The ICC announced this week that a women’s development camp will be staged in Philadelphia from September 8 – 11, 2016, with a competitive International flavor provided by a women’s touring team from the Marylebone Cricket Club, England. The camp represents the culmination of recent national cricket Combines, and an opportunity for some of the USA’s best female talent to work alongside developing players to drive improvement across the group over the three-day event.
Local organization is in the hands of the British Officer’s Cricket Club of Philadelphia (BOCC), for thirty years a leading Pennsylvania club noted as a catalyst of innovation in regional cricket. These include the renowned annual Philadelphia International Cricket Festival, the fully democratic Greater Philadelphia Cricket League, and its own annual Philadelphia Youth Cricket Festival.
Current BOCC President, Ernie Precious and the preceding BOCC President, Mike Thomas have been closely coordinating the planning of the event with the ICC. Mr. Precious noted how the two adjacent cricket fields of BOCC’s Evansburg Cricket Field facility lent itself perfectly for concurrent coaching, training and match-play. He added “Philadelphia has long prided itself as the epicenter of U.S. cricket in its nineteenth century golden age. We are delighted that the august Merion CC and Haverford College, both cricketing doyens of that age, have enthusiastically joined us in hosting the event.” Haverford College also hosts the internationally recognized C.C. Morris Cricket Library and Museum which has graciously offered to organize an evening reception for the ladies.
Mr. Thomas noted the long-held ambition of the BOCC to help nurture regional and national cricket to former glories. “The missing links in U.S. cricket” he said, “have long been the national organization of school cricket, youth cricket and women’s cricket. We are so pleased to be able to assist the ICC in jump-starting this initiative and the quest for national unity in cricket.”
Ernie Precious and Mike Thomas are Board Directors of the American Cricket Federation.