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ECAD Training...

There was an excellent turn out recently on a wet and windy Saturday morning for an ECAD Training weekend. The training took place at the Indoor Cricket School at the superb Durham Cricket Club Ground which is situated in Chester-le-Street just off the A1(M) in Durham County.

The weekend served a number of purposes

• To start the build up for the next Deaf World Cup that will take place in New Zealand staring on the 28th December in Auckland in New Zealand
• To start working on game plans for batting and bowling at the various stages of a one day game
• To work on individual plans for players in terms of Physical, Mental, Technical, Tactical and Lifestyle preparation for the World Cup
• To sustain deaf cricket by offering the opportunity for youngsters to learn to play cricket and be coached by their deaf peers and
• To provide an opportunity for our coaches who have recently attended a UKCCII Coaching course the opportunity to gain some supported practice from the experienced coaching team who were in attendance.
• To plan future training and matches in the summer and autumn as well as the travel to and training arrangements in New Zealand for the World Cup

Most of the England Deaf team who had played the previous summer against the Australian Deaf in the superb Deaf Ashes series and a number of the current Development squad were in attendance. These included

 Mike O'Mahony (Surrey), Ben Young (Sunderland), Paul Allen (Cheshire), Nigel Davenport (Worcester), James Dixon (Southport), Stephen George (Devon), Darrell Sykes (Yorkshire), Andy Wood (Yorkshire), James Schofield (Wales), Liam Backhurst (South Shields), Matt Clinton (Cumbria), Jeffrey Kan (Middlesex), Cliff Wilson (Derby), Raheel Quershi (London)

Notable absentees included the England captain Umesh Valjee, who was visiting family in South Africa, Chris ‘Harry’ Hughes, who is now working in New Zealand but promises to keep fit and play there as he wants to be considered for selection for ECAD in the World Cup and Matty Everrett who is wintering and playing cricket in Australia where we hope he will continue to improve and keep us in touch with the progress of the Australian Deaf team. Andy Shayegan who has shown so much improvement with his left arm over medium quick bowling and his overall fitness levels, unfortunately had to cry off at the last moment and was unable to travel up from Hampshire. Saul Allison, who was on a sabbatical touring the world, was also missing. A 16 year old youngster from Teesside, Phil Horseman joined the training for the first time. He had been strongly recommended to Ron Young, the Head Coach by Martin Speight, the former Durham County and Sussex wicket keeper/batsman, as a genuine all rounder with real raw talent. Moazzam and Farouq were in Pakistan for a family wedding

Blyth Duncan Jnr and Stefan Pichowski were both there but were unfortunately injured and were unable to take part in the training but both played a big part in the coaching and Stefan as Chair of ECAD was involved at various stages with planning work for the future.

It was great to see Alex Hopkins, 14 years old, Jake Oakes, 13 years old and Henry Wainmann, 14 years old at training having travelled up from Yorkshire. They had attended training last year when we had had a similar weekend at Headingley and it would be good to monitor their progress.

Finally we were joined by three youngsters who had never played any formal cricket but were keen to learn and play – 2 brothers Dominic Milner-Fox aged 10 and Ewan Milner-Fox aged 7 from Durham City and 14 year old Ryan Thompson from Sunderland

Unfortunately our regular interpreter Sula Gleeson, who as well as being a superb communicator is an inspiration to the team, was not able to attend due to a prior work commitment. We were however joined by a friend of Liam Backhurst, Kate Reed, who works in a Hearing Unit at a school in Sunderland to act as our interpreter and everyone agreed she did a superb job. Thanks Kate for everything you did throughout the weekend.

Kate Peckham our physiotherapist joined us for the weekend and used every opportunity to check on the squads overall fitness levels as well as offering advice for their future good.

The main coaching team of Ron Young, Head Coach, Blyth Duncan, Assistant Coach and Jeff Levick, the Team Manager, were actively involved with the coaching throughout the 2 days. Nigel George who recently attended the UKCCII course held in Gloucester, took the opportunity to gain some supported practice experience by working with the youngsters on the Saturday.

