Cricket Club Development Network

Latest update

What, if anything, have you heard about the ECB’s new Tackling Climate Change Fund*? Gamechanging? Strategic? Scattergun? https://lnkd.in/eYwWkquA

Who or what inspired you to do what you do? Where did it all begin*, do the same pathways exist now and who is planting your little acorns? https://lnkd.in/eNPiieKM

A perfectly timed, must-read feature from Michael Atherton in Retracing Arlott’s footsteps to a club that is still the village’s beating heart* as the antidote to ‘silly season’ cricket stories. https://lnkd.in/edrBjzbj

Our Quick Poll* on ground tenure has now closed. Inevitable small numbers but the response has been overwhelming, more off than online. So many, even those with relevant professional experience, having battles for renewal. It’s often just too raw to share for now. https://lnkd.in/eGmpgeGn

From last week:
· What would your mother say if your club appeared on the front page of the Daily Mail? Old school approaches to reputation risk management*. https://lnkd.in/eJRG-XBc
· Apparently there’s a Premier League review* underway so is that even more reason to complete ECB’s Playing (and Volunteers/Volunteering) Survey? https://lnkd.in/es3pDN5Q

*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:
· Why have All Stars and Dynamos numbers ‘plateaud’?
· Extreme weather impact
· Cricket clubs are a web of social connections
· Net booking apps and facilities management software
· Quick Poll on junior transition
· Junior transition and retention in open age cricket
· How much would you pay your chief operating officer?
· Is school sport provision now a post code lottery?
· A personal reflection; ECB’s MD of Recreational Cricket
· Sky club cricket feature
· Extreme weather guidance
· Cricket Collective Awards
· Champions of Change
· Cricket, Climate & Circularity
· Supporting schools’ participation in Knight-Stokes Cup
· Facilities Friday
· Club impact on county board performance
· £3m government funding for new domes

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/join

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...

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/