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Coach of the Year: Mike Devoy: Glangrwyney Cricket Club
Nominated: Rohan Nandalia; Ben Holding
Mike was nominated for the Coach of the year 2024, for several reasons, 9 years ago, we started up a junior section for 7-11yr olds and had approx 6 children, the club then progressed to the Allstars and could see the potential in years to come, along with the addition of the dynamos a couple of years later, but then Mike started to wonder what next, how can we bring these children on further and in a couple of years, introduce them into senior games, so after several talks and meetings, this year the club has Allstars, Dynamos, U9's, U11's, U13's, both the U9's and U11's have entered into the Gwent league, at present we have approx 60 children ranging from 4yrs-14yrs in the Junior section and some who have already started playing in the Senior side.
He loves watching them develop and transition on their journey through the different ages groups and helps them with different technique's for bowling, batting and fielding.
Mike also took on the role of the W&G coach last year and again they have entered into the women's softball league this year, the women's section has grown from 8 W&G last year to 24 this year.
Mike helps with the coaching of the senior players and gives them help and advice where needed to better their performance.
From someone who didn't want to get involved in any coaching, to someone that now loves coaching and watching the person achieve their 1st run/wickets
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Connecting Communities: Mark Byrne Gwersyllt Park Cricket Club
Mark's remarkable efforts have resulted in securing over £800,000 in Grants funding to build a purpose-built inclusive pavilion at the club. His commitment to inclusivity shines through in his actions, as he strives to ensure that everybody in the community has the chance to engage in sports, specifically cricket.
Not only is Mark focused on the club's on-field success, but he is also dedicated to fostering partnerships with third-sector organisations in Wrexham and establishing a community well-being program for the future.
By forging partnerships with organisations like the local Brownies and Guides, he has successfully attracted over 50 participants to the club, with plans to make the pavilion their new home.
In a neighbourhood like Bradley, which ranks among the top 20% of deprived places in Wales, Mark's initiatives are even more crucial. He firmly believes that everyone, regardless of their background, should have equal opportunities to engage in sport. Through collaborations with Street Games, Lord Taverners, and Cricket Wales, Mark has made cricket accessible to all members of the community, ensuring that no barriers hinder their participation.
Mark's establishment of the Super 9s program at the club further exemplifies his commitment to creating inclusive opportunities for community members.
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Inspired to Play: Newport Fugitives Cricket Club’s women’s section
Nominated: Karl Von Weber
The Newport Fugitives Cricket Club’s women’s section, fondly known as “The Fugettes,” epitomises dedication and community spirit, making them a deserving candidate for the Inspired to Play award. Launched in 2021 as part of the ECB’s initiative to promote women’s cricket, The Fugettes began their journey with an innovative “Prosecco and Pop Night.” This event not only introduced cricket to a new audience but also successfully culminated in their first friendly softball game in the summer of 2021.
The formation of The Fugettes' committee, led by the enthusiastic Katy, Nadia, Crissy, and Louise, has been instrumental in shaping the future of women’s cricket at Newport Fugitives Cricket Club. Their relentless efforts have borne fruit, transforming a fledgling idea into a thriving community. Through meticulous planning and unyielding passion, they have increased participation to 25 dedicated members who now train regularly and compete in both outdoor and indoor South East Wales softball leagues.
The committee has established a solid financial plan and actively seeks sponsorship to ensure the sustainability and growth of the women’s section. Regular committee meetings facilitate ongoing development and strategic planning. Looking ahead, The Fugettes are ambitiously planning to form a hardball team for 2025, further expanding opportunities for women to engage in cricket at a competitive level.
The Fugettes have significantly broadened the cricket community by engaging women of all ages and backgrounds, embodying the essence of the #raisethegame initiative. Their story is not just about playing cricket; it's about creating an inclusive environment where women feel inspired, valued, and empowered to pursue their passion for the sport.
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Metrobank Champion of Girls' Cricket: Emma Williams. Ammanford CC
Nominated Mark Cox; Gemma Hughes;
Emma has been an extraordinary volunteer, coach, and role model at our club, tirelessly championing the growth of girls’ cricket. Through her unwavering dedication and passion, Emma has significantly increased female participation, transforming our once modest program of girls dynamos at the club into a thriving programme of dynamos, girls softball, u13s girls hardball and more recently Women's Softball. She has not only provided exceptional coaching, fostering both skill and confidence in all, but has also actively engaged in organising events to attract new players. The club can now boast over 50 active girls and women playing weekly in festivals, league and cup games. Our newly formed Women's team won their first venture in the indoor league and narrowly missed out on repeating this feat in the outdoor league with over 30 different women playing an active part.
Emma's leadership and mentorship extend beyond the pitch; she continuously empowers girls to pursue their ambitions, promoting teamwork, resilience, and sportsmanship. Her position on the clubs committee ensures that the girls and women have equal footing at the club, something she is passionate about.