We were joined on the Saturday by Ian Martin, the ECB Disability Manager who had travelled up from friends in Cumbria that morning partly to check on progress on the squad coaching and work with deaf youngsters. He also had a major meeting with Peter Dixon, Jeff Levick and Stefan Pichowski regarding the arrangements leading up to and including the World Cup.

Everyone that took part in the training with the LV Championship Trophy

The weekend kicked off in the meeting room above the indoor nets where Ron Young took the opportunity to welcome everyone and introduce the new faces to everyone attending. He went on to describe what was needed from everyone there and showed a presentation he had put together to describe what the Management Team were looking for in terms of Fitness, Mental Strength, Tactical Awareness, Technique and Life Style Management of players playing for the England Deaf Team. He also went on to describe the shape of the training for the weekend and what was expected from Batters, Bowlers and Fielders at various stages in a 50 over Match and some of the drills that were proposed to prepare the squad for the different scenarios.

Whilst the major planning meeting was taking place Ron Young took everyone for a warm up ready to take part in the days coaching.

Blyth Duncan Junior complete with stick and Nigel George worked hard with the youngsters who were very willing learners in a whole series of techniques and games related to playing cricket. Kate played a vital role in making sure the youngsters understood all the coaching points that were introduced by the coaches .

In 2 of the nets there general nets were run under the supervision of Ron whilst the Bowling machine was used to warm up the batsmen and to enable Blyth Duncan Senior to complete the videoing so that he and Ron could present each player with a DVD and some advice on possible technical improvements.

At this point Yvette Thompson from the Press Department arrived with the LV Championship Trophy and everyone was invited to have their photographs taken with the trophy. We would like to thank her and the Durham County Cricket Club for allowing this unique opportunity for everyone who attended the weekend training.

By this time the youngsters from Yorkshire had shown that they had developed remarkably well and were invited to take part in the nets with the more senior players. They coped very well and were invited to take part in the coaching and training the following day.

It was great to see Phil Ottaway, the former Great Britain captain of the Deaf who had come down from Northumberland to see the progress being made by the current squad. He did inform Ron Young that he was impressed with the progress of the squad and wished that he was a few years younger to be involved again.

A film and presentation crew arrived from ITV to do filming and interviews with the players and Ian Martin on the training that was taking place. They filmed for at least 2 hours, were very impressed and we hope to see the result of their work in the near future on our television screens.

Whilst all this was happening Kate Peckham took the opportunity to test the fitness levels of all the squad and development players. At the next meeting of the squads she will provide everyone with a strict dietary code that she will expect all the players in the squad to follow.

At the end of a very enjoyable and tiring day the parents of the youngsters said how much they had enjoyed the coaching and hoped that in the near future their youngsters would be able to join the squads in full training.

At the debrief at the end of the day the Management Committee understood the progress that was being made. The National Team were going from strength to strength but it was recognised that there was a need to fully incorporate improvements that were being made by the Development Squad into match situations. It was agreed that experienced players such as Jeffery Kan and Simon Lycett, who had already announced their retirement from international cricket, should be asked to become part of the squad to impart their experience on the squad.

There would be a perfect opportunity for a combined team to play against a team in Kent on the 18th April. It was agreed that a North V South game should take place at Campbell Park, in Milton Keynes on the 17th June. The following day the A squad would play against the MCC and on the Friday the 19th the A squad would play Northants Academy at Campbell Park. At the same time the B squad would play 2 local teams in the Milton Keynes area on those two days. Both squads would share the same rooming arrangements and follow the same code throughout the tour.

It was also agreed that a similar arrangement should be made in September for a short tour for the A and B squads in the North East. Ron Young and Blyth Duncan Senior were to explore the possibilities.

The following day it was good to see everyone arriving (almost) bright and on time to continue with the training. Alex Chambers had stayed overnight with his parents but it was so good to see that young Henry had travelled all the way from Hull to continue with his cricket education.

 At first we only had 3 net lanes as local cricketers/clubs had already taken lanes before ECAD had the opportunity to book the centre.

