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Revised article updated: Friday 01 May, 5:00pm

Article first released: Thursday 26 March, 10:00am

Recreational Cricket Update

• Dan Feist – Cricket Operations – [email protected]
• Graham Pryke – Leagues and Clubs, Lead on Funding – [email protected]
• Natalie Samaranayake – Women & Girls, Youth – [email protected]
• Phil Knappett – Safeguarding and on-line courses – [email protected]
• Arfan Akram – East London Clubs and Leagues – [email protected]

A message from Dan Feist, Head of Cricket Operations, Essex Cricket

“In these unprecedented times it is fundamental that we first acknowledge the role we can all play in supporting each other to be safe, but once some form of normality starts to return, the role of Clubs as a Community Hub to spark excitement and engagement for all is going to be more important than ever before.

“Throughout history, Cricket Clubs have provided a united and reliable place for the community to come together and it has been great to see and hear so many positive stories about how this is continuing, despite the current situation. The news this week about the financial support that will be available for Clubs alongside other government initiatives comes at a welcome time for all.

“We will be now working with Clubs across the County to make sure they have all the support they need to ensure that they can continue to support their local community and remain a vital part of the wider Essex Cricket family.”

Current Government Advice

All the latest details can be found via: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Funding & Financial Support

Further to ECB’s announcement on 31 March, today the ECB announced its Loan and Grant Scheme:
The Grant has been launched as the final resort so we would, therefore, encourage all Clubs and Leagues to ensure they have applied for the following first:

1. Government’s Local Authority Small Business Grant. For more information – click here
2. Sport England Funding – click here
3. The ECB Loan scheme – click here
4. The ECB Grant – click here

Please also consider visiting the following resources;
https://www.essexcommunityfoundation.org.uk/
https://www.activeessex.org/
https://londonsport.org/

ECiC Guidance

ECiC has put together the following guidance that member clubs are recommended to act on.

Essex Cricket Covid-19 Webinars:
A series of webinars have been organised using conferencing platform, Zoom to share thoughts from different areas of Essex Cricket. We ask you to reflect on these and think about the one thing we can do now to help grow and sustain your club while enhancing your community tomorrow.

• Thursday 23 April, 5pm – Club Development and Funding

48 members of clubs and leagues across Essex, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Bedfordshire logged in to the first virtual presentation on Club Development and Funding which was delivered by ECB’s Duncan Jenkinson and Essex Cricket’s Graham Pryke.

 
Listen to the Webinar:

• Tuesday 28 April 12pm – Volunteering and Safeguarding

46 members of clubs and leagues across Essex, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Bedfordshire logged in to the first virtual presentation on Volunteering and Safeguarding which was delivered by Essex Cricket’s County Welfare Officer and Director of Cricket Operations.

 
Listen to the Webinar:

• Thursday 30 April, 5pm – Grounds Maintenance

Essex Cricket’s Head Groundsman, Stuart Kerrison and Grounds Management Associations Regional Pitch Advisor, Phil Jeggo shared insight and good practices as well as answering questions on Grounds Maintenance, 66 members of clubs and leagues across Essex, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Bedfordshire logged in.

 
Listen to the Webinar:

• Tuesday 5 May, 12pm – Women and Girls
Join Meeting – Here

• Thursday 7 May, 5pm -Youth Cricket and Player Pathway
Join Meeting – Here

• Tuesday 12 May, 12pm Scoring and Umpiring
Join Meeting – Here

• Thursday 14 May, 5pm – Marketing and Commercial activation
Join Meeting – Here

• Tuesday 19 May, 12pm – Coach Education
Join Meeting – Here

Case Study of the Week:

To date over £800K has been received from Governments Small Business Grant, Sport England Grant, ECB Grants and Loans to date. If your club or league is applicable and have not applied for any of the funding pots then please find links on the Funding and Financial Support section.

Past Case Study: Upminster Race Night Quiz

On Saturday 11 April, Upminster Cricket Club held a Virtual Race Night for their members which attracted 300 members and raised £5K for both the club and the NHS.

