Wednesday 4th May 2011

CricketForce at Hartshorne  9/3/11 

Most people think of a Grandstand Saturday, of one watching the Grand National on TV, others such as Derbyshire’s Mini Academy were hard at work at Hartshorne Cricket Club helping them with the well known CricketForce event. After rushing from The Gateway Centre in Derby, where the players had collected their new Derbyshire clothing, the Mini Academy met at Hartshorne for 1.30pm ready for work.

Steve Tomlin, from Hartshorne Cricket Club, had paint brushes, paint pots and CricketForce t-shirts at the ready. So after a quick introduction the Mini Academy boys tackled the outside fence that runs around the ground. The boys split into two teams and started at different sides of the ground to paint as much fencing as possible. After last year’s CricketForce, where there tended to be more paint on the painters than the actual object which was supposed to be painted, this year it appeared that a lesson had been learnt.    

After several hours painting, the boys were rewarded for their efforts with a barbeque and a break. A quick high-catching competition followed and then some team members changed teams, in a last hour attempt to complete what we had started hours before. It was soon 5.30pm and time for the Mini Academy to put their painting brushes down and reflect on the day. 

It was a successful day at Hartshorne and an important experience for all in the Mini Academy. Helping a club like Hartshorne is important for the club and for young players to learn that hard work is done off the field in order to allow people to play cricket.   

Many thanks to Hartshorne for this event. 

Michael Mitchell - Mini Academy Player and Mentor

Picture - Vanessa Grundy Photography/Tel: 01283 218733?