Cricket score wins award from game's national body

From left Les Clemenson (ECBACO Acting Chairman), Connor McGarry (ECBACO Young Umpire of the Year), Sam Blacklock (ECBACO Young Scorer of the Year) and Neil Bainton (ECB First Class Umpire.

Sam Blacklock, from Hetton, has been awarded the Shepherd-Frindall Young Scorer of the Year award.

Sam, who scores for North East Premier League side Eppleton, travelled to Lord’s cricket ground for the 2018 ECB Association of Cricket Officials, Umpires and Scorers Conference.

The conference is held every two years which sees umpires and scorers from England and Wales meet for a wide range of seminars and workshops.

Sam, 21, said: “I didn’t have a clue about the award, I went to the conference because I find it a great day and you get to see your scoring colleagues who you really only see once a year.

“Charles Dagnall was the compare and he began by saying, this scorer has dedicated many hours of scoring to his county and his passion for scoring has developed over the years, at this stage I thought it could have been anyone.

“When he mentioned, it was a 21-year-old scorer in Durham that was winning it, I couldn’t believe it.

“I had my jacket on and had to quickly take it off.”

In addition to scoring for the Hetton club, Sam also scores for Durham under-15s and appoints all scorers to county age groups for the Durham Cricket Board.

He added: “I score because I enjoy it.

“I am lucky that I get to travel around scoring but you don’t do it to win awards, you do it purely for the enjoyment.”

Surrey first class scorer Phil Makepeace was in attendance at the conference and spoke about how he became a first-class scorer at 28-year-old, having begun his career his club’s third 11.

Sam added: “I am in my final year at university studying Journalism, so the aim is always to work in the media industry, but if a scoring job came up somewhere in the country, you never know I might just do it one day.”

Eppleton Cricket Club’s director of cricket John Smithson said: “This is such a fantastic achievement for Sam and as a club we are extremely proud of what he has achieved.

“He enjoys his scoring so much, so to be awarded Young Scorer of the Year is a real reflection of what he does in Durham.

“This isn’t just for being a good scorer, but for the extra work he does outside the scorebox.”

Durham Cricket Board Association of Cricket officials are running a free introduction to scoring course on February 10 at Emirates Riverside in Chester-le-Street.

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