You can see the full report via the Recorder Newspaper – here

Upminster Cricket Club Chairman, Ollie Peck has kindly agreed to run three free webinars if any club wishes to run a Quiz Night for their own members and can see how to set this up. The details of the webinar are as following:

Dates and Times:
• Monday 4 May, 8pm
• Monday 11 May, 8pm

Webinar Details:

Topic: Online Race Night – How To Run Tutorial
Date: Monday 4 May or Monday 11 May
Time: 8pm

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us

Meeting ID: 834 4942 4148
Password: 280353

For any further information please do not hesitate to drop Oliver Peck an email – [email protected]

Recreational Cricket Update

‘APG 6 Balls to Help Restart Cricket’

As agreed at the Essex Cricket in the Community Adult Participation Group (“APG”) Meeting on 29 April 2020.

All leagues understand the challenges facing recreational cricket at this time.

Although many of the concerns that all leagues, clubs and players are facing at the moment cannot yet be answered, the APG has agreed on the following points to help clubs plan for the future and to give cricket the best chance to return when/if possible in 2020.

1. All leagues agree that their number one priority is to help reactivate play at their member clubs. Be that through their standard league set-up or helping to support creative ways of getting games played.
2. All leagues agree that there will be a period of time between the current lockdown being relaxed and the league season beginning: this is to ensure that grounds and facilities can be got ready for appropriate use. Recommended between 2-5 weeks: leagues to consult their clubs.
3. All leagues agree that there will be no league cricket before July 01 2020.
4. League fixtures and length of season:
• Leagues will try to use the fixtures already produced for their leagues.
• League games to be played on the usual day for that league e.g. Saturday League games not being played on Sundays and vice versa.
• Leagues to consider extending the season deeper into September and October by organising games/competitions at these times with clubs that are able to field teams and at grounds that are available.
5. All leagues agree that there will be no promotion or relegation between divisions for the 2020 season.
6. Penalties: All leagues agree that clubs will not face financial or points penalties for failing to fulfill fixtures, pulling out of divisions or other such offences that are due to the current Covid-19 Pandemic.

The APG will also continue to work with Essex Cricket in the Community, the ECB and Government to update leagues and their member clubs on any announcements or decisions around risk, hygiene and social distancing concerning the playing and organising of cricket.

Kind Regards from:
THE ECiC Adult Participation Group, Made up off all leagues across Essex.
SNEL, EAPL, H&EBL, ECCL, T Rippon, Two Counties, North Essex, Essex Sunday, NCL, EDCL, BSL, GMCL, LCL, LSL, E&MCL, BCL, GLCL, BTCL, LUCL, Warsop Sunday League, Indoor Cricket, Women Cricket Leagues.

Safeguarding

Further information on Safeguarding can be found – here

Safe Hands

https://www.ecb.co.uk/safeguarding/policy-and-procedures

Or alternatively, Google “ECB Cricket Safe Hands”

These notes are supplements to Safe Hands to take account of the present social lockdown.

View CPSU for good generic sports advice – here

DBS:
No face to face verification of DBS by CWO’s for the present. It is important that all coaches who maintain online links with children and adults and Club Welfare Officers maintain their DBS certification. We will issue advice once we get notice that lockdown will end about all volunteering sectors and we can start to prepare for some recreational cricket.

There are no Safe Hands courses planned at present which may mean CWO’s normal three-year qualification will expire. We are awaiting advice on how we can train and refresh CWO’s qualification.

Clubs should continue to be fully compliant with all Safe Hands Policies and good practice. Clubs who do not have a up to date CWO but in previous seasons have had at least one will no be subject to any penalties or excluded from any level of competition or participation.

Social Media:
Social media provides unique opportunities for cricket to engage and continue relationships with young members and players.

Some excellent examples from Essex Cricket, individual clubs and coaches.

Communicating with young people online can have significant benefits from encouraging a team ethos, to gaining new club members.

Online safety risks for young people:
Posting personal information that can identify and locate a child offline.

Potential for inappropriate relationships between adults in positions of trust and the young people they work with.

Sexual grooming, luring, exploitation and abuse, or unwanted contact.

Exposure to inappropriate content, including pornography, racist or hate material or violent behaviour.

Experiencing negative behaviour on social media can have an impact on a young person.

If not used appropriately, young people’s identities can go to the wrong people and make them vulnerable online.

Zoom video conferencing:
Zoom is one of the most popular video conferencing platforms, and one of the easiest to use and has seen a dramatic increase in users.

Zoom is popular and does not need a subscription, calls are not encrypted, and it does not have a high level of security.
Zoom meetings can display inappropriate information, say something inappropriate and stay in meetings forcing them to close.

