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3. History 3
AS OTHERS SEE US
by Tony Cottey) Nice one, Bont. (Reproduced by kind permission of Tony Cottey)
Pontarddulais are champions of the South Wales Cricket Association and deservedly so. If any team were to win it this season apart from my team Neath then I was hoping it would be the Bont. Last year at Neath, we wanted to try to buck the trend of attracting the best half a dozen from around the greater Swansea area for a season or two in the pursuit of silverware. We wanted to include as many local Neath players as possible, and from within that plan, try to promote as many young Neath players into the first team on merit. The fortunate result for us was that we won the League.
While we were winning our division last year, Pontarddulais were claiming promotion from theirs, Division 2, making up for the previous disappointment that saw this proud club being relegated from the top section. This year, not only have they won the first Division with a team made up exclusively from local players, they have also included their fair share of youngsters. Believe it or not, Pontarddulais's strategy may have long term benefits for England at Test level.
Fantasy surely? Well, maybe not. In the last two years the star of the Pontarddulais resurgence has been their young opening bowler James Harris. James, who has represented the club in their championship year this year, has also spent part of the season rewriting the record books for Glamorgan. He has also starred for England Under 19s, and there are many respected critics in the game who believe that he has all the talent to go on and appear for England on the highest stage of all. All he needs is time and the help of quality coaching to develop. Step forward Glamorgan.
I don't suppose we will ever really know if the fact that Glamorgan have often taken the field this year with more than 70% of their team being talented, home grown youngsters is a result of a policy to go with home grown talent alone or simply because the funds for enticing two top class overseas players or maybe a top English qualified player like a Jason Gallian has been diverted to the Sophia Gardens development.
Whatever the answer is, Glamorgan have used more local youngsters than any of the other 17 counties.
As I've pointed out during the summer, the downside is that some of these players may be harmed by the regular defeats, but the upside is that the likes of James Harris, Ben Wright, Richard Grant, Tom Maynard and others have been given their chance to shine.
Were it not for clubs like Pontarddulais encouraging their younger local products in a similar way that Glamorgan have, James would probably still be playing second team cricket a million miles away from the County Championship.
Another example is Daniel Roberts who played throughout the summer for Pontarddulais and he is just 15 years old. He is part of the Wales Under-15 squad that I coach and has been a cornerstone of our success this season which culminated in us winning the ECB Championship in Oundle School in Northampton.
Daniel has now been called up by England, too. He has plenty of hard work ahead of him, but the future is bright.
I firmly believe the talent exists at Glamorgan, not to mention the ones in the Academy and schoolboy cricket. And it's clubs like Pontarddulais that we have to thank for that.
The full article appeared in the South Wales Evening Post on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007.
by Tony Cottey) Nice one, Bont. (Reproduced by kind permission of Tony Cottey)
Pontarddulais are champions of the South Wales Cricket Association and deservedly so. If any team were to win it this season apart from my team Neath then I was hoping it would be the Bont. Last year at Neath, we wanted to try to buck the trend of attracting the best half a dozen from around the greater Swansea area for a season or two in the pursuit of silverware. We wanted to include as many local Neath players as possible, and from within that plan, try to promote as many young Neath players into the first team on merit. The fortunate result for us was that we won the League.
While we were winning our division last year, Pontarddulais were claiming promotion from theirs, Division 2, making up for the previous disappointment that saw this proud club being relegated from the top section. This year, not only have they won the first Division with a team made up exclusively from local players, they have also included their fair share of youngsters. Believe it or not, Pontarddulais's strategy may have long term benefits for England at Test level.
Fantasy surely? Well, maybe not. In the last two years the star of the Pontarddulais resurgence has been their young opening bowler James Harris. James, who has represented the club in their championship year this year, has also spent part of the season rewriting the record books for Glamorgan. He has also starred for England Under 19s, and there are many respected critics in the game who believe that he has all the talent to go on and appear for England on the highest stage of all. All he needs is time and the help of quality coaching to develop. Step forward Glamorgan.
I don't suppose we will ever really know if the fact that Glamorgan have often taken the field this year with more than 70% of their team being talented, home grown youngsters is a result of a policy to go with home grown talent alone or simply because the funds for enticing two top class overseas players or maybe a top English qualified player like a Jason Gallian has been diverted to the Sophia Gardens development.
Whatever the answer is, Glamorgan have used more local youngsters than any of the other 17 counties.
As I've pointed out during the summer, the downside is that some of these players may be harmed by the regular defeats, but the upside is that the likes of James Harris, Ben Wright, Richard Grant, Tom Maynard and others have been given their chance to shine.
Were it not for clubs like Pontarddulais encouraging their younger local products in a similar way that Glamorgan have, James would probably still be playing second team cricket a million miles away from the County Championship.
Another example is Daniel Roberts who played throughout the summer for Pontarddulais and he is just 15 years old. He is part of the Wales Under-15 squad that I coach and has been a cornerstone of our success this season which culminated in us winning the ECB Championship in Oundle School in Northampton.
Daniel has now been called up by England, too. He has plenty of hard work ahead of him, but the future is bright.
I firmly believe the talent exists at Glamorgan, not to mention the ones in the Academy and schoolboy cricket. And it's clubs like Pontarddulais that we have to thank for that.
The full article appeared in the South Wales Evening Post on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007.