6 winners collect their award at the Kia Oval
This programme aimed to identify six players who have the potential to become performance cricketers. Six scholarships will be awarded annually to children who are state school educated in Woking and are not currently involved in the Performance or County Age Groups for Surrey Cricket. Thirty-six scholarships have been awarded over the past six years to players aged between school years 4 to 11. For 2019, children from years 4 to 9 were accepted onto the Scholarship Programme in attempt to discover and select young natural talent.
The programme was comprised of 4 phases, with the initial phase giving schools the opportunity to receive a limited number of taster coaching sessions from a qualified Surrey coach to assist with the process nominating players for Phase 2 assessments. However, all schools in the Woking Borough are invited and encouraged to nominate children to progress to the Phase 2 assessments regardless of whether their school receives the Phase 1 coaching.
Through our taster sessions and schools coaching programme six schools has access to cricket and were presented with the opportunity to participate during curriculum time. Kwik cricket competitions were held throughout the Woking Borough during the summer terms for 17 school teams consisting of Year 5&6 pupils. Secondary indoor competitions were attended by 11 teams that resided within the Woking Borough. In total, children from 26 schools participated in cricketing activities during the 2018/19 academic year and were involved in the Phase 1 talent ID sessions.
The Phase 2 assessments took place at Pyrford CC and involved 90 minutes of cricket, overseen by three qualified Surrey Coaches. 20 out of 49 children advanced to the final Phase 3 assessments which involved a more detailed test of their skills. From the Phase 3 assessments, six scholarships were awarded, which comprised of three 1-to-1 coaching sessions, a 5-week coaching course to further their skills development, £200 to spend on cricket equipment and a contribution towards club membership fees for the 2020 season (Phase 4).
A total of 49 children from 16 varying schools entered Phase 2 for the 2019 Bedser Scholarship Programme, with the winners as follows:
The Scholars were awarded their prizes by Liam Plunkett on the Oval pitch before the Men's T20 matches on the 27th August. Our thanks go to the Bedser Scholarship Working group for their support in making this programme a success.