Chesterfield look to the future
by Colston Crawford, 2nd February 2003

Batting feats brought Chesterfield Cricket Club headlines last season, as Sri Lankan Prince Bradman Ediriweera topped 1,000 runs and England one-day international Ian Blackwell returned to his home club to blitz a double century on one memorable afternoon.

But, behind the scenes, Chesterfield were intent on proving themselves a model of the direction bigger, well-organised clubs are taking as they look to a future founded on developing young players. It is a role largely left to clubs, as organised cricket has all but ceased to exist in state schools.

Faced with criticism of the survival of a so-called 'wealthy few' clubs, Chesterfield's experienced captain David Adams aligns himself firmly with the way the England & Wales Cricket Board wants top level club cricket to develop.

"Is it really a mistake to try to improve our standards?" he asks. "It is a fact that the game of cricket as we know it is out of date and we are way behind the likes of Australia and South Africa in the standard of our domestic game at club, county and international level. What is wrong with running clubs on a sound financial footing like a small business and adopting a policy of development for the future?"

This is what Chesterfield would argue they were doing last season, when they regularly threw four or five 15-year-old cricketers into their Derbyshire Premier League side. They have taken things a step further since the season ended by advertising the post of Director of Youth and Cricket Development and appointing former Derbyshire player Andy Brown to it.

"The club feels Andy has both the experience and ability to implement the plans the club have devised to develop cricket from grass roots to Premier League level," said Adams. "It is a further step in our desire to offer the highest standard of facilities in the Premier and County Leagues for all ages."

And Adams pointed out that Chesterfield are not funding their plans through a single wealthy benefactor. "We have set up a sub-committee with the responsibility of looking at new and innovative ways of raising money," he said. "The money is found through things like our sporting lunch with Geoff Miller on December 13. That was one of numerous events we will hold, targeted at different audiences to maximise income and not rely on the same people all the time."

"It takes an immense amount of work and committment but we think our club and its youth are worth it. I feel sympathy for clubs like Langley Mill but paying players en masse is no way to run a club. I played for 10 years in the Bradford League, with team budgets of £30,000-plus a season, but there was no depth within clubs, no youth set-ups and no development. Money needs to be spent but on both development and investment for the future as well as for today."

Colston Crawford reports for the Derby Evening Telegraph where this article first appeared. For more local cricket from Derbyshire's premier local newspaper, click here .