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The
concept of ACE (ACE ACADEMY LIMITED) was founded by
Northamptonshire & England cricketer Usman Afzaal. Usman
realised thet there was an evident lack of young talented
cricketers gaining recognition or the opportunity to
improve their game and progress to higher level cricket.
There was a wealth of grass roots talent unable to fulfil
their potential for many reasons including lack of funding,
facilities, affordable coaching and no opportunities
to show their talent to County Coaches.
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Usman
Afzaal |
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ACE
have hosted development days in 2000 and 2002. They
were held at Trent Bridge home of Nottinghamshire County
Cricket Club. The development days were lead by professional
players including Usman Afzaal, Vikram Solanki, Devon
Malcolm, Chris Lewis, Kevin Pietersen and Mark Ramprakash.
The coaches involved included Mick Newell, Clive Rice
and Tom Moody. |
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Mick Newell |
Clive
Rice |
Chris Lewis |
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In
2000 a squad of 15 players were selected to go on an
all expenses paid tour of Pakistan. Whilst there, the
squad played seven matches against 1st class opposition.
The purpose of the tour was to give the selected players
an opportunity to play in a professional environment
against professional players in conditions that were
totally alien to them. The squad performed extremely
well. |
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Continuing
with the selection process in 2000, ACE chose another
15 players to tour Pakistan. The tour again involved
7 matches against 1st class opposition, based at the
Lahore Cricket Academy (regarded as a first class venue).The
overall tour was yet again very successful and beneficial
to the players. |
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From
the beginning it was felt using well known professionals
to run the development days was the best way for participants
to learn. This is because they had been through the
steps leading to the transition from young amateur players
to becoming successful international cricketers |
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Now
ACE provides a platform for budding cricketers to train
in technical (batting, bowling and fielding), physiological
(fitness, dietary and nutrition information) and psychological
(strengthen players mentally) aspects of the game. This
will be done through Development Days and 15 Week Academy
Programmes. |
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ACE
has received high profile media coverage at past events
both in the press and
also on TV. The coaching days were filmed by Channel
4 and shown on the ICC Cricket World Show. ACE has also
had a sponsorship deal with Sony TV who filmed the Development
Days and the subsequent tour.
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