Latest news with #TrudyLindblade
Edinburgh Reporter
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Edinburgh Reporter
Cricket Scotland and Toyota agree a deal
Cricket Scotland and Toyota have announced a new, multi-year partnership which will see the car manufacturer become Official Automotive Partner to the sport's governing body. In its new role Toyota commits to supporting the men's and women's national teams alongside investing in initiatives to help foster the growth of grassroots participation across Scotland. The deal comes ahead of the Scotland men's national team featuring in two home series against Netherlands and Nepal in June, followed by the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier in July. A key focus element will be promoting grass roots participation through 'All Stars Cricket' which is designed to introduce five to eight-year-old children to the sport. This investment will see Toyota fund 200 free bursary places each yea focused on growing state school access to the All-Stars programme, as well as supporting children at Additional Support Needs centres, making the game more accessible. In addition to the bursaries Toyota's dealerships will play a supporting role in growing All Stars Cricket within local communities, encouraging sign-ups to the programme. Toyota are also preparing to launch its 'Good For Cricket' prize draw with an aim of helping clubs raise £500,000 this year for vital equipment and resources, contributing with a bespoke platform and marketing materials plus a prize pool in year one valued at more than £200,000 to support their fundraising efforts. The draw adapts a model successfully deployed in Australia where the Toyota 'Good For Cricket' initiative has brought in the equivalent of more than £5.6 million over the past 12 years. Clubs can sign up to take part in the prize draw free of charge and will be allocated digital tickets for supporters to purchase. Each ticket sold will give the holder the chance to win from more than 50 prizes on offer, including three brand new Toyota vehicles. Participating clubs will receive all the proceeds from the tickets they sell. This partnership comes as Toyota also announces a new, multi-year partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Ireland. Trudy Lindblade Chief Executive of Cricket Scotland said: 'It is extremely important and hugely exciting for us to have the opportunity to work with a globally recognised brand that is keen to help us drive the sport forward here in Scotland. Scott Thompson, President and Managing Director at Toyota said: 'We can help support and inspire both the current and next generation of players, volunteers and fans who make cricket happen.' Like this: Like Related
Int'l Cricket Council
28-04-2025
- Business
- Int'l Cricket Council
Stability the key as Scotland eye more opportunity at international level
Despite narrowly missing out on qualification for this year's ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, it's been a prosperous time for Scotland's women, competing at a maiden ICC Women's T20 World Cup and claiming awards on and off the field in a nod to their hard work. Much of that recent hard work has been due to the ongoing output of new CEO Trudy Lindblade, who has held her position at the top of Cricket Scotland for more than 12 months now and continues to press on with many of the amazing initiatives that were put into place well before she commenced her role. WATCH: Scotland Women rising up in world cricket Scotland Women rising up in world cricket From the impressive ICC Women's Under-19 T20 World Cup campaign to a fiercely contested Women's Cricket World Cup 2025 Qualifier, Scotland Women are climbing up the ladder in international cricket. Lindblade has been around cricket for much of her adult life, having previously worked at Cricket Australia as an event manager earlier this century, before playing a major role in the successful running of the 2007 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean and the first ICC Men's T20 World Cup in South Africa later that same year. It's those years that helped Lindblade earn the top job with Scotland and the experienced administrator has wasted no time in bringing her wealth of knowledge to the burgeoning European organization, which has built the base for ongoing success both on and off the field at the highest level. One of Lindblade's first - and most important - tasks was to implement a new four-year strategic plan for Cricket Scotland that will attempt to grow the girls and women's game, develop community cricket, create a culture of equality and provide more support at elite performance level. Lindblade helped launch this strategic plan in August last year and delved into the challenges she experienced while working on the huge task when speaking with ICC Digital from her Edinburgh base recently. Despite of missing out on a spot at the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025, Scotland forged some impressive displays at the Qualifier in Pakistan. "Coming in and working for a governing body really shows you both the highs and sometimes the lows that you can experience in sport," Lindblade said. "The key for me was to make sure that we delivered our strategy. So we released our strategy in August last year and we are now focused on delivering the action plans that are coming out and delivering against those. It's a four-year strategy (and) it's been really rewarding because on the field we've had unprecedented success for an Associate member.' Lindblade paid tribute to the colleagues that helped her deliver the ambitious strategy and said the task was made much easier with everyone working together and on the same path. "People are the most important asset that you have in an organisation. And we are so fortunate, at Cricket Scotland, to have some of the most terrific people because they are very passionate about what they do," she noted. "If you've got passionate people who love what they do, who see the strategy, and see what we are trying to achieve at the collective, then you will get those outcomes that you are seeking. "But you also need some pragmatism in Associate member cricket, because we can't do everything we'd like to. "One of our biggest and best value assets is the ability to say no so that we can focus on those things that are going to achieve that success for us to either drive performance, drive revenue and drive success." WATCH: Scotland overcome Matthews' fight to stun West Indies | Match Highlights | WCWCQ 2025 Scotland overcome Matthews' fight to stun West Indies | Match Highlights | WCWCQ 2025 Hayley Matthews gave it all for the West Indies, but eventually Scotland took the game on the back of a brilliant bowling display in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2025. The recent success was not borne from nothing, with Cricket Scotland enjoying their fruits after years of toil to develop the women's game The organisation have shown great flexibility too - with one project - the Wee Bash - created when looking up at the rain belting down on Stirling, curtailing an ICC Qualifier. Rather than sit around and twiddling their thumbs, an indoor tournament was quickly derived and is