Coaches need to be aware of security issues with Zoom and be mindful to shut down the call instantly if anything during the call doesn’t seem right.

You can also change your settings to limit the possibility of a third party joining the conversation. There is an option to create a digital call-waiting room.

The screen will show who is joining in on Zoom meetings/chats before them being allowed to participate.

Checklist for clubs running a online Zoom coaching session

1. Each recurring session has it’s own Meeting ID and Password (ie there is a different password for each group).

2. The passwords are sent to the Parent’s via the Group Whatsapp or the Club’s secure website messaging system.

3. A new password for every meeting is issued every four weeks or after any incident of a unidentified person entering the Zoom room.

4. Upon dialling in, all entries will go into a Waiting Room for admission by the Team Manager who will stay on line monitoring the group throughout the session.

5. Parents must ensure their Zoom login contains their name so they can be identified.

6. Anyone who is not recognised or has a generic name (such as iPhone X) will not be admitted to the session

7. The meeting host must disable the ability for participants to “record” the session

8. Only Coaches / Team Managers who are DBS registered to be allowed to host the sessions.

9. Coaches / Host to remove participants who are behaving inappropriately, and consider shutting the call down entirely if appropriate.

Please note that all activities and exercises in this online session will be as per ECB Safeguarding and Coach Education best practice. We would expect parents and carers to ensure that their children are supervised throughout the session and ensure a safe environment for all activities.

This week’s session will look at On-line Zoom training and DBS verification.

Topic: Phil Knappett’s CWO Zoom Meeting
Time: Tuesday 05 May 2020, 4pm

Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/8501928999?pwd=YWhzd1FUVWxtV1cySkhKS0RhTjN1QT09
Meeting ID: 850 192 8999
Password: 0SLTR2 (zero-S-L-T-R-2)

TikTok:
Very popular with young people. There’s a need to monitor what is being posted and should not encourage dangerous or risky tasks that might discredit your club or Essex Cricket.

Phishing emails:
There’s been a huge rise in phishing emails.

They are designed to exploit the increase in working online and they are finding clever ways to try and make an email seem genuine.
• Beware of emails containing links within them. If in doubt then obviously please don’t click on any links.
• Check the email address that the email has come from.
• Never give out personal information. The link itself may not be the problem but may take you to a page to input personal data.
• Before inputting those details do make sure that the link is genuine and comes from a trustworthy source

Summer Camps:
Many clubs are considering staying open after schools break for the summer holidays. Several are considering offering extended day opportunities.

Ensure that you use your registration process for all new members.
Parents must be present for the first session to log in all their children and confirm all details.

Be very wary of having under 8’s on-site without their parents present all the time.

Check if they have an Educational or Health Care Plan and offer an opportunity to discuss in confidence with Club CWO.

At least two contact numbers should be provided by parents

Sun Safety:
Slip Slop Slap…

• Long sleeve shirt.
• A hat, preferably floppy.
• Sun cream or blocker provided by parents. Children have had allergic reactions to products supplied by clubs.

Children should bring water bottles and there should good access to suitable water.

DBS Verification

We are working with the ECB to verify both renewals and new applications for Enhanced DBS certification.

The ECB has temporarily suspended access for CWOs and club personnel to initiate DBS Disclosures or verify them. They have brought in temporary measures enabling County Staff only to carry out ID verifying via ZOOM /WhatsApp/.

If you do have anyone who needs to initiate a DBS please email Phil Knappett ([email protected]) with the following information and this will initiate the process.

Please write in for ‘subject’ of your email DBS application:

• Their full name (as it appears on their passport/driving licence)
• Their salutation (Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss)
• Their date of birth
• Their email address
• Their club
• Their role (e.g. Coach, CWO, Activator, Umpire etc)

The applicant will receive an email from [email protected]. They will be asked to complete an online application form, including details that will be used to verify their application. When they have completed and returned the form, they should email me and I will send details on how we can complete the process. The email will contain information about which documents they will need to have ready for the verification.

As soon as the situation changes and CWOs can log back into their accounts, I will let you know.

Anyone requested to submit an overseas certificate of good conduct will be asked to email their certificate to the Safeguarding Team instead of posting.

Bank Details Security Reminder

In these turbulent times, we are aware of a number of clubs and leagues sharing information on their finances including bank account details. On advice from ECB’s IT Security Officer below is a timely reminder. Always remember, email is not secure.

