LA MANGA WELCOMES SECOND CROP OF TALENT
This week a crop of the finest cricketing talents from across Europe will gather together in La Manga Spain for the ICC European Cricket Academy . The Academy follows on from the Centre of Excellence which took place at the world class sports resort last week and welcomes a more mature group of cricketers aged between 17 and 23 for 8 days of high performance training prior to the 2007 season.
This is the second successive year that the Academy has been held in Spain and it will once again include two programs. The first part, a training program, will run from the 22-29 April in La Manga, while the playing program will follow in June where the squad will be based at the ECB National Cricket Centre at Loughborough University .
The sixteen participants will gain an insight into the preparation required when faced with the challenges of a high intensity training program. They will then look forward to a series of matches in June including one against a Loughborough University Centre of Cricketing Excellence (UCCE) and a 3-day game against a Warwickshire Development XI. This is the first time a number of these cricketers will have played the game in the longer format. The Academy program has changed significantly from 2006 with much of the training now being run as 1:1 sessions.
This year the coaching team has been strengthened with more specialist coaches being on hand in the areas of seam bowling, spin bowling, wicket keeping, fielding, physiology and psychology. Once again the Academy has been put together by ICC European Development Officer Philip Hudson , who has brought together a European coaching team including two ICC Development coaches and former World Cup captains Roland Lefebvre (The Netherlands) and Craig Wright ( Scotland ) to work with the participants. In addition ECB Elite Coach Development Manager Gordon Lord and Sports Psychologist Joce Brooks will be working with the players to further develop their skills.
Richard Cox, Warwickshire County Cricket Club Academy Director, takes the role as Academy Director and will oversee the proceedings each day. He commented, “This is the 5th Academy intake and each year we have managed to enhance the content and personnel within the program. The outcomes are two fold: “Firstly to prepare the lads for an International Fixture Program with their own countries as well as representing the Academy in matches later on; and second to provide them with an insight to becoming a professional International cricketer.”
Academy Squad: Nirvam Shah Belgium Kashif Qureshi Denmark Rizwan Tariq Denmark Thushara Koralangamage France Ehsan Latif Germany Kris Moherndl Guernsey Chris Dougherty Ireland James Hall Ireland Richard Kniveton Isle Of Man Mudassar Boukhari Netherlands Geert Maarten Mol Netherlands Lesley Stokkers Netherlands Richard Berrington Scotland Kasim Farid Scotland Gordon Goudie Scotland Sean Weeraratna Scotland