now played by hundreds of people with a soft ball for all levels of cricketers across the country. Cricket Scotland's ongoing partnership with the Beyond Boundaries charity was also recognised at the ICC Development Awards last year, with the link-up, which started in 2017, boosting opportunities for female and disabled cricketers across the country as well as taking free sessions into disadvantaged areas. "Climate here in Scotland is one that we do sometimes have to be creative where rain is often a feature," Lindblade commenced when asked about the success of the Wee Bash. "But the ability to have indoor facilities and to be able to do, to be able to run different programs, and programs like Wee Bash we're really proud of, and it really does demonstrate that partnership approach with the charity like Beyond Boundaries, the commitment of that trust and of their leadership, is second to none. "And they regularly send us ideas, and how we can engage and how we can continue to grow the game in Scotland, and they are a home-grown Scottish cricket charity. And, that's something that we should celebrate. So we love working with all our partners. But to have a charity like Beyond Boundaries, which is truly Scottish is a terrific opportunity for us. "And they can help us grow the game. In those key groups." On the field, things have progressed at a rate of knots of late too as Scotland successfully qualified for their first Women's T20 World Cup in 2024 after a memorable victory over rival Ireland in an exciting semi-final of the Qualifier tournament in Abu Dhabi. While the team were unable to replicate that effort when they narrowly missed out on qualifying for this year's 50-over World Cup at the recent Qualifier tournament in Pakistan, they will be buoyed by the fact that two of their players won a spot in the ICC Team of the Tournament and skipper Kathryn Bryce was named Player of the Tournament after she finished as the leading run-scorer across the event. Bryce, who debuted for Scotland in 2011 as a 13-year-old in a Women's County Championship and has played a major role in the recent on field success, identified the recent stability off the field which has helped swell player participation at all levels. "I think one of the biggest changes I've seen since I started playing cricket was just the number of girls that are involved in the game in Scotland," Bryce noted. "So a lot of the junior festivals I went to, there was only, maybe four or five teams there, whereas when I went down more recently, there's kind of massive fields filled with, with up to almost 100 different teams and loads of different players, from across the country playing and getting involved with the sport." Scotland skipper Kathryn Bryce finished atop the run-scoring charts at the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025 Qualifier in Pakistan. With Bryce nailed down as captain and one of the most consistent players in international cricket, Scotland have also received a recent boost with the long-term commitment of young coach Craig Wallace. Wallace, who took the full-time role as coach in August last year after leading the side to the T20 World Cup for the first time as interim coach, sees much potential with his side. "I think the standard of the women's game is just improving all the time,' Wallace said. 'We need to keep up with the full members in particular, and try to play a game that can challenge them and beat them.' If Scotland continue on their remarkable path, the higher honours and big wins will likely come in time.
Reuters
18-04-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Scotland, ECB in talks over Britain team at Los Angeles Games
April 18 (Reuters) - The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Scotland have begun discussions over the formation of a joint Britain cricket team ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, the Scottish board's chief executive Trudy Lindblade said on Friday. Cricket, one of the five new sports in Los Angeles, will return to the Olympics after 128 years, featuring six teams each in the men's and women's competitions in the 20-overs format. England are second and third in the women's and men's Twenty20 rankings respectively. Scotland are not in the top 10 in either category. "We have a really good working relationship with the ECB, so we have been in talks with them and (we're) in the process of establishing a Team GB cricket entity," Lindblade told the BBC. "That's what's required by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for a British team to compete at the Olympic Games. So it's really interesting, the six teams for us, we would have an opportunity through the GB concept... "So, exciting times, and we'll continue to liaise with the ECB and our colleagues at LA 2028 and ICC. It will be interesting." Athletes from the United Kingdom usually compete at the Olympics as part of a combined Britain team. Among the notable exceptions is men's soccer, where a lack of agreement between individual nations has led to Britain not fielding a team in recent decades, apart from at the London Games in 2012.
BBC News
18-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Talks over GB cricket team for LA 2028 Olympics
Discussions are taking place about the formation of a Great Britain cricket team that could compete at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic talks between the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Scotland to establish a Team GB side have begun as the sport prepares to make its return to the Scotland chief executive Trudy Lindblade told BBC Radio 4: "We have a really good working relationship with the ECB, so we have been in talks with them and [we're] in the process of establishing a Team GB cricket entity."That's what's required by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for a British team to compete at the Olympic Games."The ECB has confirmed those discussions to BBC cricket events at LA 2028 will be played as six-team T20 tournaments for both men and women, the International Olympic Committee announced last week."So it's really interesting, the six teams for us, we would have an opportunity through the GB concept," Lindblade teams will be able to field squads of up to 15 players, but the qualification process has not yet been confirmed."There's a lot to come in terms of how qualification takes place, not just for those six teams but how - if a GB team were to qualify - we have selection within that," Lindblade added."So, exciting times, and we'll continue to liaise with the ECB and our colleagues at LA 2028 and ICC. It will be interesting."Cricket's only previous appearance at the Olympics was at Paris that occasion, Great Britain won by 158 runs against France in a one-off final, after the Netherlands and Belgium BOA said in August it hopes to enter a men's football team into the 2028 Games, uniting the England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Football Associations to field a first Team GB men's Olympic side since London were the nominated nation to attempt to qualify on behalf of Team GB for the women's football competition at the Paris 2024 Games, but they fell short in their Nations League campaign.
