Kent Cricket Board

20^th March 2008

Kent Cricket Board Announce Focus Clubs

Kent Cricket Board today released news of the first Focus Clubs Community Clusters (FCCCs) in Kent. The FCCC programme is designed to help some of Kent’s leading cricket clubs in their future development. KCB have had an amazing response to the initiative and the first cohort of clubs in Kent are now starting to work towards delivering high quality opportunities for young players. The list in full:

Whilst the scheme has been talked about for some time, this is the first time a list has been published confirming which clubs are involved. Clubs have had to work hard to secure the status and it represents the start of an exciting journey that will influence the way in which these clubs develop.

All clubs embarking on the FCCC programme had already achieved ClubMark status which shows that they are well run, ambitious and clearly having aspirations beyond their current activity. KCB will provide support to the management of the club to ensure they continue this good work.

The Kent Cricket Board club development programme is turning out to be a wonderful success story. 45 clubs have now achieved ClubMark accreditation and tales of booming youth sections, improved credibility, successful funding bids and high quality provision for young players abound. This is thought to be the biggest club development programme of any sport in the county.

Commenting on the announcement, Jamie Clifford, KCB Director of Cricket Development, said “the world of cricket club management has changed. These clubs are leading that change. I sincerely hope that with KCB support they can take the development of cricket in their clubs to a new level. It is very exciting times for everyone involved with the sport.”

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For further information, please contact

Jamie Clifford on 07710 742437

· Contact details and map showing location of clubs is also available on request.

HRH Prince Philip, Patron and 12th man of the Lord’s Taverners, presented Charlotte Edwards and her Kent team with the Lady Taverners Trophy and specially struck silver medals for winning recognise the Liverpool Victoria (LV=) Women’s County Championship.  

The ceremony, organised by the Lord’s and Lady Taverners, took place at Buckingham Palace, and crowned another triumphant year for Kent’s women cricketers. 

Kent women, who are sponsored by SeaFrance, have now won the Women’s County Championship for two years in succession.

Afterwards, John Feaver, Chief Executive of the Lord’s Taverners welcomed the team and their guests to the Lord’s Taverners for a further presentation ceremony.

Bill Tidy, President of the Lord’s Taverners, presented medals to Kent Women’s Coach Alan Duncan, managers Malcolm Ings and Julie Beaumont, scorer Jane Sweaney, and the parents of Suzie Rowe, Lydia Greenway and Laura Thompson, who are away playing sport in other parts of the world.

The full Press Release is available for download from this site.

In a another season full of success, Kent’s victorious women’s team proudly show off the County Championship Cup, presented by Mike Denness, at Kent Cricket Board’s annual presentation awards dinner, held recently on the SeaFrance Rodin.

For the second successive year Kent women’s and girls cricket, who are sponsored by SeaFrance and Sportsmatch, have virtually swept all before them, by winning three out of four national county titles.

Special guest Mike Denness, former Kent and England captain, joined two hundred guests as Kent celebrated their remarkable 2007 season by holding their Presentation Awards Ceremony on board the SeaFrance Rodin as it sailed from Dover to Calais and back.

The highlight of the presentation was a second successive victory for Kent women in the Liverpool Victoria County Championship.  This was followed by wins for Kent’s Under 13 and Under 17 teams in their respective county championships. 

The full story is in a KCB press release, available on this site by following this link.

—- Press Release —-

Kent Cricket Board

15^th October 2007

Kent Cricket Board today announced a new team structure for the delivery of ‘Building Partnerships’ (the England & Wales Cricket Board Strategy) in Kent. The team will help ensure that cricket in Kent continues to be at the leading edge of the sport’s development in the UK.

Claire Gould and Andy Griffiths are appointed as ‘field-based’ Community Cricket Managers. They will responsible for guiding and maintaining the development of cricket clubs and providing support to the well established district programme.

Heidi Coleman, who is moving from ECB & PCA (Professional Cricketers Association), will manage the various programmes involved in the delivery of the Building Partnerships strategy – including Chance to shine, Coach Education and the schools coaching scheme.

KCB are also appointing a High Performance Manager. Jason Weaver an ECB Level 4 coach from Shropshire, will lead the representative cricket programmes. This will see an increased emphasis on the talent identification and player development, for boys and girls, from schools, clubs and districts to county level.

