Durham Cricket’s Under-11 County Development Group of players have together walked, ran and cycled the distance from Emirates Riverside to Lord’s Cricket Ground and back in lockdown.
The Under-11 players, with the help of their Durham Cricket coaches, completed the challenge of accumulating 710 miles in two weeks covering a route starting from Emirates Riverside, visiting Headingley, Old Trafford, Edgbaston, The Oval and Lord’s.
The challenge is part of a virtual training programme Durham Cricket has engaged the Under-11 Development Group with during lockdown.
Durham Cricket’s Coaches have been running weekly training sessions online with the group, while setting some skills challenges to the participants each week.
Additionally, the group have had to work together and walk, run and cycle the distance of the route from the Riverside to Lord’s and back, which they completed ahead of the three-week deadline set to them.
The Under-11 Development Group has been formed from the most talented cricketers in that age group, following the first stage of the selection process.
The players were nominated to Durham Cricket’s Performance Pathway by their cricket clubs at the end of last season and attended the first stage of the selection process – the League-Based courses – after which a group of 32 cricketers made up the Development Group.
The Development Group will attend Skills Challenges at Emirates Riverside when restrictions allow, following which the Under-11 County Squad will be selected.
Kyle Davis, Club and Coach Development Officer at Durham Cricket, has been leading on the weekly training plan for the group. He said: “It’s been really great to engage with the under-11 group during lockdown.
“Running regular sessions online has been fantastic for the group and it’s allowed us to uplift the spirits of the players about the prospects of the season.
“It was important for us to keep in touch with them and provide opportunities to develop their skills despite the restrictions.
“The challenges we’ve been running have been met with a lot of excitement and quite a bit of healthy competition. So much so that we planning to run the weekly challenges up until we are able to get outside.”