Winners and runners-up of our local Cricket Collective Awards, alongside ECB Coach Award winners, were invited to The Cloud County Ground this week for our volunteer recognition event hosted in partnership with Cambridgeshire Cricket Board.
Spread across days two and three of the LV= County Championship Division One fixture against Hampshire, over 100 people were in attendance to celebrate the grassroots game amidst a backdrop of enthralling professional cricket.
Our guests were presented with their awards and enjoyed lunch and tea as recognition for their fantastic contribution to our sport.
The awards, formerly known as both the NatWest Grassroots Cricket Awards and as the OSCAs, are aimed at recognising those volunteers in recreational cricket who give so much of their time to the sport.
Without these individuals, the game would not survive, and the awards provide an ideal opportunity to thank our volunteers for their incredible work and celebrate their success with them.
John Stephenson and Graham Gooch opened the awards on the first day, with awards being presented by current Essex men’s first XI players Alastair Cook, Feroze Khushi, and Michael Pepper, Head Coach Anthony McGrath, Chair of Essex Cricket in the Community (ECiC) Board Rachel Lewis, Stadium Operations Manager Graham Childs, and Tracy Smith of the Essex Playing Fields Association.
Performance Manager Barry Hyam, Head Scout John Childs, and Essex Cricket President Keith Fletcher joined that septet to present awards on the second day, which was opened by Deputy Chief Executive Dan Feist.
Cricket Collective Awards 2023
Connecting Communities: Hawks Cricket Club
(Runner-Up: Dan Gillman)
Game Changer: Madeleine (Maddie) Gilbank
(Runner-Up: Jack French)
Inspired to Play: Paul Marks
(Runner-Up: Adnan Choudhry)
Rising Star (11 – 16 Year Old): Stanley Adams
(Runner-Up: Samuel Pepper)
Tackling Climate Change: Hadleigh & Thundersley Cricket Club
(Runner-Up: Dan Gillman)
Volunteer Grounds Management Team of the Year: Galleywood Cricket Club – Graham Storey, John Gray, Steve Adams, and Dave Wicks
(Runners-Up: Rajesh Narayanabhatla and Khurram Iqbal)
Cricket Innovators: Buckhurst Hill Cricket Club
(Runner-Up: Brian Tunney)
Growing the Game: Jo Malcom
(Runner-Up: Muhammed Ashraf Abulkhairi)
Safe Hands Award: William (Bill) Maytham
(Runner-Up: Stuart Whitaker)
Unsung Hero: Scott Sinfield
(Runners-Up: Kylie Marks and Charlene Turner)
Lifetime Achiever: Sajid Patel
(Runners-Up: Ian Gilbert and Paul Smith)
ECB Coach Award Winners 2023
Coach of the Year: Matthew Cope
Young Coach of the Year: Abi Brown
Outstanding Contribution to Community Coaching: Chris Rawlings
Outstanding Contribution to Coach Development: Paul Hurworth
Ben Wallis, Community Network Operations Manager at ECiC, said: “It was wonderful to be able to welcome all our volunteers from across Essex and Cambridgeshire to The Cloud County Ground last week.
“The ceremony showcased the very best of the fantastic work these people put in, without even a thought of personal reward, simply to ensure as many people as possible can take part in the sport we all love.
“We owe them a great deal, and we hope these awards, and the recognition that accompanies them, goes some way to expressing our gratitude on behalf of the game as a whole.”