When in receipt of personal or confidential information never assume it is authentic and always check its source. In the case of bank details always confirm before making payment but not using the contact details provided. If sending out a club or league’s bank details ideally use a secure route such as a secure email service or encrypted within a password-protected attachment. Personal or confidential information must always be sent securely.

Update Club Contact
Could Club Committee Representative from each respective club kindly complete the survey monkey questionnaire. The updated information will ensure we are able to streamline relative information to the right contact.

To date we have received around 50% responses, please kindly complete the simple form.

>>View Questionnaire

Club Development Plan
With the updates announced by Sport England and the ECB, we advise that clubs and leagues to work up contingency plans covering various eventualities. We also suggest that they should develop, or where appropriate update, their development plans – including a way forward – and perhaps include a financial assessment of the club’s current and estimated future position, with a comparison to the past three seasons. Projected cash flow will be particularly crucial.

Please do consider how your club can stay relevant and in people’s minds in the local community through online games/videos, members webinars…

Affiliation
Through consultation with a number of stakeholders, ECiC has taken the decision to amend the affiliation fee for ALL clubs to a £20 deposit which will be reviewed again at the end of September. As in previous years a percentage of this amount will be retained by the local Cricket Participation Group to support junior cricket development. Please inform clubs in your league and it will be communicated and processed up the chain.

Affiliation fees ensure the provision of support for clubs from ECiC and the ECB. If your league or club has not affiliated in the past and you wish to do so, then please make contact with your regional/district contact in the first instance.

Invoices
During Tuesday evenings APG meeting, a number of leagues will not be invoicing clubs until they have a clearer picture of the season. We ask all our leagues to consider if this is a workable option for them, too. If you have other suppliers who have invoiced you for supplies, kit etc it would be sensible to contact them to discuss the situation.

Councils & Landlords
We recommend that each club in your league makes contact with their landlords and discusses the possibility of a rent holiday and/or reduction. We are keen for updates to be shared with your respective Essex Cricket contact.

Grounds Maintenance

The Institute of Groundsmen (IOG) on 02 April provided the latest guidelines and specifications for cricket grounds maintenance, respecting the Governments current guidelines – view here

An update on guidance for groundsmen and women can found here: http://essexcricket.org.uk/2020/03/26/guidance-for-groundsmen-thursday-26-march/

Indoor/Outdoor Nets
In line with the ECB statement on 18th March, the county has suspended all indoor cricket and all outdoor cricket activities are postponed until advised. If you have not already done so,please take the appropriate action.

Overseas Players
Do contact them and their agents as the situation obviously will alter their plans.

Online Cricket Games/Activities
We have been updating our platforms to show activities that individuals and/or families can take part in whilst at home; these can be located via:
• Website: www.essexcricket.org.uk
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EssexCCB/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/EssexCCB
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/essexcricketcommunity/

Online Courses

Online Umpiring Course: A great opportunity to hone in and on your journey of becoming an umpire: https://www.ecb.co.uk/be-involved/officials/find-a-course/Umpiring-courses

All Stars Cricket/Dynamos
The ECB have suspended All Stars Cricket and Dynamo Cricket until further notice. However as recently communicated by the ECB, ASC Packs and games at home will be posted out shortly to all that have registered. – more information

Next week we are excited to be able to share an updated All Stars Cricket 2020 Activity Booklet with all past and present All Stars parents for them to download. Jam-packed with eight different activity areas, introductions to cricket skills, quizzes and recipes from England players, the booklet has been adapted to be suitable for families whilst they are at home.

Youth Participation Group (YPG)
The YPG met via the virtual world, here is an update regarding Youth Cricket: http://essexcricket.org.uk/2020/04/07/youth-participation-update/

Active Essex Webinar
Organised by Active Essex, Essex Cricket amongst a number of NGB’s shared, discussed and debated a number of factors. The group will meet again in a few weeks’ time to ensure a cross-sport discussion with the focus of keeping our communities as active as possible and supporting young people.

The group also discussed funding and the following two links were signposted as a guide outside of the Sport England, ECB and Government funding.

https://www.sportenglandclubmatters.com/
https://sportsuite.activeessex.org/funding

and finally…

Most importantly it is clear that we want everyone to look after their own health and that of their members; this is the main priority of all.

Contact

In line with Government guidance, Essex Cricket in the Community staff as of Wednesday 18 March are working from home. Wherever possible, the team will continue to give support and will continue to provide updates as often as necessary.