PalaceshieldCricket alt="Palace Shield Cricket Competition" title="Palace Shield Cricket Competition"

Lancashire Cricket’s End of Season Awards Dinner took place in The Point at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday night.

The Specsavers County Championship’s leading wicket-taker, Tom Bailey, was named Lancashire Player of the Year, following his haul of 64 wickets for an average of just 19 with the red ball.

Bailey’s fellow seam bowler, and the Championship’s second deadliest bowler, Graham Onions, scooped Championship Player of the Year. The evergreen 36-year-old took 57 wickets in his debut season with the Red Rose, after making the move from Durham during the winter.

For his 534 runs, the second highest in a season by a Lancashire batsman, Alex Davies was named T20 Player of the Year, his six half-centuries helping Lightning to reach Finals Day – Davies was also named as the Red Rose Members’ Player of the Year.

There was double success for Matthew Parkinson as the leg spinner took home the One-Day and Young Player of the Year awards. The 21-year-old finished as leading wicket taker in the Royal London One-Day Cup, claiming 18 wickets, and also enjoyed a strong season in T20 with 25 wickets and 16 in the Championship.  

Keshav Maharaj was awarded the Champagne Moment for his two wickets with the scores level to secure a sensational tie at Somerset, while 21-year-old Josh Bohannon’s secured the Breakthrough Player of the Year, after debuting in all three formats this year.

Lancashire Thunder were also recognised following their greatly improved Kia Super League campaign, which saw them narrowly miss out on a Finals Day berth.

Sophie Ecclestone’s 15 wickets taken at an average of 15, earned the 19-year-old Young Player of the Tournament and New Zealand international Amy Satterthwaite claimed Player of the Tournament after scoring 277 runs at an average close to 35.

Their Thunder teammate Emma Lamb scored 497 runs at an average of 41 to win Lancashire Women’s Player of the Year.

For the first time, cricket across the region was also recognised in the new community awards. Peter Mcdermid of Trimpell Cricket Club was named as the inaugural winner of the AO.com Volunteer of the Year, while Longridge Cricket Club were crowned Club of the Year.

Wasim Afridi of the Lancashire Lions picked up Disability Player of the Year, with representatives from Lancashire Knockout Cup winners Darwen Cricket Club also invited on stage to be re-presented with their trophy.

With just days to go before it closes, excitement is growing for the Cricket World Cup ticket ballot announced recently by the ECB. Fans have until Wednesday 29^th to apply for tickets to the global competition, being held on home soil for the first time this century. And with England currently the ICC’s number one ranked ODI team in the world, it’s a tournament that you don’t want to miss.

Will England lift the CWC Trophy in 2019?

When is the Cricket World Cup 2019?

The Cricket World Cup starts at The Oval with England v South Africa, two teams who have yet to lift the trophy, despite being first and forth in the rankings. The match starts at 10.30 on Thursday 30^th May. There is then at least one game a day, often two, until Saturday 6^th July.

The first semi-final takes place on Tuesday 9^th July, with the second semi-final on Thursday 11^th. It all ends with the grand final at the Home of Cricket, on Sunday 14^th July. Most games start at 10:30, although there are seven day / night games starting at 1.30pm, usually when there are two games on the same day.

Where are the games taking place?

The tournament is taking place in England and Wales, with matches spread right across the country. The schedule includes all the iconic grounds, with the aim of offering maximum accessibility and generating maximum involvement from the watching fans. Round robin matches will be held at The Oval, Lords, Trent Bridge, Bristol County Ground, Hampshire Bowl, County Ground Taunton, Old Trafford, Headingley, Edgbaston, Chester-le-Street and Sophia Park in Cardiff. The semis will be held at Old Trafford and Edgbaston and the final at Lord’s.

The final will be held at Lord’s on 14^th July

Who is taking part?

The top eight teams in the ODI rankings at the time of the draw gained an automatic place. This includes England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. These were joined by the top two qualifying teams, the West Indies and Afghanistan.

Of these teams, Australia has been the most successful, with five wins since 1975, with India and West Indies taking two apiece and Pakistan and Sri Lanka winning once each. Australia are the current World Champions after their win on home soil in Melbourne in 2015. Prior to that, India were the champions, also having won in home conditions – something England will be hoping to emulate next summer.

How to apply for tickets?

