Northumberland Cricket Board OSCAs
Northumberland Cricket Board are delighted to announce the winners of the Northumberland OSCAs 2009. The NatWest OSCAs (Outstanding Service to Cricket Awards) are aimed at recognising those volunteers who give so much of their time to the game of cricket – without these individuals the game would not survive.
The County winners (detailed below) will be corporate hospitality guests at the Durham CCC NatWest Pro 40 game against Hampshire on Sunday 23rd August, where they will be presented their recognition certificates.
In addition all winners will be invited to attend the National NatWest OSCAs at Lords on Monday 5th October.
Behind Scenes – Bobby Dodds (Alnwick Cricket Club)A playing member in all Alnwick Club sides from 1955 to 1986, having played first team cricket in every decade from the sixties to the nineties.
Held numerous positions at the club including – Chairman, Treasurer, First Team Scorer and Club Captain.
He currently is on the Management Committee of Northumberland County Cricket Club and one of the two official scorers for the County Team.
Longest servicing member of the Club and now in his seventy-third year, his enthusiasm shows no sign of waning.
Building Partnerships – Colin Tait (Ulgham Village Cricket Club) Colin has been groundsman for over 20 years, attending to the ground several times a week, mowing, scarifying, watering etc marking the pitch and boundaries and cleaning the pavilion ready for matches.
He has been instrumental in gaining funding to reconstruct the square in 2006 as well as new equipment.
The glamorous role also included digging trenches and drainage in a swampy area of the outfield by hand this winter.
Leagues and Boards – Mick McLean (Ashington Cricket Club) Mick is known as a player and umpire. A gentle man of great integrity, who is well respected throughout cricket both locally and nationally.
In 1960 he joined Ashington playing 316 games, scoring 4601 runs including his only century in 1963 vs Amble, took 129 wickets, finishing playing days in 1973.
Since becoming an umpire in 1974 he has officiated in over 2,000 games including as a Minor County umpire for 23 years (1979-2001). His exploits include the only floodlit match at Jesmond in 1983 (Northumberland v Somerset), 7 Callers Pegasus games including England v Rest of the World XI, 1988 County Championship 2nd XI competition, 1990 England schools festival at Dundee, 1991 Full International match England v Scotland at Gateshead Fell.
Mick also served on Ashington CC committee for many years as well as umpires fixture appointments secretary. Having overcome a liver transplant in 2001 still umpired until 2008.
Lifetime – Margaret Robson (Corbridge Cricket Club) Margaret Robson has been Corbridge CC 1st XI scorer for over 50 years. She takes immense pride in her work with every scorebook entry being colour coded.
Towards the end of the 2007 season when Margaret suffered a serious stroke which affected her speech and her mobility it looked like her scoring days were over. However once her recovery had started she attended a few games during the 2008 as a spectator and at the end of the season she managed to do some scoring, first for a few overs and then for a couple of matches.
This seemed to help her recovery and over the winter and she told us that she was aiming to improve sufficiently to be back in the score box for the 2009 season. It was therefore very pleasing to see that on the first day of the season our old scorer was back in her accustomed position in the score box.
NatWest Cricketforce – John Bound (Alnmouth & Lesbury Cricket Club) John has been a member of Alnmouth and Lesbury for over 50 years, he often spends up to 40 hours per week working on and preparing what is recognised as one of the finest pitch’s in Northumberland.
In the last ten years he has overseen the building of a new bar area and lounge, new roof and new scorebox. During the recent Cricketforce weekend John had the whole club painted inside and out as well as having new toilets and showers fitted all by club members or sponsors.
Future projects include increasing the size of the playing area and improving disabled access.
Outside the Scorebox – Fenwick Marley (Benwell Hill Cricket Club) Fenwick Marley fulfils two of the most thankless tasks that anyone can perform in a cricket club – he is fixture secretary and social secretary.
In terms of fixtures it is a complex job to cater for effectively 5 senior teams and 4 junior teams but it is extremely rare for errors to be made and when they are in an unflappable and pleasant manner.
Our club has a thriving social calendar that Fenwick puts together as well as these tasks Fenwick also leads the BHCC website which is one of the best around.
Young Volunteer – Claire Richards (Morpeth Cricket Club) Claire has been Morpeth CC’s U9 Assistant coach since 2007, she loves cricket, an excellent motivator who works well with people.
Claire has undertaken level 1 coaching course and level 1 scorers course in addition to her club duties.
As U9 Coach she has excelled, increasing numbers from 8 to over 25 young cricketers. She is innovative with her new training games and is very well respected by the other coaches and parents.
A committed individual who is planning to obtain her Level 2 Coaching badge and attend a University that provides her with the opportunity to continue to work with local clubs.
Northumberland Sport would like to congratulate them on the award and hope they have an enjoyable day at the Riverside and Lords.
If you would like to find out more about cricket in Northumberland visit our cricket pages.
