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“I recently bumped into a lad who recognised me from the programme years ago.  He said I’d helped lift his aspirations; he’d been to university and now had a good job.  These stories make it all worthwhile,” says Tariq Ali.  “The MBE (for services to the community) is special but it’s making a difference inContinue reading “Old chestnuts and new models”

This is the final article published in The Cricketer in July 2023. The rather longer polemic on which it’s based including analysis of the challenges in reversing the decline of state school cricket and possible prescriptions, woven in to the findings from the ICEC report, can be found here The long awaited ICEC report is as critical ofContinue reading “A manifesto for change”

The recent spate of county compulsory affiliation drives is accompanied by imposition of a raft of ECB policies many feel inappropriate for the recreational game including the General Conduct Regulations (GCRs). The following article published in the The Cricketer in May 2022 reflected pushback by some clubs and leagues at the time resulting in a dilutedContinue reading “One rule fits all”

According to a Cricket Club Development Network poll in March, way too many local club leaders lacked enthusiasm for the start of the 2022 season. We put it down to the Ashes debacle, the Rafiq affair and ECB flux. So we ran a survey to see how things were as the season drew to aContinue reading “Ticking timebomb in club cricket”

The Network Forum – The habits of highly effective clubs; the 7Fs Framework – with Chris Gunn took place on 28 March. Chris is a successful fundraiser for Fulwood & Broughton Cricket Club.  But as an academic at the University of Central Lancashire he has also completed doctoral research into the critical success factors in thrivingContinue reading “The habits of highly effective clubs”

According to our quick poll in March, way too many local club leaders lacked enthusiasm for the start of the 2022 season. We put it down to the Ashes debacle, the Rafiq affair and ECB flux. So we ran a survey to see how things were as the season drew to a close. We’re used toContinue reading “Club leaders survey”

I confess I was reticent when asked by the guys at The Cricketer online to help promote their LV Insurance Pride of Cricket awards scheme. You will know we have a media partnership and there’s a magazine/digital subscription discount offer for Network members registering on the FREE Members’ Portal  But nominations have been open sinceContinue reading “Can volunteer awards be useful?”

The ECB and its chief executive should know they’re in trouble when that hitherto bastion of the cricket establishment, Wisden Almanack, includes this excoriating attack in the 2022 edition published today.  In detailing the litany of woes from Ashes to Rafiq and beyond, this paragraph quoting editor Lawrence Booth is the final thrust: “The ethicsContinue reading “Enough is enough”