Winchester
Warriors
There’s strong competition between the larger clubs:
Andover, Fair Oak, Trojans and St Cross, and often they will be
seen at the top of their respective age group leagues. However,
St Cross didn’t win any district knockout competition this year,
as Longparish (2), IBM Hursley, Tichborne Park, Trojans and
Fair Oak shared the trophies.”
Girls
“Girls cricket has developed quickly in recent years, with the
support of the Hampshire Cricket Board and Twyford School
where our district teams are based and many county matches are
played. Just four Winchester clubs have fielded girls teams so far,
but at least 11 clubs have girls playing in mixed (or open) teams
and many are hoping for all girls teams in the future.
Our girls leagues are sufficiently strong to attract teams from
outside the district to play in our summer leagues: Portsmouth,
Petersfield and Burridge/Locks Heath have all been welcomed
this summer.”
Other challenges include finding willing and capable
volunteers to coach juniors and to manage junior teams.
Managing teams is often time consuming and needs good admin
and organisational skills, which some people have in abundance,
but others’ skills lie elsewhere.
Our ambitions are to increase the numbers of girls teams and
competitions, to maintain and if possible increase the numbers
of teams taking part in indoor and outdoor league competitions,
to retain and involve under 17 cricketers in teams and in other
roles with clubs. We also want to support the player pathway for
especially talented young cricketers to develop their skills and
become district and county level cricketers in the coming years.”
The Winter
“We’re currently preparing for the winter coaching sessions,
with about 400 nominations of aspiring and emerging players
being made by clubs in the district for winter coaching sessions at
district level. The structure of district coaching will be changing
this coming winter, as Hampshire Cricket take responsibility for
district level coaching, by introducing Regional Performance
Centres, with part time managers and a team of coaches, many
of whom will be the current coaches from Winchester Warriors
and the other districts.
Winter Indoor league matches will start in October, as more
than 20 teams compete for silverware in the next few months.
Many clubs see the winter leagues as a way of developing the
skills of their young players, helping them with captaincy,
leadership bowling tactics and shot selection in the faster, more
pressured indoor environment. This is especially so for the girls’
teams, as the number of girls playing cricket increases faster than
the boys at the moment.”
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Development
“Winchester Warriors encourages young cricketers to take
responsibility for coaching activities, captaincy, and other
leadership roles, within their clubs and for the district association.
We do this through training courses such as young leaders,
scoring and umpiring, all of which attract young players. We
have also designed competition rules to give space on the field to
young captains, without coaches (and parents!) instructing them
from the boundary or on the field.
District level coaches encourage their players to take
responsibility in coaching sessions and in the matches, to
take decisions and lead their team-mates, which suits many
developing players. More than 25 young players attended our
training activities earlier in 2015, and with good support from
clubs and the Hampshire Cricket Board, we hope to increase
those numbers in 2016.”
Challenges/Ambitions
“One of our biggest challenges is the decrease in the number
of players available to club teams at the beginning of the season
and during exams. Non-availability of players is a constant
headache for coaches and managers. The weather is also a
challenge! Outdoor leagues often suffer from poor weather in
the summer, although this summer (and 2014) has been good.
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