Association of Cricket Officials Issue 30 | Page 29

Sam Makes His Mark in Durham A 19 year old has recently taken on the role of County Scorer Officer for Durham, despite still being a teenager. Durham to progress through the different county age groups while completing their ACO portfolio. Sam Blacklock, who scores at Eppleton Cricket Club in the Dukes North East Premier League, took on the role at the end of last year and has so far loved having the opportunity to work with scorers in the region. Sam added: ‘The pathway has been great for scoring in Durham, enabling our Appointments Officer to appoint ACO scorers to each county age group team. This has been a great help for coaches and our scorers have also had great fun travelling around the country and gaining valuable experience. We hope this winter we have more scorers attending the Club Scorer course who may wish to join the scoring pathway.’ Blacklock said: ‘Scoring is a big passion of mine and I love scoring matches, whatever the age group. When I was asked by Paul Jordison (Durham ACO Chairman) if I fancied the challenge of taking on this position, I couldn’t say no. ‘I have really enjoyed encouraging scorers in Durham to become members of ECB ACO and being able to tell them about all the opportunities available for them.’ Over last winter, Sam and a team of other ACO tutors and scorers in Durham introduced a scoring pathway system which enables scorers in Sam recently completed his Level 2 scoring qualification and intends to continue progressing in the future, adding: ‘I would really like to go as far as I can scoring, as I said earlier it is a great passion of mine. I am currently studying at university, which means I can spend a great deal of time during my summer break scoring, which is great fun.’ Giving Scorers Credit! Congratulations to the following scorers who have been accredited at the various levels since November 2016. Level 1 Beryl Barrett (Cambridge) Steven Billington (Derbyshire) Natalie Bradley (Lancashire) Ewan Bray (Cheshire) Darrell Butler (Worcestershire) Kalum Davies-Mosley (Yorkshire) Cheryl Estall (Surrey) Henrik Holm (Cheshire) Gordon Hubbard (Leicestershire) Nick Kontarines (Worcestershire) Barbara Lloyd (Cheshire) Umair Naeem (Lancashire) John Rishton (Cheshire) Janet Risk (Cheshire) Joseph Roberts (Yorkshire) Ian Roberts (Surrey) Zain Sharif (Worcestershire) Paul Summerside (Tyne and Wear) Samuel Sykes (Yorkshire) Kay Tallack (Worcestershire) Joe Tranter (Lancashire) Luke Wilson (Lancashire) Paul Windsor (Berkshire) Andrew Worton (Worcestershire) Hannah Young (Shropshire) Level 2 John Egan (Lancashire) Rachel Hatton (Lancashire) Robert Lane (Buckinghamshire) Keith Meakin (ICC) Heather Vernon (Warwickshire) Judith Wragg (Yorkshire) Level 3 Russell Dickinson (Northamptonshire) Scott Fraser (Leicestershire) If you would like to be on these lists in the future, talk to your County Scorer Officer about getting the portfolio documents and on to the right courses. Sam seen here proudly holding his scorebook against the backdrop of Eppleton’s imposing scoreboard. email us at [email protected] contact us on 0121 446 2710 29