There's nothing like the excitement of a world championship, but you don’t have to go all the way to Qatar for the World Athletics Championships in Doha, or sharpen up your card smarts for the World Championship of Online Poker. You can watch the best in the world right here on your doorstep with the Cricket World Cup.

Tickets are being assigned by a ballot, which opened on 1^st August and closes on Tuesday 29^th. To apply for tickets, you need to create an account with CWC2019 and register for the match, or matches, you would like to attend. You can apply for all 45 games if you want but there is a limit to the number of tickets you can apply for at each game, ranging from four for the final to eleven for Bangladesh v Afghanistan. The ballot is not first come first served, and you can apply right up to 8pm on 29^th with the same chance as anyone else.

How to improve your chances

If you are determined to get to a game, and money is no object, then you can use the Powerplay feature in the ticketing process. This means that if you are unsuccessful in your application at one level, then you will automatically enter the ballot for the next highest price ticket, and then the next, until you are either successful or all the tickets have been assigned. It may work out an expensive way of getting a seat, but if England do as well as their form would suggest, this could be a unique opportunity to see them on their way to becoming World Champions for the first time.

It is worth noting that tickets must be for personal use, and so it is not advisable to buy from any other source than the official website. At least one member of the party must be the ticket purchaser and this will be checked at the ground to prevent ticket touts.

Any tickets that are left after the ballot will be put on general sale to the public later this year, but with tests and ODIs regularly selling out across the country, it is simply not worth the risk of waiting.

Find out more

To see the full fixture list to the Cricket World Cup 2019, or to find out more about the tournament, visit the ICC CWC2019 website. Registering for the ballot will also give you the option of getting all the latest news about the tournament. But don’t forget, the ballot closes on Tuesday 29^th August at 8pm, so don’t miss out. You might never have a better chance of seeing England win a major world cricket trophy.

ECB ACO Scorer Roadshows

Building on the launch of Play-Cricket Scorer, ECB has continued to listen to scorers and, throughout the winter, has developed a FREE scoring solution for Windows and Apple Mac.

Play-Cricket Scorer Pro provides an alternative scoring option that meets the needs of the dedicated scorer in the recreational and professional game.

ECB and ECB ACO are touring the country showcasing the functionality of Play-Cricket Scorer and Scorer Pro to all in attendance. 

These events are free to attend and open to all on the following dates so please click your preferred link to book your place and share the details with anyone you know who may also be interested.

The Programme

The event will begin with an overview of Play-Crickets tools, setting the scene, highlighting the importance of scoring to the game and both the features and benefits of Play-Cricket’s products for scorers, administrators and players.

You will then receive a demonstration by a representative of the new Play-Cricket Scorer Pro software and Play-Cricket Scorer app followed by a Q&A giving you the opportunity to raise any questions.

Finishing off the evening you will have an opportunity to meet product experts from the recreational and professional game who have been developing and extensively testing Play-Cricket Scorer Pro during the winter months.

Throughout the event, the technical product development team will also be on hand and available to discuss any necessary queries.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Don't forget the presentation on the changes to the Laws of Cricket...

You can find it on Who's The Umpire (WTU), by following these steps:

Log into WTU – Click 'INEX' – Click 'ECB Public' – Click ‘Law Changes 2017’

If you haven't already registered for WTU click here to register for access

1.    All Stars Cricket Has Launched!

All Stars Cricket club registration launched 2 weeks ago. We encourage Clubs to upload their sessions by 31st January before promotional school visits begin in early February. Email campaigns to returning participants will begin in mid-February. If you register your Club by the 31st January, you'll also be entered into a competition to win a Club visit from All Stars Cricket Ambassador Michael Vaughan.

The national marketing campaign is bigger than ever and will kick off around Easter. Clubs will receive regular communications and support from their County Champion to support the delivery of the programme. Click here for more information.

Register Your Club

Returning Clubs - Login to your Account

2.    NatWest CricketForce - 23rd to 25th March 2018

Already, there are over 1500 clubs taking part in NatWest CricketForce this year, focusing on:

Improvement of changing and toilets facilities for women and girls

Improving access for disabled people

Creating more family-friendly function rooms

By simply registering for NatWest CricketForce you are entitled to a range of special offers and discounts from our Official Supporters, helping your club save hundreds of pounds!

