2023 Business of Cricket Awards highlight the best of county cricket

Eighteen awards were presented at the annual Business of Cricket Awards (BOCAs) at a ceremony at the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol on Thursday, 9 November.

The BOCAs provide an opportunity to reward the innovation and best practice of the First-Class Counties and Marylebone Cricket Club, as well as well as highlighting the work of unsung heroes over the past year.

Somerset County Cricket Club enjoyed a successful night as the club headed back down the M5 with three awards, as well as four finalist nominations.

Derbyshire County Cricket Club, Durham Cricket, Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and Warwickshire County Cricket Club were also multiple awards winners as the depth of talent and hard work across the professional game was on full display.

That was typified by Somerset CCC Operations Director, Sarah Trunks, who won the coveted Dinesh Patel MVP after she was described as the ‘lynchpin’ and ‘font of all knowledge’ at the club.

Somerset CCC also won the Digital Campaign of the Year – after winning the Best Digital Innovation award last year – while the club took home the Transforming the Women’s Game award for their work alongside the Somerset Cricket Foundation to make the women’s game more inclusive.

Durham Cricket won the Most Welcoming and Inclusive Stadia award following a summer the club made a number of upgrades to its facilities including a world-class sensory room.

The north-east club’s Media and Communications Manager, Sam Blacklock, was deservedly named as the Rising Star.

Northamptonshire won the Best Digital/Data Innovation after the club brought its live stream production in-house - with their own commentary team, enhanced cameras and graphics - under the guidance of Senior Media and Communications Executive Alex Berry.

Derbyshire won three awards including sharing the Customer Retention Initiative Award and Best Development of a New Facility (under £500,000).

The club also shared the Tickets or Membership Sales and Marketing Campaign of the Year with Midlands neighbours Warwickshire CCC, who led on their joint delivery of ‘Vitality Blast Off’ to launch the Vitality Blast season with a double header at Edgbaston.

The innovation preceded both clubs enjoying record years in terms of attendance and revenue and cemented Blast Off as a key fixture for next summer. Warwickshire also won the Best Domestic Spectator Experience award and was placed as finalists in four other categories.

Glamorgan Cricket won the ‘Raising The Game’ EDI Award after implementing initiatives that earned the club UK full accreditation from the National Centre for Diversity, while it jointly won the WSA Sports Industry Award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion with Cricket Wales back in June.

Nottinghamshire CCC won both the Best Spectator Experience - The Hundred and the Best International Women’s Spectator Experience to reaffirm Trent Bridge as one of the foremost venues for fans. The club previously won Most Welcoming Stadia 2020-22, the 2022 Best International Spectator Experience and The Warmest Welcome award in 2019 and 2020.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club won the Best International Men’s Spectator Experience.

Surrey County Cricket Club’s ‘It’s Not Just Sport, It’s Art’ earned them the Communications Campaign of the Year trophy. The innovative campaign help deepen the club’s connection with young fans who recreated iconic moments from The Kia Oval’s history as artwork.

The Sustainability Campaign of the Year – Energy Saving was awarded to the MCC after the club set themselves a target of a 10% reduction of its annual energy consumption – surpassing that to achieve a total reduction of 14.8% across gas and electricity combined.

Essex Cricket won the Community Engagement Campaign of the Year as they further developed their connection with local Bangladeshi and Muslim communities, highlighted by events around the Ireland v Bangladesh Men’s ODI series they hosted.

Lancashire Cricket won the Best Development of New Facility (over £500,000) after the latest redevelopment at Emirates Old Trafford saw a 100-bed hotel extension and a 180-seat restaurant opened this summer.

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2023 BOCA winners and finalists:

2023 Best Development or New Facility (over 500K)

Winner: Lancashire Cricket

Finalist: Northamptonshire County Cricket Club

2023 Best Development or New Facility (under 500K)

Winner: Derbyshire County Cricket Club

Finalists: Durham Cricket, Leicestershire County Cricket Club

2023 Best Digital/Data Innovation

Winner: Northamptonshire County Cricket Club

Finalists: Lancashire Cricket, Warwickshire County Cricket Club

2023 Communications Campaign of the Year

Winner: Surrey County Cricket Club

Finalists: Somerset County Cricket Club, Marylebone Cricket Club

2023 Community Engagement Campaign of the Year

Winner: Essex Cricket

Finalists: Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, Somerset County Cricket Club & Somerset Foundation

2023 Customer Retention Initiative

Winner: Derbyshire County Cricket Club

Finalists: Durham Cricket

2023 Digital Campaign of the Year

Winner: Somerset County Cricket Club

Finalist: Surrey County Cricket Club

2023 Most Welcoming & Inclusive Stadia

Winner: Durham Cricket

Finalists: Somerset County Cricket Club, Glamorgan

2023 Raising The Game EDI Initiative Award

Winner: Glamorgan

Finalists: Sussex Cricket, Warwickshire County Cricket Club and Board

2023 Sustainability Campaign of the Year - Energy Saving

Winner: Marylebone Cricket Club

Finalists: Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Surrey County Cricket Club

2023 Tickets or Membership Sales and Marketing Campaign of the Year

Winner: Warwickshire CCC & Derbyshire CCC (joint submission)

Finalists: Glamorgan, Somerset County Cricket Club

2023 Transforming the Women’s Game

Winner: Somerset County Cricket Club

Finalists: Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Lancashire Cricket

2023 Best Domestic Spectator Experience

Winner: Warwickshire County Cricket Club

2023 Best Spectator Experience - The Hundred

Winner: Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club

2023 Best International Men’s Spectator Experience

Winner: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

2023 Best International Women’s Spectator Experience

Winner: Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club

Rising Star

Winner: Sam Blacklock, Durham Cricket

Finalists: Meg Lay - Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Stuart Dunlop - Marylebone Cricket Club

Dinesh Patel MVP

Winner: Sarah Trunks - Somerset Cricket Club

Finalists: Matt Freeman - Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, Becky Hartley - Lancashire Cricket

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