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The forthcoming season (2010) will see a change in the number of junior teams we will be entering into to the league competitions. Following the success of last year, we will still enter a number of teams in the Sunday Kwik Cricket festivals. We will also still enter an Under 11 team and, new to this season, an Under 13 B League team. However, due to a shortage of players, we will not be able to enter teams at Under 15 or Under 18 level. However, after lengthy discussion amongst the junior coaches, it is likely that the club will put a team into the Sunday League which consists of 40 overs per side. The aim will be to include around 5 or 6 of the older juniors plus some old 'sages'(and Tom!) in what promises to be an enjoyable league where the juniors will hopefully be able to get more time in the middle for batting and also gain valuable bowling experience. We'll see how it goes ........
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Representative Cricket: We have had 3 players (Oliver, Jordan and Alexander) involved with the Under 15 Inter-Area competition over the last couple of weeks and one player (Mohammed) involved with the Under 13 competition. Mohammed scored a fanatstic 131 no in one of his matches so well done to him. Oliver and Alex both took 3 wickets in their respective tournament. The inclusion of 4 of our players is great for the club and ought to demonstrate to others that representative cricket is out there for those that work hard at their game and who are willing to listen and learn at coaching sessions.
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I would like to thank everyone who compiled a team(s) for the fantasy cricket competition. We sold 60 teams which as you can tell brought in £300, half of which goes to prizes and the other £150 goes towards purchasing new equipment for the junior section of our club. To those of you who filled out more than one team, or sold teams to friends, family and work colleagues I thank you very much. If you follow the links you will be able to see the final points for all the players who competed in the tournament and the winners and scores for those who entered teams into this competition. The first, second and third placed people have had their teams printed also. At the bottom of the winners and scores page you will also find a team compiled of the tournamnets top players for each category and amazingly this team comes in under budget! Congradulations to Richard Laidlaw for winning the competition, George Smith for coming second and Jim Orr for placing third. Richards team was one of the lucky dips made up and sold at our Sportsman's Dinner, so I am betting he won't be complaining about digging into his pocket for that fiver now!! George had entered two teams, one of which came second and the other third last!! I wonder which one he thought would do best?! Jim Orr's team was selected by Jon Raine as a favour to his boss, so I bet he is kicking himself that his team wasn't as strong! Once again I just want to say thanks to everyone who has made this competition worth while. By Tom McFadzean. (Please bear with me until the stats are published - website wizard is in France)
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There will be a number of Cricket Camps held over the summer. Please contact Iain Strewart on 0141 422 2145 for more details, or log onto www.wdcu-cricket.net / www.cricketscotland.com
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Poloc Cricket Club will be holding a number of cricket camps over the summer holidays. For more information visit their website on www.poloc.com or e-mail the Kilmarnock CC Junior convener via the contacts page who will forward a copy of Keith Young's e-mail complete with flyer and information. Alternatively e-mail Keith direct, his address is: keith.young@poloc.com
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Following on from the last two year's successful schools cricket festival, Kilmarnock hosted another on the 1st of June. Unlike last year, this was a beautiful day which probably added to the enjoyment. As with previous years, 6 teams from the Kilmarnock area took part, each playing 6 games. The winners were Crossroads who won all of their games so a hearty congratulations goes to them, with the runners up being New Farm. All teams won at least one game. The 50 or so children all seemed to enjoy themselves, and on a positive note a number expressed an interest in coming to training. As ever a big thanks to those that helped on the day - Allan and Joeseph for helping with scoring / umpiring, Ally for preparing the pitches and his dad for supplying refreshments to some very warm young cricketers.
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Representative Cricket: Oliver, Alex and Jordan have been nominated by the Junior Coaches to attend the Ayrshire training sessions over the winter period and into next Spring. These will be used to decide who represents Ayrshire Under 15s in the Inter-District Tournament next summer, while Mohammed has been nominated in the Under 13 category. We wish them good luck and here's hoping that the boys do themselves proud.
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SRU/Cricket Scotland October Holidays Program: Cricket Scotland have asked that we publicise this event to be held in the October school holiday week for anyone interested in Cricket & Rugby for their kids in October. It is getting run by North Lanarkshire Council Active Schools. It will be held at Dalziel Park, Motherwell on the 14th, 15th and 16th of October. If anyone wishes any further information please e-mail me via the contacts page.
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There wil be another Astroturf day/night tournament held on the 15th October. Again, this will be under the Kwik Cricket format of 8 per side and is aimed at Under 13s. As with the tournament held earlier this year, it will be held at Ayr Cricket Club and will take place from 6 - 9pm. Team news will be announced later on.
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Could all players please give their coaches a note of when they will be taking their summer holidays or when you are unable to play over the school holidays. This enables us to postpone any matches in good time if this is required. Thanks.
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Unfortunately this camp has had to be cancelled due to a lack of numbers. This was the case with a number of simlar camps in the West of Scotland. Hopefully nextr year we will hold a joint one with Ardrossan. Kilmarnock will be hosting a summer coaching camp through the school summer holidays. This will be aimed for those in the age range from 8 to 14 years of age. The camp will last for 3 days each lasting around 2 1/2 hours from 10.00 a.m. and will be taken by Ruan Nel. Ruan is the professional for Woodworm Weirs during the Northern Hemisphere summer and a Cricket Development Officer in his native South Africa during the Southern Hemisphere summer. The cost is £15 per player, and the sessions will take place on the 29th, 30th and 31st of July. For any further details please contact Jonathan via the contacts page and I can e-mail you the flyer, or Iain Stewart, West Community Development Manager on 07825172346 or Iainstewart@cricketscotland.com. If you would like to book a place please go to www.cricketscotland.com and proceed to the Youth Development section where you will see the CRICKET SCOTLAND WEST SUMMER COACHING link. For those that can not attend our friends at Ardrossan will be hosting a similar camp, the dates for this are the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of July. Places can be booked in the same way.
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Following on from last year's successful schools cricket festival, Kilmarnock hosted another yesterday (2nd June). The rain stayed off, and although the pitch was fairly slippy there were no nasty falls and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. There were 6 teams taking part from 5 different schools. Each team managed to play 3 games and the tournament was eventually won by Mount Carmel 'B' so congratulations to them. There were around 50 children taking part so hopefully those that haven't played before enjoyed a taste of cricket and those that have played already had a good time also. At least another 50 children have been introduced to Kilmarnock Cricket Club and it would be great if some started attending practice. Many thanks to Ally, Tom, Kevin and Joseph for helping to umpire and also Ally for heroically preparing three pitches in the pouring rain, Kevin for preparing leaflets and posters and Tom for handing out Jaffa Cakes.
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The outdoor training will start this Tuesday - the 6th. Under 11s training will start at 6.30 and Under 15s will start at 7.30. There will be NO more indoor training until the winter. Could you also please let your coaches know which matches you are unavailable for if possible, this helps them with team selection.
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There was an Under 13 floodlit tournament on Thursday 10th April at Ayr Cricket Club. Despite only three teams turning up, it was an enjoyable night if a little chilly. We played and lost two games, one against a very good Ayr side and a very close encounter against Prestwick where we lost by 2 runs defending a total of 9! As with most of last season, the batting was where we lost both games and we only had 3 batsmen who ended on positive totals. However all eight players can take something positive to the new season and will hopefully learn from any mistakes. Jordan was our player of the tournament, closely followed by Jamie Hill.
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