Get involved here

Check out the range of new digital resources, designed to help you market and promote your event to club members and local community by clicking here.

Jewson Privilege Account Scheme

Every club who registers for NatWest CricketForce will now automatically qualify for the Jewson Privilege Account Scheme of £150 following an initial deposit of £50 to activate your account. Jewson will be in touch imminently with all the information about how to activate your account and the specially designed packages of products.

3.    ECB Small Grant Scheme 2018

In 2018, the ECB Small Grant Scheme aims to support the ECB’s national programmes - Get the Game On, All Stars Cricket, Women’s Cricket and U19 Club T20.

Priority will be given to applications from affiliated cricket clubs actively engaged with these programmes. All projects will assist clubs to make small changes to improve their long-term sustainability by increasing the number of games played, offering either improved family friendly social facilities, improved changing facilities for women cricketers or enabling great events for the

4.    U19 Club T20 competition.

Clubs should contact their local County Cricket Board (CCB) to receive an application form and guidance notes on how to apply.

The deadline for applications to CCBs is Friday 23rd February 2018.

For more information click here.

5.    ECB ACO - It's Your Call - New Umpire Courses

  The new Stage 1 course is perfect for those starting out on the umpiring pathway or if you just want to you learn more for when you have to don the white coat at your club. The new shorter course is just £30 (only £40 if you sign up for Stage 2 at the same time) and prepares you for getting out on the field.

The available courses in your area can be found here.

Click here for marketing resources to help spread the courses around your network.

6.    Play-Cricket: Powering recreational cricket

We have produced a variety of walk-through videos for the Play-Cricket Scorer App introduced in 2017. Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to view the videos.

Please find our updated Features & Benefits document here - all you need to know about everything Play-Cricket has to offer.

7.    ICC Cricket World Cup News.

Priority access to the ICC Cricket World Cup Ticket Ballot - beginning May 1^st

Take a look at the timeline above for all the key CWC19 ticketing dates below and keep an eye out for more information on tickets, schedules and pricing, which we'll be sending your way in March.

Encourage your friends and family to be part of the priority ballot too by getting them to register now.

8.    Do you want to be part of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019?

In 2019, England and Wales are set to host the ICC Cricket World Cup for the fifth time and you could be part of it. As the flagship event of the international cricket calendar, it will be the stage for the world’s best players for six weeks of enthralling cricket.

From working in venues to delivering Fan Parks to managing accreditation, we will be looking to recruit for a wide range of roles over the coming months. You could become a member of a hardworking team that is striving for excellence in everything they do, looking to challenge one another to think beyond traditional limits and boundaries.

For more information on these roles and to apply, please follow this link.  

We caught up with Paul Tatton, Chairman of the LCF’s Groundsperson's Association on his advice for cricket clubs in Lancashire on ground maintenance in January.

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First of all, I would like to wish the readers a very happy new year.

I understand that we’re close to having over 1,000 views of my updates which is very encouraging from my point of view and I hope it is of use to clubs up and down the county.

Aeration

January is usually a good time to aerate the square, but with this wet autumn and winter weather, I would suggest a different routine. There is no point in aerating wet pitches as this will make holes for water to sit, just like test tubes and defeats the object of the exercise, which as the name suggests is to get oxygen to lower root level.

I suggest not to areate Mendip lome pitches no later than end February and other lome pitches which are more clay content no later than early February.

If we don’t get a dry spell in spring it is paramount that holes will have time to close or we could be playing on cricket pitches with variable bounce. So it’s the golden rule, only when conditions allow.  A good sharp frost this month could be of great benefit.

Toadrush

This is prevalent at this time of the year due to the amount of water in the ground. This is a shallow-rooted reed grass which will show in small dark clumps. If and when conditions are dry, this should scarify out and should not be a problem.

There has been a lot of discussion recent around the standard of pitch surfaces that are required to improve consistency and bounce. It is vital that clubs all around the county produce stand standard pitches if we are to continue to produce Lancashire and ultimately England cricketers.

It is vital that funds are available to finance a club’s facilities which includes machinery, nets, wicket maintenance and looking after the outfield. As well as funding, knowledge is crucial in helping club’s produce good pitches.

For your info

I would also like to make you aware that I will be running a basic groundsman course at Westhoughton Cricket Club on Saturday 24 March. More information will be provided in due course.