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Cricket Stars Of Tomorrow Shine At Edgbaston

The Fox Hollies team with Dennis Amiss

More than 200 children flocked to the Edgbaston Indoor Cricket Centre last week to take part in the Lord’s Taverners Under 11 and Under 14 Cricket Festival.

The children were selected from more than 600 youngsters, all of whom had taken part in a 10-week winter training camp set up by the Warwickshire Cricket Board around the county.

The coaching scheme and festival form a vital introduction to cricket for many children who would not otherwise get the chance to play. In the finals of the training, it was the youngsters from the Fox Hollies club that were victorious in both the Under 14s and Under 11s competitions, winning for a record third year in a row.

Known as the Lord’s Taverners programme, the initiative has been running at Edgbaston for 22 years and has encouraged grass roots cricket to flourish. Led by Robert Bertham the Lord’s Taverners representative who helped establish the programme in 1988. The objective of the training is to help those unfamiliar with the sport learn the basics of it, and others to polish up on their skills.

The programme has been a great success for Edgbaston, with cricket stars including Warwickshire player and England international Ian Bell participating in the annual tournament when he was a youngster. In addition to training and mini tournaments, the children from 21 cricket clubs and leisure centres spanning the Birmingham City region were also introduced to WCCC’s coaching staff and given tours of the international ground, which is currently undergoing an extensive £30m regeneration.

To commemorate their achievements, the winning teams were presented with the Bill Lloyd Memorial Cup by Warwickshire cricketing legend Dennis Amiss MBE. The Fox Hollies teams have both been coached by Jas Virdi, who himself played in the festival final in 2001.

Commenting on the programme Andy Wyles, Community Cricket Development Officer at Edgbaston, said: “The Lord’s Taverners is always a fantastic success and it is great to see the children getting out and active and learning how to play cricket. We have seen a really strong calibre of budding cricketers through our doors this year and who knows, we may have even trained some of the England stars of tomorrow!”