The Club Cricket Conference Yearbook 2020

- 18 - Report from the Chairman 2020 I give below the report on 2019 which I wrote in February 2020. What a summer it could have been! What a Cricket season last year provided! What could have been just another summer turned into a potential heritage cricketing legacy in the making thanks to the England cricket teams, competitions at county and club level, and the potential – even though it is controversial – of the coming Hundred programme. I am of the opinion that, given the insight which we at CCC are able to gain from our close liaison with the County Boards and the ECB, that the heritage question can, and indeed should, be promoted and fuelled by Club Cricket across the country. Clubs have the unique facility to enrol children and parents into the cricket family. In order to do so Clubs need to promote themselves as the ideal place for youngsters to meet and play. It is also the place where parents can become involved in a local community in the knowledge that their children are looked after safely and with care. It is the duty of Clubs to make this happen. In my role as Chairman of CCC I sit on the Board of the National Cricket Conference who have recently contracted with the ECB to provide services covering various aspects of administrative and practical assistance to county boards. NCC has contracted for 2 years at a rate of £165 per annum and CCC will supply the administration capability to NCC. This contract has been hard won and allows us, together with our other partners, to show how our expertise and experience can help the cricket establishment to maximise the potential of clubs to feed the elite game, encourage new players and drive junior cricket forward at the lowest levels of the game. We will become the voice of the Club game at the top table, and it is gratifying that the ECB have acknowledged our ability to complement their work. The new Board of the CCC will have a large agenda this year. Our successful cricket programme and the work which is done to provide fixtures and advice to clubs and teams will continue and expand. Our sister charitable organisation, The Club Cricket Charity, is continuing as a partner of the England and Wales Cricket Foundation with its programme of supply, distribution and training in the use of defibrillators. At time of writing we have requests for over 150 units across the country on top of the 130 units already supplied in the past year. This, apart from being a great achievement, has added to our credibility with the ECB and others as proof of our ability to get things done. An extension of this exercise is to engage with County Boards in encouraging clubs to equip themselves, and this has already commenced with one County which will act as a template for repetition across the country. The Charity has also become involved in a Character Through Cricket programme with clubs becoming hubs for local schools alongside their County Boards for coaching and training in human and social values thorough the medium of Cricket. We will continue our support of the National Asian Cricket Council and the African Caribbean Cricket Association, as well as promoting our Women’s and Girls’ cricket programme. Given last year’s surge in interest, I am still unconvinced by the argument that club cricket has a