Lawson to help Europeans at ICC Academy in India
Ireland World T20 players to benefit from coaching camp
This month, twelve of Europe's finest cricketers travel to Pune, India to take part in the ICC European Men's Academy 2010.
The coaching team this year is strengthened by former Australian test bowler and Pakistan national coach Geoff Lawson who will support the players as fast bowling coach. Accompanying Lawson is a highly qualified coaching team managed by academy director, ICC regional performance officer Philip Hudson. The team includes Cricket Ireland's Cricket Operations Director Mark Garaway, ECB's Head of Elite Coach Development Gordon Lord, current Guernsey player and Performance Manager Jeremy Frith and Joce Brooks, Sports Psychologist.
Garaway will be acting as Academy head coach and is looking forward to being involved with the European Academy for the first time: "I have craved the opportunity to lead a coaching team and am really looking forward to it, as there has been a high quality support team assembled. I am honoured to be working with the team and know that the players will be working within an elite environment throughout the trip."
It's the eighth year the Academy has been staged and this year academy director Philip Hudson returns to India with the group; to the Poona Sports Club. The academy consists of a highly beneficial coaching and skills programme, the 11-day trip will see the participants involved in a mixture of net sessions, video analysis, bowling, fielding and batting drills, centre wicket practice, and 1:1 discussions with coaches on player performance and goal-setting strategies.
The participants are of various ages ranging from 19-27 which complete a balanced squad and originate from six of ICC Europe's Member Countries - Denmark, Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man, Netherlands and Scotland. The Academy has three fixtures planned, including a 50 over match with a Poona CC Invitational XI.
Academy director, Hudson is delighted at the strength of the academy squad: ?This year we have selected the strongest squad ever and I am looking forward to working with all the players in a quality cricketing environment. India is a wonderful destination for the players to develop their skills and prepare themselves for future International participation'.
Amongst the group and fresh from Dubai having qualified for the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies are Nigel Jones and Gary Kidd. They are joined by another Irish player Andy Poynter, who is attending the academy for the second year: ?It is a massive privilege to be selected for the European men's academy and I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to practice all my skills at the excellent facilities of Poona Sports Club, closely watched by a great range of coaches from the ICC Europe team. Being based in India will assist in my personal development of playing against the spinning ball and learning to cope with the hot weather conditions.'
The Poona Sports Club is the major sports club in Pune and is located in the heart of the city. The cricket ground is deemed the best in the city and has been designed to meet international standards. The ground has first class facilities that include a recently installed lit practice facility of 22 wickets including 9 with box nets.
The European Academy has been organised through the Global Cricket School who have provided considerable support to European cricket over the last few years. In 2008 Kieron Ferrary from Gibraltar was awarded the ICC Europe/GCS Player Scholarship and produced one of the performances of the academy by scoring a quality hundred against the GCS Invitational XI. This year's academy scholarship has been awarded to Nigel Jones from Ireland. GCS Managing Director Sachin Bajaj said: "Here at the Global Cricket School we are focused in continuing to develop the game worldwide and work closely with ICC Europe and its member countries to develop players who go onto have the potential to perform at International level".
The Academy runs from 24 February- 6 March and has been funded by the Pepsi ICC European Development Programme.
The ICC European Academy Squad 2010:
Alasdair Evans Scotland
Phil Eaglestone Ireland
Nigel Jones Ireland (GCS Player Scholarship)
Mark Jonkman Netherlands
Gary Kidd Ireland
Rory McCann Ireland
Matthew Parker Scotland
Marc Petrie Scotland
Andrew Poynter Ireland
Zishan Shah Denmark
James Warr Guernsey
Berend Westdijk Netherlands