Girls' Cricket

This week sees the start of the under-15 girls competition in Dorset. Following the successful launch of the ladies' league last season, the girls now take their turn in a district competition based at four clubs - Weymouth, Shillingstone, Wareham and Bournemouth.

These teams will play each other once and the county squad will be selected from these games to go on and play Somerset, Devon and Cornwall later in the season.

The competition is open to girls aged 15 or under on September 1, 2001.

Anyone interested in joining their nearest club should contact me or ask their parents to contact me at the cricket centre on 01202-470852 . Anyone willing to give it a try should get in touch because all the girls are beginners and coaching will be provided. All the kit is also provided and because of a successful Lottery award, transport and other costs will be funded.

For the long term future of the women's league it is important that we make a success of this competition and we are doing everything we can by getting in to schools and offering coaching and encouraging more girls to join their local clubs.

Winfrith Technology Centre

A big thank-you to Winfrith Technology Centre who have kindly sponsored four district junior matches which are taking place during the Jubilee week.

The centre is also sponsoring the Dorset County under-13's festival to be held at Canford School later in the summer. I know that Winfrith also support a lot of other community activities and without their help and that of other sponsors we could not possibly run such a big programme of matches.

Video analysis

The Dorset Cricket Centre are about to install video analysis equipment to help coaches improve the quality of teaching they deliver. Modern video equipment enables a coach to examine frame by frame the technique of all our players and establish any technical problems they may have. The equipment is also used to find out why a player is experiencing injury problems, particularly bowlers who may put stress on their backs through a bowling action that is "mixed" which means a combination of side on and front on. If we can correct a mixed action early enough then long-term injury problems can be avoided. With this equipment we are also able to view the technique of a player on the computer screen alongside a video of a top player such as Alan Donald.

This allows a coach to highlight areas where the player can improve things. Installation of this equipment will further improve the standard of our coaching and help to achieve our aim of producing more first-class players from Dorset.

Dorset cricket funding

I am currently in the middle of preparing an application for funding to the England and Wales Cricket Board. This funding comes from the Test match receipts and sponsorship of the national side.

There are several headings under which the Dorset Cricket Board can apply including secondary schools, primary schools, representative and district cricket, groundsmanship, coaching and disability cricket. Hopefully this application will be approved and

the funding will come through in September.