CRICKET SCOTLAND ANNUAL REPORT DEMONSTRATES GROWTH

Cricket Scotland enjoyed its best-ever financial year in 2009, making a pre-tax surplus of £135,000, and donating £35,000 to the Cricket Scotland Development Trust for its work in supporting member clubs with grants for their imaginative projects.

The turnover of Cricket Scotland increased by 23% to £1.88 million, as a result of increased ICC and sportscotland investment, and participation in the 2009 ICC World T20 event in England. As a result, Cricket Scotland’s financial reserves were boosted to £164,000. This compares to a negative reserve position at the 2005 year-end.

Within its large community development programme, Cricket Scotland was able to report more than 18,000 participating children, with a record 263 schools taking part in the Schools Cup. A total of 335 teachers completed in-service cricket coaching courses, and in the clubs, 138 new coaches progressed successfully through the UKCC coach education system. Courses for umpires and groundsmen were increased with over 75 qualified attendees.

The governing body’s new website increased its patronage by some 30% during the year, to a new record total of approaching 4 million 'hits'. Its enterprising Cricket Scotland TV service, with 100 videos-on-demand covering matches past and present, along with a variety of features about the club scene, also proved popular.

Additional investment in the performance development programme enabled a vastly increased playing programme for all national and regional age group teams with some excellent individual and team performances.

Although the national team failed to qualify for the 2011 World Cup, they retained their One-Day International status and, with it, a place in the ICC’s High Performance Programme for the next four years with a confirmed playing programme. This year Scotland are looking forward to hosting further ODIs against England and Bangladesh.

At the end of the year, Scotland’s senior cricketers were sitting at the top of the Intercontinental Cup table after two matches, defeating Canada and getting the better of a drawn game with Ireland. Their position was consolidated by winning their third match, against Kenya in Nairobi early in 2010.

In the Friends Provident Trophy, the senior squad defeated Kent, while Scotland’s U15s retained their European Championship title. And in the One-Day International in Edinburgh, Gordon Goudie joined the exclusive club of international bowlers to take five wickets in an ODI against Australia, in a game played out in front of 4,000 spectators and the live BBC television cameras.

Keith Oliver, chairman of Cricket Scotland, said: "It is clear that our national side is going through a period of transition, so it was pleasing to be able to set aside significant reserves to support future success - and to consolidate our award-winning development programme in such an impressive manner."

Roddy Smith, Cricket Scotland’s chief executive, commented "We are delighted that our annual report is showing such positive growth across all aspects of the game. Increased ICC funding enabled us to invest more in all our activities, and our structures and development programmes are in excellent shape for the future. It is especially pleasing in difficult economic times to report a healthy surplus for the year, which will enable us to continue to invest in the sport’s further development in Scotland."