Her contributions have been pivotal in creating an inclusive and inspiring environment at the club where girls' cricket can flourish.
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Cricket Innovator: Will Davies Pembroke Cricket Club
Nominated Mark Byrne
Will has brought a host of new ideas to the club over the past year, alongside a huge amount of commitment to supporting our senior, ladies and junior sides. Will has single-handedly created our 'Weekly Reports', highlighting what happens across all teams and areas of the club each week, as well as taking on the general management of our website (adding a calendar to keep track of everything going on and a junior registration form to streamline the process for recruiting new young players).
He has gone one further this season, sourcing a camera and filming our senior home games, before taking the time to pour through the hours of footage to create short highlight packages from each home game to share on our social media channels. All of these tasks Will undertakes in his spare time, during evenings after work and the weekends, as well as being a key senior player, committee member and helping to coach the U13s, U15s and supporting our ladies with scoring and umpiring duties.
Will was a junior player at Pembroke, before moving away for work in London and Bristol, and has been a huge addition to the club since returning home.
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Growing the Game: George Morris North Wales Junior Cricket League
Over the past 5 years George has made a significant and lasting contribution to maintaining and growing junior cricket in North Wales with his administrative role of secretary for the NWJCL. He volunteered for the role when the our east and west set ups were disbanded and the league now admins all junior league cricket accross North Wales. Teams stretch from Pwllheli to Bala to Newtown. With limited initial support, even his own club chair advised him against taking the role(!) George became the figurehead to all clubs, building fixtures, contact lists, organising and umpiring finals, settling disputes! He gives his time freely and has repeatedly refused any kind of recognition or reward for his time. All this is done while being an active club coach himself, he is professional, courteous and enthusiastic. The junior league now has 33 clubs running over 100 teams and when the suggestion came to start an indoor winter league, in what might be known as “admin downtime”, George was the first to volunteer his support. Ask him why he does it and he will simply say its his way of giving back to cricket what he got from the sport as a youngster.
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Rising Star: Oliver Gibson Carmarthen wanderers Cricket club
Nominated: Luke Sellers
Oliver has been at the club since he was 8 years old and currently still plays junior cricket. He along with his dad Paul and sister Charlie are always there to support the club.
This summer Oliver has been there to support our Dynamos programme - he arrives early to help set up - and at the end of the session helps put all the kit away.
He's a great asset to the club and fully deserves to be recognised.
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Game Changer: Leri Watkins Dafen Welfare Cricket Club
Leri Watkins is a studying Childcare at Gower College Swansea, and is a young lady full of enthusiasm for both young people and for cricket. She actively participates in the fledgling Dafen Women Cricket Club team, where she brings energy and commitment at all times, whether training or during matches, and encourages and supports her teammates to gain knowledge, skills and confidence. Leri is instrumental in helping to build an incredible team spirit, and is undertaking her Level One Coaching, also volunteering with Dynamos, where she brings her love of the game to the young participants . As part of a recent trip to Kenya organised through Gower College Swansea, Leri raised the funds to support herself, and also took kit from Dafen Cricket Club to supply to local schools. Eager to make a positive impact during the trip, Leri not only taught English and Welsh, but introduced the children to cricket, running coaching lessons and says that she will forever cherish the memories of the laughter as they grasped and relished the game. There is no doubt that Leri will continue to bring her joy to the game at a local level as she progresses through her cricket journey
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Safe Hands: Victoria Jones Ebbw Vale CC
On a recent visit to Ebbw Vale CC Linda Medlcott the Safeguard Lead at CW was able to see firsthand the work completed by the Club Safeguarding Officer. In the parents viewing gallery in the cricket school and placed around the club house there are displays including contact and information posters, hard copies of the codes of conducts and relevant safeguarding policies easily available for parents/participants to access. It clearly shows how to raise a concern and what action to take should you have any safeguarding or welfare concerns. This demonstrates good practice within the club and shows that Safeguarding is a part of everyday life in the club.
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Volunteer Grounds Manager: Nick Pepper Ebbw Vale CC
Nominated: Dave Jones; Chris Parker: Menai Bridge Cricket Club team.
Nick is genuinely passionate about the work he does as a groundskeeper, and believe that his dedication and commitment to creating and maintaining beautiful outdoor spaces have a positive impact on his community. Going beyond the typical duties of a groundskeeper, he strives to engage with the environment in a way that fosters a sense of connection and appreciation for nature.
Nick takes great pride in his work and is constantly seeking ways to improve and innovate in his field. Whether it's implementing sustainable landscaping practices, creating opportunities for local groups like the youth affending service to learn about grounds keeping, or simply taking the time to listen to the needs and desires of those who enjoy the outdoor spaces he cares for.
