Coventry and North Warwickshire Cricket Club (CNWCC) played host to a Warwickshire Age Group Select XI on Friday evening as part of their 175th anniversary celebrations.
In glorious sunshine, the Roadshow across the afternoon and evening proved a huge success as Warwickshire Cricket Foundation (WCF) carried out an activation process on the outfield before the showpiece of the T20 match, in which CNWCC emerged victorious.
Around 80 children and young people were in attendance throughout the day and they took part in various drills and fun games laid on by WCF staff. The club’s academy players, taking part in the evening match, also joined in with the sessions and engaged with the youngsters over the course of the afternoon.
The groups included Dynamos and All Stars, which are ECB programmes aimed at introducing young children to cricket at a fundamental level, a girls-only group and a session tailored for young people with various special educational needs (SEN).
The youngsters played quick cricket, taking it in turns to have both a bat and a bowl which helped them to both work on and improve their cricket skills as well as their physical fitness.
At the end of the sessions all children were handed fuzzy Bear hats and 4 / 6 cards, so that they are well prepared for their next trip to Edgbaston!
“We have about 80 kids coming every Friday night for All Stars and Dynamos,” CWNCC chair Dave Robinson explained. “That has been fantastic.
“I used to work as a development officer for the Warwickshire Cricket Board, and now it is the Foundation which is going from strength to strength. There are now a lot of children playing cricket.”
Coventry and North Warwickshire Cricket Club’s 175th anniversary
The club formed in 1851 but actually spent the first 49 years of its existence playing in the city, before moving to the current home on the Binley Road in 1900.
In CNWCC’s decorated history, their ground has been graced by a number of famous cricketers; the legendary W.G. Grace and Bob Wyatt - who of course has a stand named after him at Edgbaston - both played on the surface, as did Bears favourite Ian Bell in much more recent times.
Coventry and North Warwickshire CC is now identified as a CIO - a not-for-profit Community Incorporated Organisation - which has established itself down the years as a pillar of the region.
“Even more so now than for a long time, we are a real community club,” Dave tells us. “Much of it is down to volunteers, and who you have got helping behind the scenes.”
Dave, who has spent the last 47 years in various roles at Coventry and North Warwickshire but who has been the chair of the club for the past eight, prioritised the grassroots upon taking up the responsibility in 2018.
CNWCC now have eight junior teams to run alongside their four senior Saturday teams and a Sunday team, while their under 12 side contains 12 youngsters, all of whom are currently representing counties including Warwickshire and Leicestershire.
A girls’ team is currently in the pipeline too, after years of effort, and the club are working alongside Warwickshire Cricket Foundation to make that happen.
“One thing I wanted to do when I became chair was sort the junior section of the club,” Dave said. “That has really come on and then, from there, you look at strengthening the first-team and second-team.
“We’ve tried for three years to get the girls team going, we had been into secondary schools, but we are now working with Gabby (Basketter) at Warwickshire Cricket Foundation. We have an excellent coach in Greg Beaufoy, an ex school teacher who has a brilliant rapport with kids.
“He has begun going into schools with development officers from the Foundation, so we are hopeful of a good influx of children - boys and girls - from local junior schools and we have some interesting ideas for the future.”
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