No red carpet and usually no fanfare, but today the ECB and NatWest shone a spot-light on the outstanding contribution made to cricket by volunteers at the fifth annual OSCA’s ceremony at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

Gerry Sutcliff MP, Minister for Sport, joined cricket stars Mark Ramprakash, England Women’s Captain, Charlotte Edwards and Rosalie Birch at the ceremony.

Seven awards were made to recipients from across the country in a range of categories, including Lifetime Achiever which was presented to David Cherry of Oxfordshire for his role as ‘Mr Cropredy Cricket Club’.

David has been associated with the club for nearly 60 years, including stints as Captain during the 1970 and 80’s.  In 1995, David secured a purpose built ground and new pavilion for the club but still takes time to umpire, assist with facilities, and run the Brackley District mid-week league.

Steven Benson from Cumbria was awarded the Young Volunteer Award having been described in his nomination as the ‘heartbeat’ of his club.

The Building Partnerships award was won by Philip Spong from Devon for his extensive work in creating sustainable links with local schools.

The NatWest CricketForce Award was awarded to Shepperton Cricket Club who took part in the largest volunteering event in sport and demolished and rebuilt their entire pavilion largely with help from volunteers.

The special award from NatWest, ‘Another Way’, was won by Wendy Bedeau from Bedfordshire for her innovative and inclusive approach to engaging youngsters in her community by marrying cricket and faith.

David Moseby from Devon was awarded the Leagues and Boards OSCA for his work in creating, training and providing umpires across the county.

The Behind the Scenes OSCA was awarded to Therese Warwick from Herefordshire who was described in her nomination as ‘Wonder Woman’, taking roles including club secretary, welfare officer, membership and registration, grant applications, schools coaching and community liaison.

ECB Chief Executive, David Collier, said “We received hundreds of excellent nominations for the 2007 NatWest OSCA’s and I was delighted to welcome all nominees and our seven worthy winners to Lord’s today.

Volunteers are the life-blood of our game.  Without them, cricket simply would not survive and the OSCA’s ceremony is a small way of thanking our army of volunteers and celebrating with them the massive contribution they make both to their communities and to the whole of cricket”.

Gerry Sutcliffe MP, Minister for Sport, said, “The England and Wales Cricket Board have a world-class volunteering programme, which includes annual events such as the NatWest OSCAs and NatWest CricketForce”.

Volunteering and Sport are essential for the well-being of our communities and I am very pleased to support the OSCA’s and congratulate the seven winners”.

Caroline Carpenter, Head of Brand Strategy, NatWest said, “NatWest recognises the invaluable commitment volunteers make to the development of cricket in the UK.  I am so pleased NatWest is part of this event which pays tribute to all the unsung heroes of the game”.

For further information, please contact the ECB Communications Department on 020 7432 1200 or visit www.ecb.co.uk/volunteers

Kent Cricket Board would like to receive as many nominations for the 2007 NatWest OSCAs as possible.  An OSCA - Outstanding Service to Cricket Award - is a reward for all the hard work individuals put in to the game of cricket at all levels.

If you know of anyone at your club or district that you feel is deserving of a reward for all the hard work they do in ensuring that cricket is played, no matter what their role, KCB would like to hear from you about them.

There are seven categories of nomination and they can be found on this site by clicking this link.

The continued existence and further development of your club, and all others in the country, relies extremely heavily on volunteers in key positions.  The NatWest OSCAs 2007 will take place at Lord’s on Monday, 15th October 2007.  Nominations close on June 30th so now is the time to get them in to us here at Kent Cricket Board.

You can do that by phone or by emailing any of us at our addresses which you’ll find on the Personnel page of this website.

A reminder for everyone that nominations for the 2007 OSCA awards are now being accepted by ECB. If you believe anyone at your Club, or in your district or anywhere involved in the game of cricket, deserves the honour of being invited to Lord’s for the 2007 Awards Ceremony, now is the time to do something about it.

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The NatWest OSCAs (Outstanding Service to Cricket Awards) are aimed at recognising those volunteers who give so much of their time to the game of cricket - without these individuals the game would not survive.

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Plans for the 2007 Outstanding Services to Cricket Awards are now well advanced.

 Now is the time for you to make YOUR nomination in one or any of the groups there are awards for. 

If there’s anyone that you are aware of that has, in your opinion, made an outstanding contribution to cricket at its grass roots, nominations are invited in the following categories:

Young Volunteer

Volunteer under the age of 21 as at October 2 2007 

Another Way

Volunteer who has overcome adversity in the development of the game by thinking outside the boundary

Behind the Scenes

 Someone invisible who your club couldn’t do without!

Building Partnerships

Created sustainable partnerships with schools, voluntary organisations, other sports and/or the local community

NatWest Cricket Force

 Volunteer or group of volunteers who have made an outstanding contribution to the 2007 event

Leagues and Boards

Dedication with results is what we are looking for here! This can be an individual or group

Lifetime Acheiver

We are looking for an individual who has made an outstanding difference to cricket for a sustained period

The NatWest OSCAs are an integral part of the ECB’s Volunteers in Cricket strategy