Within the first two minutes of Cricket Live 2001 no fewer than five European cricket nations had been mentioned by host, Channel 4's Mark Nicholas, in his introduction to the second event of this type in four ears, staged this year at the magnificent Telford International Centre. hanks to the hard work of ECB's Performance squad and the generous sponsorship of Channel 4 and Notts Sport, over one thousand coaches gathered from around the world to be entertained, educated and informed of the latest coaching initiatives from around the world.

ECC Site at Cricket Live 2001 Photo © ECC

The European Development team spent two very productive days at the conference raising the profile of the European Development Programme, having secured a stand in a prime spot next to the hosts, ECB. Ian, Adam and Alison, assisted by Br̀an O'Rourke (Development Officer for the Leinster Cricket Union in the Republic of Ireland), Walter Blaschke (umpire for the Austrian Cricket Association and one of the officials for the final of the recent ECC Indoor Tournament in Mafra) and Georgia Sagiadinou (Greek Cricket Federation administrator) took advantage of the fantastic networking opportunities on offer and worked to promote development initiatives across Europe as well as the forthcoming European Cricket Day.

Cricket Live 2001 Photo © ECC

Europe was well represented, with coaches from 10 countries taking advantage of ECC funding to travel to the conference. Those present enjoyed an entertaining and informative programme of specialist sessions in the main arena, which provided an insight into the skills and philosophies of cricketing legends such as Barry Richards, Bishan Bedi, Ian Healy and Terry Jenner (who confirmed that he would be taking a leg-spin roadshow to Ireland in August). Many of the coaches had also booked workshops, often with a scientific edge, presented by the likes of Mushtaq Mohammed, Rodney Marsh, John Harmer and Mike Gatting, which offered expert advice on all areas of the game, from mental preparation to developing spin, via video analysis and working with disabled cricketers. The host nation also provided input in the form of lectures from National coaches Duncan Fletcher, Bob Cottam and Graham Gooch. Most of the major clothing, equipment and pitch suppliers were represented in the exhibition hall, along with companies offering club websites, online coaching workshops and CD Roms, plus a selection of county cricket boards.

Entertainment was provided on the Tuesday night in the shape of an informal buffet dinner followed by a quiz - 'They Think It's All Cricket' - hosted by Mark Nicholas, which pitted Australia's Terry Jenner, Rod Marsh and Ian Healy against England's Graham Gooch, Mike Gatting and Gladstone Small. The Australians quickly took the lead and managed to hold on to it despite the valiant efforts of the English - a result which many of those present hope not to see repeated during this summer's Ashes tour.

ECC Site at Cricket Live 2001 Photo © ECC

Not to be outdone, the Europe team invited all the European representatives and ECC coaches to the ECC stand for sandwiches and wine at lunchtime on both days, which certainly attracted a crowd!

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable event which provided the opportunity both to catch up with old friends and to make many new ones through the many networking opportunities on offer. A video will be produced by ECB and made available to ECC countries for purchase. We hope European coaches will be keen to attend similar events in future years. Who knows? There may even be plans to run the next event elsewhere in Europe!