative for a second consecutive season in a bid to create resonance between All Stars Cricket and the professional game.
The initiative that saw Durham pick up the Inspiring Fan Loyalty Award last year involved creating and distributing a Durham Jets Sticker Book to All Stars participants to go alongside a free Durham Junior Jets membership and a discounted ticket offer for parents.
The campaign contributed to 97% increase in Junior Jets memberships and accounted for 51% of Blast season (adult) ticket sales.
As a result of the Sticker Book initiative, DCCC have seen an increase in Junior memberships by 303% over the past two seasons.
Vitality U19 Club T20
In the Durham Under-19 Club T20 Tournament, Sacriston Cricket Club and Richmondshire Cricket Club made their way to the final at Emirates Riverside after a busy summer of group games and knockout fixtures.
Sacriston Cricket Club claimed the trophy in a tense game winning by five wickets with one ball to spare.
Result: Sacriston Colliery Cricket Club (119-5) beat Richmondshire Cricket Club (116-8) by five wickets.
Junior Cricket
In Junior Cricket, 16 clubs from the Northumberland Tyneside Cricket League, a league formed from the merger of the Northumberland Tyneside Senior League with Northumberland Cricket League, joined the Durham Cricket Board Junior League to form a fifth division in the Junior League, known as the Tyneside Division.
This meant that all bar 11 clubs that play in the North Yorkshire Area Cricket Council were now members of the Durham Cricket Board Junior League.
The League introduced an under-9 format for the first time to create a link between All Stars Cricket and under-11 hard ball club cricket. The under-9 matches used a soft ball and were non-competitive and fun friendly fixtures.
The under-9 games took place at the same ground, date and time as under-11 league games – on a Sunday morning – with the intention to carry a powerful message across clubs that there is a clear progression path for young players from the age of 5 until 11 while also providing continuity for parents for a number of years.
England and Wales Cricket Board just concluded their junior cricket format review for under-9 – under-11 cricket and Durham Cricket Board will spend the next couple of months preparing to get the Junior League in line with recommendations.