Jamie Clifford, Director of Cricket Development, commented: “I believe we now have a team in place to help take the development of cricket to a new level. Kent Cricket Board must be a leading light, not only in the development of cricket, but more widely of sports development in the UK. This team will ensure that the game in the county remains healthy by supporting clubs in realising their ambitions and helping young cricketers pursue their dreams. In turn I hope that this leads on to further success for KCCC and Kent Women as talented players emerge.”

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For further information, please contact

Jamie Clifford on 07710 742437 (profiles of all team members on following page)

Further information about the KCB development team:

Community Cricket Manager (East & Mid): Clair Gould

Clair Gould from Chislet, near Canterbury, is currently Cricket Development Officer for Kent Cricket Board. She is known to most people within cricket in Kent, having managed the schools coaching and coach education programmes. Claire is a Level 2 coach and Coach Education Tutor. She has been very involved with the development of her own club Whitstable and looks forward to supporting other clubs and districts in East & Mid Kent.

Community Cricket Manager (Met & West): Andy Griffiths

Andy Griffiths is from Bearsted and is currently Account Manager for Robert Horne Paper Group. Andy is well used to delivering Key Performance Indicators and comfortable with a customer led environment which is critical to the delivery of the ECB’s National Strategy ‘Building Partnerships’. Andy is Club Captain of Hollingbourne Cricket Club, a club at the start of the development pathway. Andy looks forward to helping clubs in the West and North of the county achieve their aspirations.

Cricket Programme Manager: Heidi Coleman

Heidi Coleman from Chartham is currently the National Lead for Performance Lifestyle for ECB & PCA. Her team ensures that players are combining the demands of cricket with other personal aspirations. She has helped many young players become self-managed professional cricketers, supporting their transition into the professional game and supported many professionals prepare for life after the game. She has previously worked in Higher Education, has a Masters in Sports Psychology and looks forward to a direction change in her professional career.

High Performance Manager: Jason Weaver

Jason is moving from Shropshire to Kent. He is currently Coach Development Manager working in the Coach Education Department of the ECB and leads the development and implementation of Coach Education course programming. He is a Level 4 coach and formerly Midlands U13 regional Head Coach. Currently Lead Coach for the Midlands wicket keeping skill set programme Jason looks forward to helping all Kent’s talented young cricketers develop.

In a very exciting and tense national final, Kent defeated Wales at the County Ground, Taunton, the ‘Home of Women’s cricket’ in England.

The full press release is available by clicking this link.

Kent, who are sponsored by SeaFrance and supported by Sportsmatch, won the toss, and elected to bat, but lost two early wickets to a determined Welsh team playing in their first final.  However, a strong third wicket partnership between Laura Bassant (Mote Ladies) (19) and Deveena Pithia (Nonington) (16) steadied the nerves.

This allowed Kent’s lower order batsman to then make a useful contribution, with Lucy Arman (Nonington) (26) eventually top-scoring.  Kent completed their 30 overs making a creditable 162 – 9.

In reply, Wales found early run making difficult as they were frustrated by some exceptionally accurate late away swing bowling from the opening Kent attack of Gemma Greenwood (Mote Ladies) and Jess Denniff (Holmesdale). 

Both were unlucky not to take more wickets.  Superb discipline in the field backed up the bowling causing Wales to lose wickets regularly with few runs being scored.

Katharine Wickington (Nonington) took exceptional figures of 5-17 to put Kent well on top.

A fine run out by Victoria Warren (Mote Ladies), closely followed by a wonderful catch from Laura Bassant (looking directly up into the sun!) and finally a simple catch taken by Lucy Arman sealed the victory as Wales were all-out for 107 in 23 overs.

Exuberant scenes of celebration by Kent ensued on the pitch and also on Somerset CCC “Home” balcony.  The Kent Under 13 team were presented with the Championship shield and trophies by Mark Dobson, coach to the England Women’s Cricket team.

Victory at Taunton made it a remarkable hat trick of wins for Kent.  Since it inception in 2005, Kent is the only county to have succeeded in winning the ECB Under 13 County Championship. 

The Under 13 victory means that Kent women’s and girls have had another incredibly successful 2007 season, capturing three of the four ECB national titles for the second year running – senior women’s county championship, Under 17 and Under 13 county championships.