What is the aim of Super 8 Cricket?
The aim is to set up numerous Super 8 Cricket Centres across Berks, Bucks and Oxon, as well as some other counties to cater for a wide range of disabilities, difficulties and conditions. The centres will be based at clubs in order to provide a sustainable disability cricket provision which will in turn complement the current disability delivery that occurs across the region of Berks, Bucks and Oxon as well as the other pilots that are happening in other counties. This will hopefully mean that we may retain more people with disabilities within our cricketing network.
What does Super 8 Cricket look like?
Super 8 Cricket sessions are meant to be fun, relaxed and accessible for a people with a wide range of disabilities using soft balls, larger balls and lighter equipment. The sessions are purely based around fun and participation where each individual is encouraged to take part at their own pace in order to ensure that they have a great time and want to return again and again.
Each Super 8 Centre will be provided with an ECB branded Super 8 Kit Bag and the coaches involved will also receive a hoody and t shirt each.
How do people get involved?
People can get involved by contacting Luke Wright (BBO Disability Executive) on luke.wright@ecb.co.uk. At the moment there are 9 Super 8 Cricket Centres in Berks, Bucks and Oxon which are as follows:
Berks-Boyne Hill Stags and Falkland Falcons
Bucks-Kingshill Cavaliers, Waddesdon Warriors and Twyford Titans
Oxon-Bicester Bears, Oxford Oxen, Didcot Power and Minster Lovell Lions
What does the future look like for Super 8 Cricket?
At the moment this is purely a pilot programme. The hope is that in the future the programme can be spread more widely across the country either under the name of Super 8 Cricket or potentially under a new distinctive brand name. In the future we would like Super 8 Cricket to look like a network of clubs providing fun, relaxed and sustainable cricket for people with a wide range of disabilities. We would like to emphasize the ‘network’ aspect of this. The hope is that the ‘network’ would be able to communicate with each other in order to share ideas, great practice, good news stories and hopefully they may also be able to organise festivals and matches where different centres are able to come together.