Scintilla Cricket Club

Scintilla Cricket Club bowled over by the Mayor of Barking and Dagenham!

Young Players of Scintilla Cricket Club were bowled over by the hospitality of His Worshipful The Mayor, Cllr Nirmal Gill when they visited his parlour on 13^th April 2011.  The players and guests were served traditional English tea and cakes by the Mayor to celebrate the positive contribution made by the club in the community.

The cricket club based in Barking and Dagenham were invited by The Mayor to celebrate their continued success in the last five years at competitive level.  The senior team has won three titles and two runners up and the latest one being the champion of Essex County Cricket League Division II.  In each year the club has gained promotion in their respective leagues and produced some outstanding results against already established clubs such as Barking and Goresbrook.  During the league’s award ceremony, the club also picked up individual accolades:  Highest run scorer Ekram Chowdhury who scored well over 700 runs with two centuries, highest wicket taker Rafi-Ur Rahman with over 30 wickets.

 

The Mayor also congratulated Scintilla CC for their outstanding work with young people during the summer holidays.  Over the last three years the club worked in partnership with London Borough of Barking and Dagenham to hold three consecutive summer camps. It is noteworthy that, Scintilla CC is the only club who responded to the Council’s call for cricket development during summer holidays since 2008.  These summer camps proved to be a very successful scheme for aspiring cricketers aged 8-16.  Around 100 participants have graduated from the camps and at last year’s scheme, 15 players were selected to take part in street cricket project, which is supported by the ECB. During the event, the Mayor presented Reece Green and Sam Wood with trophies for their hard work and great improvement since graduating.  Councillor Rocky Gill, Lead Member for Children and Young People spoke very highly of the club’s commitment and effort to engaging with young people.  Councillor Milton McKenzie a former cricket player was also in attendance, and took time out during the event to advise senior team players of how to work even harder to achieve more success.

Chairman of Scintilla CC Naufal Zamir said “we are grateful to The Mayor for recognising our club’s success and hope that we can carry on helping young people do well in cricket and especially achieve cohesion”.  He also said that “at this time of austerity measures it is becoming increasingly difficult to run sports clubs without proper funding” and sought for anyone wishing to sponsor or donate to the club’s funds to come forward.

 

Club Captain, Ahmed Choudhury said “I am very proud of the way Scintilla CC have performed over the last few years and looking forward to achieving more successes especially with young people.  We want to open up access to cricket which can achieve many great things but realise that we cannot do it on our own as cuts in funding is posing a huge threat to clubs in London.”  He went on to thank Barking and Dagenham Council for supporting the club and looked forward to working more closely in the future.

Scintilla CC delivers another excellent summer camp

 

Scintilla Cricket Club once again teamed up with Barking & Dagenham Council to deliver a week-long cricket

course for young people aged between 8 – 16.   It started on 2^nd August and finished on the 6^th.  This was part of the Council’s Summer Sorted programme where 45 young cricketers developed their skills and general understanding in: batting, bowling, fielding, attitude towards the game, healthy living and to help them develop an understanding of cohesion.  The camp was headed by ECB qualified coach Donovan Miller and managed by the club’s senior team captain Ahmed Choudhury.  Current Sri Lankan all rounder Hasnath Fernando also coached the young people.  Senior players likes of Ekram Chowdhury and Sabbir Hossain also assisted with coaching.

On the last day of the summer camp the participants took part in a mini tournament to showcase their skills.  It turned out to be a fine day with only a short spell of rain.  Parents and guardians started arriving at Barking Park to watch the final match being played at 4pm.   His Worshipful The Mayor Cllr Gill was the guest of Honour along with a string of high profile members of the community.   The Leader of LBBD Council Cllr Smith and his Deputy Cllr Rocky Gill was also present.  The Mayor in his speech congratulated Scintilla on delivering an excellent project and applauded the effective partnership with the Council.  The Chairman of the club Mr Naufal Zamir praised the participants for their commitment, dedication and above all for their superb effort.  He also said “sports is a great medium for harmony and cohesion and I am delighted that my cricket club has once again managed to bring together, another group of diverse young people from different corners of the Borough.  Although we had to work hard to find additional funds to run this programme I am glad that we did”.  Cllr Rocky Gill in his speech highly acknowledged the outstanding quality of the scheme.  He also asked the Council officials to continue their support with the proposed development of cricket facilities at Barking Park.  Laurence Weekes, General Secretary of Essex County Cricket League, also attended the event.  He was really happy to see Scintilla making a positive contribution to promoting cricket at grassroot level.

 

The closing speech was from a participant who volunteered to speak in front of his friends and distinguished guest.  Reece Green was also awarded the most disciplined participant of the camp.  He said “I was really happy to be given a place in this camp.  What I have leant here I try to use those skills like being well mannered and disciplined at home and at my school”.

 

The aspiring cricketers were given certificates and medals for attendance and special awards were given out to those whose performance was exceptional. 

 

The following people received special awards:

 

Most improved bowler: Arsalan Baig

 

Most improved batsman:  Kane Golding

 

Most improved fielder:  Waseem Sheer

 

Most improved all-rounder:  Aaman Aslam

 

Most disciplined:  Reece Green

 

At the time of writing this release the senior has just won the Essex County Cricket League Division 2 title.  So, all in all another successful season for this community based club.  The club is continuing to work with the council to identify a suitable community facility to keep these young people developing their cricketing skills during the winter months.

 

The club is always in the lookout for sponsors and budding cricketers and would love to welcome new members for its 2^nd XI to compete in local league next year. 

 

END.

Latest :Essex League is the next stop for SCC

We have just learnt that our application to join the Essex League (sponsored by Lords International) has been successful.  The league had its AGM today (14th December) and informed us straightaway.  Our experience of this journey has been a smooth one so far.  We will be playing our home matches at Seven Kings Park.

If you would like to join this successful community cricket club either as a player, a volunteer or you would like to sponsor us please click here to submit your details.

 

 

Goutom played first division cricket in Dhaka and also graduating from BKSP.  By trade he is a classy off spinner but can also bowl very fast.  Excellent lower order batsman who has broken two club bats already!!  In one match he smashed a swing bowler for 4 sixes and 2 fours!!  He has style.

 

The club management wishes them both success.