ICC European Presidents' Day a great success
On Saturday ICC Europe held its annual Presidents' Day sponsored by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) supporters of European cricket on the 2nd day of the npower 2nd test at Lord's Cricket Ground, between England and Sri Lanka.
The ICC European Presidents' Day is a hospitality day where Presidents' from the European member countries come to Lord?s to enjoy a day with guests from their representative countries, as well as special invited guests by ICC Europe including official partners and suppliers.
The day begun with a welcome breakfast in the Marylebone Suite, as guests arrived, with play beginning at 11.00am as the sun begun to shine brightly on the home of Cricket. The Mayor of Corfu, Ioannis Trepeklis, who accompanied Iosif Nikitas the President of the Hellenic Cricket Federation, presented ICC Regional Development Manager, Richard Holdsworth with a fantastic book on Corfu. In reply, Holdsworth presented the Mayor of Corfu with a leather bound Thomas Lyte journal.
The on-field action was great for all the guests to see and the morning batting from England certainly lived up to the billing. It was then time for lunch as a traditional Lord's lunch was served for all the guests.
After lunch was served the Regional and Global Development Awards were presented to the winners. Former ICC President, David Morgan OBE and England and Wales Cricket Board Chief Executive, David Collier were in attendance to present the awards.
There were eight winners of the Regional Development Awards, with three of the winners receiving Global achievements as well as Regional. The presentation was to congratulate and enjoy the achievements of this year's winners. The lists of award winners were as follows:
Regional Development Award Winners
CategoryAward Winner
Lifetime Service Award Eddie Cannon (France)
Volunteer of the YearNeil Saint (France)
Best Overall Cricket DevelopmentCricket Scotland
Best Women's Cricket InitiativeGibraltar Cricket Association
Best Junior Cricket InitiativeKNCB (Netherlands)
Best Spirit of Cricket InitiativeEstonia Cricket Association
Best Cricket Promotion and MarketingCricket Ireland
Photo of the YearBarry Chambers (Ireland)
Global Development Award Winners
Best Overall Cricket DevelopmentCricket Scotland
Volunteer of the YearNeil Saint (France)
Best Cricket Promotion and MarketingCricket Ireland
More cricket was enjoyed, before the tea break were the annual ICC Presidents' Day raffle and auction was held, with many generous donations from the ICC Partners Notts Sport and Surridge and many of the Suppliers including set of stumps, signed cricket bat, signed umpire shirts by the match officials from England v Sri Lanka match, scholarship at the Global Cricket School. The silent auction included a stay at the Danubius Hotel and a £350 travel voucher donated by Cricket Travel.
All money raised in the raffle and auction goes towards the Henry Trevor Memorial Fund. A fund set-up in the honour of Trevor's memory to give an up and coming European umpire the oppourtunity to further develop skills and knowledge.
The day ended in sunshine and an enjoyable day for all that attended.