Cricket Club Development Network

Latest update

A while back, we asked how much your Most Valuable Player was worth. Seems Spencer CC is setting a benchmark for club chief operating officer, offering £60,000 a year for a 37.5 hour week. https://lnkd.in/eiN5X4dF

Concerns are being expressed that the relationship between club and county safeguarding officers and the Cricket Regulator on safeguarding* is changing. Did your CSO get an email from the Cricket Regulator with the survey asking about your County CSO? https://lnkd.in/eqe4bVDt

A personal reflection* from Leshia Hawkins, ECB Managing Director of Recreational Cricket, published on LinkedIn this morning. https://lnkd.in/e5mzBk3T

Judging by the results of our Quick Poll* so many clubs seem to be getting it right in the percentage of juniors making open age cricket. https://lnkd.in/ec9CsXdN

Can those clubs help identify the drivers and, from those finding it more a struggle, the blockages at play? Your comments needed on the separate Transition and retention* discussion. https://lnkd.in/enJ6jmDH

An interesting follow-on to the Knight Stokes cup experience. Has the quality of school sport provision* become a post code lottery and are clubs able to make up for ‘place-based’ inequality? https://lnkd.in/eAi37ERK

Surrey Cricket Foundation are hosting a Cricket, Climate & Circularity* event on Monday at the Oval. https://lnkd.in/eS2YfyzS

From last week:
· Applications for Champions of Change* - deadline extended to 12 July. https://lnkd.in/eC-c-eeZ
· Finding time to put Cricket Collective Awards* nominations together. https://lnkd.in/eG7Sqxuf
· Is the extreme weather guidance* helpful practical advice? https://lnkd.in/eCYcEf3V
· Great 15 minutes Sky feature* on club cricket. https://lnkd.in/ezP4sdvC

*You need to be a member of our private LinkedIn discussion group to access the links. Anyone involved in running a UK cricket club can join over 1,300 club leader peers sharing knowledge and collaborating on common challenges here https://clubdevelopment.org/join

You can also click LinkedIn group page https://lnkd.in/eGGvDsxz log-in from there and scroll through all the content including these other current discussions:
· Supporting schools’ participation in Knight-Stokes Cup
· Facilities Friday
· Club impact on county board performance
· £3m government funding for new domes
· Any great examples of club development resources?
· ECB and England & Wales Cricket Trust annual accounts
· Women & Girls’ requirements* for Premier League clubs
· Coping with rapidly expanding player numbers
· Visa certificate of sponsorship problems

Links to past discussions, sorted by theme and listed in chronological order, can also be found on the Members’ Portal along with a treasure trove of club development resources, signposted information and sources of support including webinar recordings and club admin product reviews. https://clubdevelopment.org/2022/11/01/members-portal-live

Who is really leading English (and Welsh) cricket’s ecosystem?

For all the talk of “the game” as a single entity, it seems there's a multiplicity of silos: elite vs community, counties vs boards vs leagues, pathway vs participation.

The proposition tested in this Cricket Research Network webinar sees more than a cosmetic problem. It is a problem of leadership.

County and recreational cricket share one ecosystem challenge: building the leadership to deliver financial resilience and broader sustainability across the whole system. The finances, governance frameworks and funding settlements that shape counties ripple out. Decisions taken in one part of the system show up, even years later, in another.

We asked a simple but uncomfortable question: if cricket is serious about recognising one ecosystem, who is responsible for making it work that way and what kind of leadership does that require?

The discussion ranged widely but some themes recurred:
🏏 The gap between how often “ecosystem” language is used and how rarely structures, incentives and information flows are aligned to support it.
🏏 The extent to which leadership capacity already exists in clubs, coaches and volunteers – and how often it is fragmented, under‑used or stranded.
🏏 The tension between governance, compliance and assurance on the one hand, and adaptation, innovation and growth on the other.
🏏 The missing “pyramid”: a patchwork of leagues, boards and programmes that stops short of a coherent, governed pathway.

What emerged was a candid, insightful conversation led by Sean Jarvis and John Neal, with reflections from representatives across the game, and beyond, facilitated by Rafaelle Nicholson, sharpening the diagnosis and the sense that something more deliberate is now needed.

What emerges strongly: this cannot be solved by 'programme' or more 'governance'. It's about leadership architecture: who is empowered to set direction for the ecosystem; how different parts of the game are connected; and how we develop leaders who can “see the system”, not just their part of it.