Nick takes every opportunity to further elevate the importance of grounds keeping as a crucial element in creating a welcoming and vibrant space and can always be relied upon to discuss and share his ideas for the grounds at Ebbw Vale. Nick continues to expand his knowledge and skills, as well as inspiring others to see the beauty and value of being part of Ebbw Vale Cricket Club.
Nick has made a lasting impact at the ground, and he should be proud of his achievements
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Tackling Climate: Phil Rowe Ynystawe CC
Phil has been instrumental in installing the solar PV project at the club. 54 panels have been installed as part of their environmental initiative. He consistently goes above and beyond to engage with environmental initiatives, demonstrating a strong commitment to sustainability. His efforts not only benefit the club but also contribute positively to our community and the environment.
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Young Coach: Armaan Swansea Street Project.
Arman began his cricket journey as a participant on the Swansea Street Project. Armaan was already popular amongst younger members was able to assist in organising, helping with the administration and ensuring that the outdoor space at the Vetch was a safe environment for all the participants. During that winter Armaan undertook the Foundation coaching course and was given the opportunity to run the Swansea Street session in 2023.
Armaan has proven to be a fantastic role model for other coaches and participants, always ensuring that everybody is made to feel part of the programme and involving everybody within the activities. Armaan often advertises around local youth settings and engages via outreach work in promoting cricket activities within the Swansea Diverse Community. This work has resulted in 50 young people participating in street cricket sessions within the centre of Swansea.
Armaan not only coaches but he has become the focal point for the young people and other coaches within the centre of Swansea for cricket activities. No matter where the activity is (Vetch / LC2 / Swansea Mosque) the one constant is that Armaan Ali will be there ensuring others enjoy their cricketing experience.
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Unsung Hero: Lynsey Rogers Mountain Ash CC
Nominated: Mike Devoy; Phillip Hughes; Darren Owen & Dyfrig Jones; Christopher Hamilton-Smith; Tim Wiffen; Terry Littler;
MACC went through a very difficult time in 2021, and the club nearly ceased to exist. A change of direction was needed. This came in the form of Lynsey. Lynsey stepped up and supported the restructure of the club. This led to the commencement of Allstars & Dynamos. Lynsey turns up to every session, engages parents, supports the coaches, ensures the children have fun and makes sure those little extra's are in place and put a smile on everyone's face! This expanded further and led to a female softball team, led by Lynsey, her sister Bethan and Jo. Lynsey has driven this and now captains a team of 16 ladies and girls, who train every Thursday. She is very keen to take the next steps and organise a festival in Mount! Lynsey hasn't stopped there, she has become the club Safeguarding Officer. This is often a role not envied by others but she has taken it on with energy and passion, much like she has being on the club committee where she holds everyone to task and account. It doesn't stop there! Lynsey attends Saturday league games and the annual 6s festival with her daughter Lilli, and together they support the teas, hospitality and up keep of the pavilion. Lynsey is our unsung hero, without her the sustainability of the club and long term future of the club would be in question.
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Outstanding Contribution to Cricket: Maggie Smith Llanrwst CC & North Wales Cricket League
Nominated: Guy Browett
Maggie has given 27 years to Llanrwst CC where she is still a regular attendee to events held at the club like the annual schools tournaments making the coaches sandwiches and lots of cup of teas, along with helping out at All Stars, Dynamos and u11’s training sessions bringing out the ice pops at the end of each session. Maggie was also on the North Wales Cricket League Committee for 14 years (13 years as secretary) giving a lot of time organising many things for the league including the League awards evening that has had many great guest speakers through the years.
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Lifetime Achiever: Ron Pearson Gwersyllt Park Cricket Club
Nominated: Dai Brown; Eric Lewis; Mark Frost; Maggie Smith; Dave Wallace; Roy Hope; Terry Littler; Wayne Thomas; Wayne Pearson; Gareth Roberts.
Ron has dedicated 63 years of his adult life to his community through his transformational development and evolution of Gwersyllt Park Cricket Club, in the process building 3 pavilions to enhance the sporting element and provide a pathway for youngsters to represent the club from youth to senior teams, including the building of the social club that sustains the club to this day. Ron’s dedication has had a wider impact on the community, where over 3000 residents feel the club is their social hub, whilst also overseeing the introduction of a disabled cricket offering, a competitive ladies’ senior team and national cricket programmes All Stars and Dynamos.
Ron is loved and respected by players and members alike; a consistent role-model to the hundreds of youth players he has coached and continues to mentor to this day. In 1984, he founded a sports association that has provides countless community activities all year round to enhance the social mobility and cohesion for residents. Undertaking all roles in his time with the club including player, coach, groundsman, captain, secretary and chairman, culminating with Ron’s leadership being responsible for driving the current project of a new pavilion and Community Hub, worthy legacy for his dedication.
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