Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeCRICKETCricket is back... and it's on your doorstep

Cricket is back… and it’s on your doorstep

Sevenoaks Vine, Holmesdale and Otford Cricket Clubs are all preparing themselves for a long summer of cricket and they are inviting you to join them. From summer camps for kids to legends on the vine, there is definitely something for everyone this summer. Whether you are a competitor or a spectator, you really need to make the most of the town’s wonderful cricket facilities and what
your local clubs have to offer.

Otford Cricket Club are connecting with the community
Otford Cricket Club, are a village cricket club situated in the picturesque North Downs. The club has two Saturday sides who play in the Kent County Village League.

The club also has a thriving colts section with a good record of producing both district and county players. The club are represented at Under 11, Under 13 and Under 15 level in the Mid Kent Youth League with a large under 9’s section who enter two sides into the Kent County Super 8’s competition each year.

As part of their commitment to the local community and young people escpecially, Otford CC are offering youngsters the opportunity to get involved as cricket volunteers.

The Cricket Activators Course run by the England Cricket Board (ECB) provides the skills and knowledge needed to volunteer in a wide variety of roles in clubs, community and education.

Participants get awarded for the number of hours their commit to during the course and receive creditation at the end. It can also be used as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards and is a way to get yougsters involved with their local cricket clubs again.

Otford are also taking part in the NatWest CricketForce programme which is a nationwide initiative aimed at cricket clubs. The programme is designed to bring clubs and local communities closer together, and ensure grounds and facilities are ready for the new season.

NatWest CricketForce 2018 will take place on 23rd to 25th March with a focus upon supporting the improvement of changing and toilets facilities for women and girls, improving access for disabled people, creating more family friendly function rooms.

Other projects undertaken range from simple paint jobs, sight screen scrubbing and renewed boundary fencing, to brand new changing rooms, function rooms and even a new pavilion.

The 2018 Otford Colts registration day will be held on Friday 16th March from 6.00pm til 8.00pm at Otford Village Memorial hall. Further details on Otford Cricket Club and the Colts can be found on their website at www.otford.play-cricket.com.

Holmesdale Cricket Club summer camps
Holmesdale Cricket Club is Clubmark accredited and an ECB Focus Club in recognition of its excellence in junior coaching and development. Holmesdale play in the Premier Division and Division One of the Kent Cricket League and the Kent Regional Cricket League, as well as the Sunday Development league for U21s. They have the largest junior section in Sevenoaks and offer cricket for girls and boys of all abilities and ages.

Following the success of the scheme over many years Holmesdale Cricket Club will continue to run four weeks of Cricket Camps this summer. All activities will be headed by ECB Qualified Coaches, who play (or have played) for the 1st and 2nd XI’s at Holmesdale, and have a coach to child ratio of 1:10 at a minimum.

The success of Holmesdale’s Cricket Camps has been founded on the players’ enjoyment of the game. Their young players make new friends and experience the skills, thrills and spills of cricket through different scenarios and game play. Children are placed into age and ability differentiated groups, so that they can ensure their maximum enjoyment and maximum skill progression whilst they are on the course.

Recently, the courses were re-designed by former Head Coach, Mike Bryant, to incorporate a more modern feel, including skills demonstrated and seen in recent T20 and ICC World Cup competitions. The camps run from July through August, for more information go to www.holmesdalecricketclub.co.uk.

Senvenoaks Vine and Chance to Shine
Cricket Week at The Vine promises to be bigger and better than ever in 2018, and will be jam-packed with reasons to get down to Sevenoaks’ most central cricket ground between 6-15 July.
From Monday 10 July, The Vine will play host to various cricket matches each day, highlights of which include the annual Lloyds of London fixture, the Clark Trophy Final, SVCC v MCC on Wednesday 11 July, and the inaugural Challenge The Legends on Thursday 12 July.

The Challenge The Legends event on 12 July has been put together in conjunction with the national cricket charity Chance To Shine, and will involve a team of former international players (men and women) up against a team made up of up-and-coming young cricketers (aged 16-18), representing The Challengers.

The Challengers will be drawn from Chance to Shine’s national Street Chance programme, as well as from local schools. The Legends team will be made up of cricket internationals from recent eras of the profile of Charlotte Edwards, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Devon Malcolm and Phil DeFreitas. The full Legends team will be finalised by March 31, after which, more details will be available on the clubs website at www.svcc1734.org.

Chance To Shine Legends Chris Schofield, Dean Headley and Greg Mathews

The format will be a T20 match, so the crowd can anticipate an entertaining afternoon. Funds raised from the event will go to the national cricket charity Chance to Shine, the Alchemy Charitable Trust, which supports families in need in Kent and Sussex and will also help Sevenoaks Vine CC in their aim to get more local youngsters into cricket.

In addition to the entertainment already mentioned, they will continue to work hard with their partners to offer you even more during Cricket Week 2018. Away from Cricket Week, they would love to welcome all spectators to come down and enjoy the cricket on show throughout the season, and perhaps even enjoy a drink or two in the bar.

Cricket starts on The Vine on Saturday 14 April when the first team entertains Barnes CC in a pre-season friendly. League cricket starts in earnest on Saturday 5 May, and from then on there will be cricket to enjoy every Saturday through to mid-September.

For those who like the pace of their sport a little slower, the Old Oaks play on The Vine on Friday evenings from 29 April, when they host Old Orbilians.

SVCC are always keen to welcome new members with open arms, both playing (all ages and abilities) and non-playing. If you’re interested in finding out more about what they have to offer members, then contact alan.smith@svcc1734.org.

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