No webinar will resolve that. But this one did at least begin to join some dots. It also suggests there's an appetite across cricket; not just for deeper analysis but testing practical ecosystem‑wide solutions in real places.

For those interested in where this discussion goes next, the recording is now available.

▶️ Watch the discussion and Proposition here: https://youtu.be/PsHxb3qbA6Y?si=04ExjaiMJbx0X_V1

If you are involved in any part of cricket’s ecosystem – from village club to first‑class county, league to governing body – you are invited to watch, share and add your perspective.

The more honestly we can talk about how the system really works, the better chance we have of shaping the leadership it will need over the next decade.

CRN Panel: Beyond Cathedrals and Congregations Building Leadership for Cricket’s Ecosystem This is a CRN hosted panel to move the conversation on: away from the cathedrals vs congregations debate per se, and towards what kind of organisational capa...

Latest update

Last week’s webinar was primarily a fascinating discussion of the cricket ecosystem; blockages and drivers to the big players - ECB, Counties, County Boards and Clubs - working together in common purpose. The Proposition* recording is here with some money-can’t-buy insights from the panellists and other contributors. https://lnkd.in/e4zeGFJs

Did Companies House deliberately delay release of ECB and England & Wales Cricket Trust annual accounts* until after the event? No matter as we had all the revelations you’ll need. But if you’re remotely interested in club funding, you should see this anyway. https://lnkd.in/eztEMYFe

And then, to boot, Mrs Reeves let go of the purse strings and let DCMS announce, yesterday, it’s splurging £1 billion boost on PE and school sport*. So is it new money and who will benefit? https://lnkd.in/eTw-8r8F

The Jer Lane issue cropped up in our discussion and the variations in interpretation of Women & Girls’ requirements* for Premier League clubs in different counties. Is there more at play here, too? https://lnkd.in/eA3Kdh94

The cake ingredients analogy was an obvious reference to the “all the right notes, not necessarily in the right order” sketch and a missed segue into another British comedy classic and you’re all doing very, very well*. https://lnkd.in/eHntKXx8

Are the teething problems evident with Knight Stokes cup* in East London common elsewhere in the country? https://lnkd.in/eEBFxYUT

*You need to be a member of our private LinkedIn discussion group to access the links. Anyone involved in running a UK cricket club can join over 1,300 club leader peers sharing knowledge and collaborating on common challenges here https://clubdevelopment.org/join

You can also click LinkedIn group page https://lnkd.in/eGGvDsxz log-in from there and scroll through all the content including these other current discussions:
· Coping with rapidly expanding player numbers
· Visa certificate of sponsorship problems
· Paying people to do more of the work
· Are you already benefiting from MCC’s Knight Stokes Cup competition?
· Parallels in club cricket with messages in Will Greenwood’s Telegraph article
· Livestreaming and Play Cricket
· County Grant availability
· Game On: Community and School Sport
· ECB’s message for the new season
· Tracking payments online and mobile wallets
· Anyone aware of any deals on Sky or Sky Sports?
· Who’s going to help County Boards raise the other £100 million?
· United Nations Environment Programme survey
· Cricket clubs as Third Places
· Are stem guards now mandatory in junior leagues?

Links to past discussions, sorted by theme and listed in chronological order, can also be found on the Members’ Portal along with a treasure trove of club development resources, signposted information and sources of support including webinar recordings and club admin product reviews. https://clubdevelopment.org/2022/11/01/members-portal-live

Build it and they will come.......won't they?

We are told English cricket is about to put serious money into counties, cricket facilities and recreational club support, but the tougher question is whether the game has the leadership capacity to turn that into a genuinely thriving ecosystem?

On 21 May (2-3pm) Cricket Research Network is hosting a webinar discussion on “Beyond cathedrals and congregations: building leadership for cricket’s ecosystem”, using the article in this month’s The Cricketer as a springboard to ask what kinds of leadership, at club, county and ECB levels, are needed for the long‑term growth and sustainability of the whole game.

Ex Leicestershire CEO Sean Jarvis and leadership expert John Neal - former ECB Head of Coach Development - will respond to a short introductory proposition from John Swannick of Cricket Club Development Network orchestrated by Rafaelle Nicholson, Guardian cricket correspondent and chair of Cricket Research Network.

If you’re concerned how cricket will be running in the next 5, 10 or 20 years, this session is for you.

You can book here https://clubdevelopment.org/etn/beyond-cathedrals-and-congregations-building-leadership-for-crickets-ecosystem/