Cricket

Codicote Cricket Club

Growth – for about fifteen years, the colts have enjoyed regular coaching throughout the season, as well as matches against similar local clubs. If they show commitment and a desire to play, we encourage colts to take part in adult cricket. Initially, they will be selected for our “friendly” side and if they show ability, they will be offered the opportunity to play league cricket. In the last couple of years, the cricket club has been liaising with the local primary school to forge a partnership for inclusion of the local children in the colt set up in a more structured way.

There is also active recruitment within the village for adults of all ages by advertising the club’s training, playing and social activities throughout the community. Due to our ethos and reputation for playing in “the spirit of the game”, the club manages to encourage other players from other clubs.

Sustainability – over the last few years, the performance of our colts has been so impressive that those who moved out of our U16 team a year or so ago, are now heading the statistics for batting and fielding. Our leading run-making players have regularly been those in the 16-25 age group. This has created a healthy environment for in-house competitive rivalry among the younger players, as well as the occasional mature player.

All players, including the younger members of the club, are encouraged to join the committee. This proves successful in maintaining the interest of the 16-25 group with Codicote Cricket Club. Over the last few years, the committee has been populated with at least one and more often two or more members under the age of 25, making up some 15-25% of the committee.

The under 25’s are now being included in our program of training players to be coaches. This group have been coaching assistants for a couple of years and should soon be fully integrated into the coaching team within the next year or so.

Excel – up until 1998, the club had been varied in its success. During this year, it started gaining players and a confidence through the hard work and determination of a core set of members. The club joined a local Sunday League, which proved popular with our players and it soon attracted other players.

With this influx of players, the club were able to put out two teams at a weekend on a regular basis. This trend of raised availability and a desire to play from the members resulted in a steady increase in the number of teams we are able to field at a weekend. At present, we are at the stage that we have put out four teams on the occasional weekend.

In 2007, it was decided the club had enough talent and stability to join the Herts Saracens League. Initially put in Div 12, we have continued to be promoted each year and so will start the 2010 season in Div 9.

THE PAST – up until 1998, the player-base was reasonably small with some 17 or so adults and 2 or 3 colts. It often proved difficult to field a full side, as a lot were not available on a regular basis. Once there was a bit more stability in the club, we attempted to start a female side, but the 3 or 4 girls that were interested found it impossible to recruit more players.

THE PRESENT – our teams are selected from a squad of about 35 adults and 16 colts. Colts are often asked to play for a weekend adult side, normally our friendly team. The adult teams regularly field at least one, but more often two or more father and son combinations, which we feel shows a good sign of stability within the club. There are 3 ECB Level I and 1 Level II coaches in the club and it is hoped that we will upgrade 2 to Level II and a couple of U25’s train as Level I’s. During the winter months the club engages in Indoor Nets at Herts Sports Village on a weekly basis, which are attended by about 75% of the players.

THE FUTURE – the club’s immediate plans are to continue improving as we are and develop the Colts setup with the hope to achieve CLUBMARK. The vision is to create a complete club, with a structure to the Adult and Colt coaching, as well as identifying those that need higher levels of training. We hope to implement an integrated plan for the sportsfield and consider the possibility of a dedicated cricket pitch and maybe two.