The latest development news from across Europe
Tony Munro - 8 May 1999

Kwik Cricket - Taking off in Cyprus!
Cyprus Cricket Association recently completed several phases of introductory Kwik Cricket in several schools. Three 90 minute morning sessions were conducted at each school and a total of over 450 children were introduced to the game as a result. All were very enthusiastic and keen to continue. Cyprus Cricket Association is organising a Kwik Cricket Festival to be held on 08 May 1999, where three schools shall compete. After Easter cricket shall be extended to coaching up to 16 year olds.

Ralph Dellor - France National Squad and Coaching Course!
ECB Senior Staff Coach recently visited Fontainebleau on the weekend of 27/28 March to spend two days coaching the French National Squad. Those present worked hard, beginning with some general fitness work before applying that to rigorous fielding drills requiring both physical fitness and technique. Running between wickets was also discussed before players took advantage of a large artificial grass area and some fine weather for some coaching within the game situation. The first evening was spent considering aspects of concentration as applied to cricket. Attention was paid to more fielding the next day before specialist sessions on back foot play and ace bowling, followed by another coaching in the middle session.

Ralph Dellor also assisted in the co-ordination of another successful ECC Level 1 Coaching Course in Chauny for France Cricket. With the invaluable help of the French National Captain, Simon Hewitt, as translator, six candidates undertook the course, with 4 of them gaining the ECB award and one an ECC certificate. If cricket is to progress in European Countries like France, it is essential that the pool of qualified coaches is enlarged and courses, such as this one provide an effective means of reaching that end.

FRANCE Pre-season Coaching Camp - Chauny 17/18 April 1999
Ole Mortensen from the Danish Cricket Association spent a weekend with the French National Team. 19 Players attended, more importantly 10 were French Born! The camp was a tremendous success, with dramatic improvements being achieved all round. Ole reported that one very talented young French born player, eleven year old Mathieu Royant, had enough potential to one day play first class cricket at international level. The development project happening in Chauny is heading in the right direction and is definitely helping France Cricket move forward.

ECC would like to congratulate Krishna Lester (Saumur) who successfully completed the Level 2 Coaching course in the UK last month. A letter from… Varugis George (India) and Ashirul Amin (Bangladesh)

Cricket at the Red Cross Nordic United World College in Norway!
"With representation from over 80 countries, the students in the Red Cross Nordic United World College form a very diverse and dynamic community. The game of cricket is a minority sport, in that it is not so well known except by a handful of students in this community. Over the last two years, this sport has grown from a virtually non-existent activity to quite a well-organised one.

"Our college is situated by a fjord called Flekkefjord in the west coast of Norway. The weather is notoriously unpredictable; it rains a lot here which makes the ground soggy, and there is practically no even ground because of the mountainous terrain, at least not enough for the sort required for a sensible game.

"Nevertheless, in the spring of 1998, an oar was cut into good proportions to make a bat and with a tennis ball, four students, from India, Bangladesh, Wales and South Africa respectively, decided to start to play the game in an open field. In the course of a week, we managed to gain the attention of seven other people, and soon, we were playing the game on a weekly basis. The number of players continued to increase and reached 20, and they expressed a desire to learn the game.

"We continued to train and play the game with the crude gear until we the Christmas vacation, and then bought two complete sets of batting gear, one for the wicket-keeper, and an additional bat, and some cricket balls, which were bought in and brought over from India and Bangladesh.

"With proper cricket gear, the game continued in earnest. And it was not that it were the students from cricket-playing nations only who played the game. True, there are a few of us who are 'leading' the activity and are in charge of the equipment and others matters, but there are also students from Estonia, Kazakstan, Vietnam, Palestine, Bulgaria, Rwanda, Namibia, Germany, Israel, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Swaziland where cricket is not so common, as well as from the cricket playing nations mentioned in the beginning of this report. They all show a great interest in the game, and some of them already show promise. For example, it was a marvel watching the Swazi executing three perfect reverse sweeps in quick succession, and the Estonian tearing off the stumps with a precisely measured yorker. The game has not been restricted to this college community alone. School children in the adjacent community of Flekke have been introduced to the game of cricket. It was very gratifying to see the euphoria that ensued from the children playing the game for a good hour.

"We continue to play outdoors as much as we can. The winter frost that just passed was used to our advantage because it provided a very fast pitch with unpredictable bouncers and so allowed some good training, although we had to dress extra warm and had to wear gloves because the temperature was too low. Now that spring is come, and the daylight hours are getting longer, we can play longer and later into the day. We intend to play in the midnight sun before the second years leave. We have also managed to groom some of the first years to take a leadership role next year when we are not here.

"More needs to be done and can rightly be demanded from the Cricket Activity in the college. But we are confident it as made a very solid start, and should continue as a successful activity in the coming days."

ECB LEVEL 1 COURSE IN LUXEMBOURG

Eight candidates successfully completed the ECB Level 1 course recently. The course was tutored by David Jukes, a staff coach based in Belgium, and ran over four weekends during March. Ron Fyfe, from the Luxembourg Cricket Federation, deserves considerable credit for his efforts in arranging the course which was a resounding success.