An academy for cumbria cricket
Bob Simpson, Cricket Development Manager, reports
One of my own visions for Cumbria was to somehow get an Academy for the County. I must admit it was a bit of a dream until I worked with Ian Shaw and Nigel Williamson to produce the first CCB Facilities Strategy back in 2008. Part of this work entailed detailed analysis of the current indoor facilities that Cricket Clubs and CCB used for its extensive winter coaching programme from Open courses to County representative and Coach Education programmes. This proved the catalyst in identifying where gaps were in current facilities used and areas of the County where there were no indoor facilities or facilities that just were not up to specification for use within cricket. A feasibility study was then carried out with 3 centres that did not have cricket catered for and 3 that did. The South Lakeland District was the most obvious area which did not have a facility that met the ECB and Sport England's Technical Specifications for an indoor centre. Sedbergh School was one of the centres and following the feasibility study it soon became clear that an Academy style centre could be a real possibility providing
Sports Hall with a classroom and video analysis facilities
Quality cricket ground for use for County Representative fixtures
6-lane outdoor Net facility
Residential potential for Coach Education and coaching camps
Discussions with the School about how the CCB and the School could work in partnership to achieve this gathered pace and with the evidence to hand I approached Dan Musson, ECB Facilities and Funding Manager for the North. The ECB National Facilities Strategy stated that there must be an indoor centre with cricket catered for within a 30-mile radius for community clubs to use: if not ECB would look at finding funding to work in partnership to address this situation. This was the lever for the CCB and ECB to access over £100,000.00 that has been used to considerably upgrade the indoor sports hall with a new lighting system, 4 new lanes of nets, 4 new mats and newly painted walls. Also, at this time of writing a new 6-lane outdoor net facility is being constructed.
I can hear you saying "sounds great but how does this benefit cricket in Cumbria?" A good question and the answer is access to quality indoor and outdoor facilities. This partnership and project is the first of its kind in the North of England, which has allowed us to draw in investment that would not otherwise have been available. It will need close monitoring and management from the CCB and the school to ensure Cricket reaps the maximum benefits. It has to be said that Sedbergh School have been fantastic in working with the CCB, as have been the local Cricket Clubs to get to where we are now.
I want to finish by saying that there are other geographical areas that need to be supported with refurbished indoor facilities - I can assure you all that the CCB is committed to supporting improving the facilities county-wide. An annual review of the CCB Facilities Strategy with the help of CCB stakeholders, clubs and local partners within the communities will identify strategic need.
this is a photo of the nets under construction at Sedburgh school