The morning started off with a fairly intensive warm up lead by Kate Peckham which was followed by a quality session of fielding drills. Ben Young was at his best as the wicket keeper and James Schofield, Steven George, Paul Allen, James Dixon, and Nigel davenport were particularly strong in the catching and throwing drills and set the example for the rest of the squad. It was good to see the encouragement and high fives that went out as the drill developed and the players became more intensive and competitive.

After the first hour we had the whole hall to ourselves and we had the opportunity to use both bowling machines and the three other lanes.

Jeff Levick worked with some of the youngsters on the bowling machine and it was great to watch their progress. One thing that has to be mentioned was the progress Raheel made and at the end of his session he was playing the most perfect front foot drives that you could imagine.

We used the mats that were provided and taped out target areas and the ‘corridor of uncertainty’ for pace bowlers and spin bowlers on the surfaces. Paul Allen led the pace bowlers in their session and discussed the different types of ball and lines that could be used at various stages of a match. It was good to see Nigel Davenport and James Schofield working in tandem (one an orthodox left arm spinner and the other a right arm off spinner) on different lines and alternative balls that could be utilised for different batters they may come across in a 50 over game.

It was great to see Ben Young during the Lunch break take time out to work with young Alex Chambers on technical batting skills when everyone else was desperate for a break and to get away from cricket for a short time.

After lunch the one to one coaching carried on and nets commenced where a limited number of bowlers were used against the main batters in the squad given the various time scales in a one day match ie. at the start of an innings, the middle of an innings and in the final 10 overs. Everyone at this stage was encouraged to set out their game plans of what they were trying to achieve and at the end of each session they were encouraged to say how well these objectives had been achieved.

The final session was a major batting drill involving all of the players. 4 stations were set out in the 5 lanes.

1. The bowling machine was set on a good length to replicate the start of an innings. The target was to hit the ball over the top to try and get the opposing captain to change the field.
2. Throw downs to batsman as if bowled by a spinner and the objective was to work the ball through gaps and run 11 metres after every ball – as if playing in the middle of the innings.
3. A wider net was used and different coloured cones set for fielders and their positions. The bowler served different coloured balls and the batsmen had to manoeuvre the different coloured balls between cones of the same colour.
4. The final drill was using the bowling machine set to bowl yorkers at the end of an innings. It was the batsmen’s’ responsibility to work out whether to wait deep in the crease and try and make the ball a good length to smash it down the field or to move to the leg side and work the ball to fine leg on the assumption fine leg was up or move to leg side and work the ball through the off side if third man was up in the circle.

The squad was divided into 4 groups and everyone had 15 minutes at each station. The exercise proved very successful and got players thinking of their responsibilities at the various times during a one day match.

At 2.00pm it was time to call a halt to the proceedings on the floor. Durham County Under 13 Girls squad were about to start there session. Everyone moved back up to the meeting room above the indoor school for a final debrief and to make our farewells.

We have come a long way since Mike O’Mahony did such a tremendous job of setting up ECAD from the ashes of the previous regime. The current players are seeking to maintain their positions in the national squad but a number of the current players in the Development Squad are really pushing for places to compete in the next Deaf World Cup and beyond.

James Schofield has shown that he is a quality off spinner, a more than a useful batter and a superb all round fielder, Liam Backhurst has continued his progress as a more than useful medium quick bowler and his fielding continues to improve, Mat Clinton gets stronger and develops his inswinger and variations with a steady improvement in fielding and batting, Cliff Wilson continues to improve his run up and completion of his action and overall perception of the game, the bursting on the scene of the raw talent of newcomer all rounder Phil Horseman will again put the pressure on the existing players in the squad. In the not too distant future the youngsters from Yorkshire will be pushing to be included and lets hope he new youngsters from Durham who joined the training for the first time continue to develop and are there or there abouts for the next Deaf World Cup in 2014.

Finally just to thank all the officials and everyone that helped at the weekend it certainly makes my life easier these days only having to concentrate on cricket matters.

Ron Young
Head Coach
ECAD

**
 
Yours in sport
Stefan Pichowski
Chairman"