Rick Moore - Leeds/Bradford UCCE Captain

I started playing cricket at the age of 7 at my local village club Bunbury CC in Cheshire. My memories of junior cricket are of fun games the coaches used to make up to keep us all interested. I had only gone down to the cricket club because my friends were there and my Dad was always keen for me to start playing. As I started to progress in the game with Bunbury I made my 2nd team debut at the age of 14 and then my 1st team debut at 15. Making the step up in to adult cricket was strange as it was all a lot more serious and there was more pressure riding on you. At the age of 16 I made the move to another local club Oulton Park CC who were the counties most successful club and were also the league champions. I played a season there with the 2nd team making a couple of appearances for the 1st team and then the season after I had my first full season as a premier league cricketer which was a real eye opener with regards to pressure but was enjoyable and I learnt a lot from the players I was playing with, although unfortunately opportunities at the club were hard for a youngster at the time because of the calibre of player there so I moved to another premier league side Christleton CC were I was given the opportunity to bat at 3 for 3 season before returning to Oulton Park to bat at 3 and now I play there as an opener. Having played for Cheshire throughout all the age groups it had always been an ambition of mine to represent them at 1st team level and at the age of 20 I got that opportunity, again this was a big step up going from club first team to Minor Counties cricket. When I walked out on to the pitch for the first time it was the most nervous I had ever been on a cricket pitch before. I remember in my first game I was to open the batting against Richard Logan, an ex pro that (as my team mates liked to refer to him) was rapid. . . Brilliant I thought, my first game and this is what I have to deal with, welcome to Minor Counties cricket. The fact that Logan came down with food poisoning was a massive relief to say the least and I managed to relax and find my way in to the game. I believe that club cricket is a great way for young players that are interested in the game to gain great knowledge and experience. League cricket is a great stepping stone for people to get picked up by both Major and Minor County cricket teams and they provide brilliant coaching for juniors to experience the game and decide whether or not the game is for them. Without league cricket there would be a lot of talented players slipping under the radar. I don’t believe league cricket is perfect, as I think that the rules in some leagues need to be re-assessed and made to be more like county cricket, therefore making the transition a lot more comfortable for the people lucky enough to make the step up but however league cricket is run it will always provide a great environment for people to play competitive cricket.