The European Cricket Manager and Assistant European Cricket Manager (Nigel Laughton and Alex Murray), are both leaving their posts at the Europe Office this Summer. Nigel is due to complete his three year contract in September, whilst Alex is leaving her position in August and heading back to Australia. ECC hosted the Presidents of all ECC Member Countries during the third Day of the First Test between England and Zimbabwe at Lord's on May 20. Whilst the cricket was over rather sooner than expected, it provided everyone with a great opportunity to discuss development intiatives, whilst enjoying a fantastic day at Lord's. On Sunday 20 August the European Cricket Council (ECC) will co-ordinate a day of cricket promotion and, as its centre-piece, conduct a Europe-wide coaching course that stretches from Dublin to Tel Aviv and from Oslo to Malta. ECC Coaching and Umpiring Instructors will be despatched far and wide to introduce, train and develop cricket and cricketing skills amongst European youngsters. These instructors will work with local coaches, players, teachers, and administrators to further promote the sport. The first ever ECB Level I coaching course to be held in Germany took place in Hamburg between 6-7 May 2000, with 10 participants of varying levels of ability, mainly from northern Germany. The course was organised and conducted by two ECB Staff Coaches , Jim Cotterill ( ECB Level III Staff Coach) and Ole "Stan" Mortensen - National Coach in Denmark. The Deutscher Cricket Bund does not currently have a recognised coaching structure, and the purpose of running the course was to train a team of coaches to assist DCB with development. The emphasis of the course was to introduce the concept of group coaching and basic coaching for beginners. Those who attended found the course both informative and rewarding, and 7 of the 10 successfully completed the course. As a result, the DCB now has a group of players/coaches to assist with the development of a coherent coaching structure, and the promotion of cricket in Germany as a whole. Scotland and Ireland were both beaten by Minor County sides in the opening round of England's NatWest Bank Trophy on May 2. Scotland went down by seven wickets at Wiltshire while Ireland lost at home to Shropshire by 5 wickets. Denmark and Holland both received byes to the 2nd Round, where the Dutch were beaten by Lincolnshire and Denmark fell to the Durham County Board XI at Hartlepool. Holland Under 19 captain Reinout van Ierschot (left) and Job van Bunge travelled from Holland to play at Arundel on 11 May against the Oxford University. Job, opening the batting, top scored with 62 in a total of 172, whilst Reinout added 17 runs towards the end, including a huge straight 6. Despite their early aggressive batting Oxford never challenged the total, closing with 140 for 7.
The Austrian Cricket Association is making a concerted effort to take cricket into schools, especially in the Vienna area. To this end, ECC Coach Ralph Dellor visited three locations on May 9-10, introducing the game to over 200 schoolchildren in the process. Local cricket personnel helped teachers to show the children what cricket involves and introduced them to a number of cricket skills. Then it was their chance to actually experience the enjoyment of cricket using Kwik Cricket equipment, playing games of continuous and pairs cricket. A number number of the teachers present showed enough interest to want to attend introductory coaching courses and eventually join local cricketers in an ECB Level 1 coaching course.
Luxembourg beat Switzerland by 4 wickets in a 45 over international game played at the Riverside Ground, Walferdange, Luxembourg on May 6th. Batting first, Switzerland totalled 165 for eight with wicketkeeper Sykes contributing 68. Luxembourg reached their target with ten balls to spare after a fine sixth wicket stand between Paul and Ramachandran. Hundreds of Irish schoolchildren took advantage of their Easter break to participate in a cricket festival. Cricket sessions gave many schoolchildren their first taste of Kwik Cricket at clubs around Dublin. The counties junior age squads (Under 11 to Under 19) warmed up for their competitive season with practices run by visiting ECC coach Tim Dellor. Brian O'Rourke, the Leinster Cricket Union's Development Officer, put the programme together and, despite some very wet weather, the week ran smoothly. Another successful coaching course was held in Gibraltar between 4-9 of April. 10 candidates took part in a 6-hour ECC Introductory Course, and 12 players from the National Squad benefited from one-to-one coaching with ECC coach Richard Cox. There were also three sessions for youngsters, with 90 participants, involving matchplay simulation and group skills. A Development Plan has been approved for the next 12 months in the run-up to the 2001 ICC World Cup.