We have a rich tradition of developing young cricketers to make their way in the game and many of our former colts have played or are playing at the highest levels in Essex club cricket.
We hold regular practice sessions with qualified coaches and arrange friendly and/or league games at u11, u13 and u15 levels. For the parents, guardians and guests the bar is open for you to enjoy a drink while the kids sharpen their cricket skills!
If you are interested in joining our colts section or just want to find out some more information please contact our Colts Manager Kevin Preston by email on kevinbrendan@hotmail.com
To join as a colts member please fill out the application form below and send back to our club secretary by email or post:
ECC_Application_Form.doc
About Epping Cricket Club and Colts Cricket
In the 2009 season the colts came under the tutelage of two of Epping CC's brightest 1st XI cricketers in the shape of Jacob Ellis and Terry Preston (both fine products of the clubs colts section themselves), both of whom are Level 2 qualified coaches. The 2009 season saw the colts section grow at a fantastic rate, seeing around 40 boys and girls attending training sessions throughout the season. For most of the budding cricketers this was their first season of cricket and almost without exception they took to it like 'ducks (excuse the unfortunate phrase) to water'. Games were arranged for nearly every week throughout the summer, even managing to notch a win, which is rather impressive given that it was most of the kids first season. As a grand finale the season was rounded off at the County Ground in Chelmsford playing under lights in the 'mini-matchplay' against teams from all over Essex. At the end of a great season all the colts were rewarded with medals a at presentation night in the big marquee for their fantastic efforts throughout the season. Hopefully all to return again next year eager to play again!
To build on the success of the 2009 season we are looking for even more colts to come and join the club. So, if you son or daughter is interested in cricket, please do get in touch. The first training session is free, so it's a win-win situation. The bar is also open for parents, guardians and guests to enjoy a drink while the colts hone their cricketing skills!
Epping Cricket Club has a great history in regards to youth cricket with many of the club's past and current young talent playing a high level of cricket in and around Essex as well as Epping's own teams retaining the talent as well.
Improving, encouraging and enhancing young cricketers is something that Epping Cricket Club has always been pro-active in doing. In all of Epping's teams, both on a Saturday and Sunday, you will see an abundance of young cricketers who not only play adult cricket to make up the numbers but are actually picked on their own merit.
Youth Cricket is the back bone and future of any cricket club. We at Epping know that without young cricketers being encouraged to participate in Colts Cricket, and having the opportunity to be coached and improve their skills, our Cricket Club will struggle in the future. With talented and committed young cricketers coming through we can look to the future and hopefully improve the standard of cricket the Club plays and achieve success on and off the field.
Epping has run a Colts section for most of the last 30 years and has seen many young cricketers come through its gates and represent the Club in all of the teams. Melvyn Kaye started the colts on a small level in the 1978 season by managing the under 13's. Peter Farrar then took over in 1982 and continued for the next 10 years. The Colts under Peter’s leadership had a very successful time with the highlight in 1983 when the team were finalists in the Essex 'Terriers' Under 13s competition at the County Ground (Epping beat the previous year's National Winners Wanstead on route to Final). In Peter’s time the colts also achieved the following:
WECA Terriers Champions in 1983 & 1984 (at least)
WECA Under 17 Champions in 1985, 1986 & 1987
WECA Under 15 Champions in 1983, 1984 & 1985
Peter Coe Knock-Out Cup – (Under 15) Winners 1985
The West Essex Cricket Association (WECA) team comprising mostly of Epping Cricket Club colts including Anthony Batchelor, Mark Pike, Geoff Maynard and Ian Farrar won the Trevor Bailey Shield 3 years running in 1985, 1986 & 1987 under the captaincy of Gary Edwards.
Robin Jagai, Martin Oliver and Mike MacElarney took over the Colts section from Peter and continued the good work running under 13’s, 15’s and 17’s in the WECA leagues, toping the tables on numerous occasions in the 1990’s. One of the highlights for the colts of this era was being presented their end of season awards by the Essex and England bowler Mark Ilott.
In 1996 and 1997 John Sanger became the Colts Manager and with help from Dan Sly, Lee Newman and Kevin McCann organised and ran the under 13’s and under 15’s. Geoff Maynard and James 'Eggie' Eggleston managed and coached the colts after John.
Adrian Beavers was Colts Manager from 2003 until 2007 and produced some fine young cricketers who are now starting to work their way up the senior teams. Dan Twitchett was one of the star players in Adrian’s time and Dan was selected to represent the West Essex Cricket Association in 2004 and he also had the honour of captaining the side in the 2005 season.
The 2007 season saw a new Colts Manager at the helm, Dan Sly, who brought local coaxch Russell Johnson on board to take our coaching regime to another level of excellence.
Currently when you look at all of Epping’s senior teams you will see how important a youth section is to a cricket club. With our former Club Chairman and First XI Captain Geoff Maynard one of those members who started at the Club as a colt. The same goes for former or current league players Simon Oliver, Ian Farrar, Simon Moore, Nick Simms, Paul Offord, Lee Newman, Dan Sly, Ed and Selby MacElarney, Terry and Graham Preston, Andrew Clapton, Dan Twitchett, Ed and Billy Holden, Dan Fowler, Alex Merritt, Max and Sam Tetlow, William Beavers and Jack Simmons, to name but a few.
A big thank you goes to all of those people who have managed, coached or helped out with the Colts teams over the year as without the many hours, if not days, that you have given up our youth section would not exist, and possibly our Club as well. If I have missed anyone of the list of Colts Managers please do not hesitate to contact the Club and this will be altered. This brief history of our Colts section has been put together from memory so there, I am sure, will be things that have been missed off, and for that I apologise.