Chairman CBS Hansen introduced the presentation and announced to the 70 club representatives that a new age has begun for Danish Cricket. Hansen said “We are presenting a new plan for the future, a new beginning and we will do this with all respect for the past with a game that has been played since 1866, one of the oldest sports in Denmark. On the birth certificate for the Danish Cricket Federation it states 1953, but we have now come to the point in this organisation’s life that we need to turn a new leaf and begin a new cycle with a firm foot in the time before. Today we say goodbye to a dear old friend the Danish Cricket Federation and hello to Danish Cricket, a new name, a new branding and a new way to structure the way we work so we can create a better utilisation of the resources in Danish Cricket”.

“The new plan 2010 for Danish Cricket is about how we visualise our sport in five years time. The development plan 2010 tells us how we have to work in the long term for the next five years to reach the point where we would like to be. And where is it we want to go? We want Danish Cricket to be growing, we want more playing cricket and we want to play more matches. For us cricket is the world’s best sport and that message we want to spread out to all the Danes. Everybody must get to know that there is something called Danish Cricket. We want to be an influential and well known sport in Denmark.”

“What is Danish Cricket?
Well, it includes everyone whose heart beats just a little for cricket. Danish Cricket is not just an office in the Danish Sports Complex. It includes all of us. We have to gather our strength together and lift as one otherwise we will lose the fight for the survival of cricket in Denmark.”

“And why have a plan for the future just now?
A lot of change has happened in the world around us. The International Cricket Council has nearly reached the hundred mark in member countries playing cricket. It’s seething and bubbling several places around the world with full speed ahead. More cricketers, better cricket, more resources, but also more demands to countries like us, demands that we do things correctly, and that we educate coaches and management, and that our players behave themselves on or off the field, and that we have control of our organisation and finally that we know what we want. From the Danish Sports Federation and Team Denmark (elite funding) we are met with similar demands. So it is important that we have a plan for the future. And the time is now”.

“Yes, but haven’t we heard this all before?”
Quite and we will be the first to admit that we have presented several plans in the years past, but unfortunately, plans that only had a short lived life. And that was because there were too few people to carry them out. What makes this plan more significant, is that is been worked on and re-thought from A to Z for a long time, right from the vision to the plan of action, plus the fact that around thirty people have said they are willing to put the plan into action, and finally the financial resources are in place. We have decided that we should touch our assets and use some them to implement this plan.”

“How did the plan come about?”
“At the last Annual General Meeting on April 10th the Executive Committee promised to initiate a process towards a development plan. There was a consensus at the meeting in us using our assets to implement the plan. The Committee then set up a development group comprising of the Chairman of Skanderborg CC, Flemming Jorgensen, the Chairman of KB (cricket) John D.Moller, general secretary Ole Hucklekamp and Vice-Chairman Stig Hammerhøj and Chairman CBS Hansen. We have in the group had a row of meetings, both in person and via the phone. I give thanks for these people’s hard efforts.”

After this introduction CBS Hansen and General Secretary Ole Hucklekamp then went through the plan itself.

The plan is built on 12 principles or values that have the intention of improving and developing cooperation in Danish Cricket.

The target or vision after five years is:

• We will see more playing cricket, more matches being played, improvement of quality, the best of our traditions are preserved and developed together with the values of cricket.
• We see our senior national side and under 19 being part of the top level of global cricket and continuing to develop and improve.
• Cricket must be a visible sport in Denmark.

These are the lodestars for Danish Cricket and a compass for which direction we shall take.

One of the main strategies for reaching these targets is a complete new organisation and a new concept for our efforts.

The red, green and black boxes represent areas for effort, where up to 30 volunteers and professionals will work hand in hand together for the future of Danish Cricket. The main idea behind this strategy is to delegate as much responsibility as possible to the red, green and black boxes and to improve the quality of decision making and action, as there are ore human resources available.

In Danish Cricket Administration there is one professional employed (Ole Hucklekamp) and in Club Development Danish Cricket have secured the professional services of Mickey Lund as Club Development Manager.

The Sports Management consists of 3 volunteers who are responsible for evaluation, cricket and sports policies and financial grants to the underlying activities. International Senior is run by 6 resources plus help from an administrator. The same applies for International Youth, while Coaching and education have 3 resources plus an administrator. The most important part is the Club Development. It is from the activities generated here that growth and quality can become obvious in Danish Cricket through cooperation with schools, more coaches and so on. For this there are 4 resources plus an administrator.

The Danish Cricket Academy will be launched as soon somebody suitable has been found to run it.

Umpiring actives stretch across all other activities and efforts. Umpires are needed to take part in youth activities and to visit clubs to reach about the laws and ethics.

The plan will be published on the Danish website www.cricket.dk in detail.