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Rain may have stopped play on the pitch, but it certainly was not a wash out for the tenth European Presidents’ Day at Lords Cricket Ground last weekend.

Despite watching less than an hours play of the third day of England’s first npower Test Match against New Zealand before the showers set in, spirits did not dampen, as the sixty guests from across Europe enjoyed a day of hospitality at the “Home of cricket”.

Members from the national cricket boards of Europe’s 27 ICC Associate and Affiliate member countries attended the day and brought with them guests from their home nations, some of whom had never witnessed a game of cricket before.

The event, appropriately named Presidents’ Day, aims to showcase the great game in front of influential proprietors from within these countries to encourage extra support for the further development of the sport.

Among the European guests were commercial partners and sponsors from various corporations and government officials from some of ICC’s twenty-seven European members.

Also on the guest list were officials from the ICC Europe elite referees’ and umpires’ panels, ICC Europe tournament organisers, and officials from the MCC and ECB, all of whom were thanked for their invaluable contributions to the Development Program.

This provided an ideal setting in which to hold the ICC Regional Development Program Annual Awards, which were presented in the lunch break by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chief Executive David Collier, Chairman Giles Clarke, ICC President-Elect David Morgan and European Cricket Council Chairman Roger Knight, OBE.

This year the Europe region won three global awards. These went to the German Cricket Board for winning the award for Best Women’s Initiative for its Oldenburg U17 Women’s Tournament, Jos Heggelman of the Netherlands who took home the Volunteer of the Year Award and to John Wright who won the Lifetime Achievement Award for his life long contributions to the development of cricket in Ireland.

The winners of these awards can be found here: http://www.icc-europe.org/ECC/DATABASE/AWARDS/2007.shtml

Following the Awards ceremony, tribute was paid to Trevor Henry, an ICC Europe Umpire, who sadly passed away in 2006 after a short illness. A raffle was held to raise money for the Trevor Henry Memorial Fund - prizes included signed memorabilia, weekend hotel breaks and a range of other gifts all kindly donated by partners and suppliers of the ICC European Development Program.

The day, made possible by MCC, who provided tickets and hospitality for the attendees, was a great success and showed cricket off to Europe in its best light.