Really good review of where we are headed in terms of the English cricket coaching & coach education landscape.
theteesra.com/2026/03/07/d...
11.03.2026 11:44
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Really good review of where we are headed in terms of the English cricket coaching & coach education landscape.
theteesra.com/2026/03/07/d...
Nb. Player Labelling can also be used for addressing the separate construct of Relative Age Effect, especially at younger age groups, <U13. The resourcing/time constraints in this context are considerably lower.
Not included in the discussion is the duty of care argument to the perceived barrier of time/resourcing. I.e. how can you not measure ht & wt every 3 months when you need to know growth rates/PHV timing to prevent injury! Let alone the informed decision making around selection.
Some interesting responses around potential perceived -ve feedback from other coaches, as well as parents & players… maybe indicating a need for greater understanding & communication.
‘… barriers to adoption included limited perceived value, a preference for existing processes, a focus on selecting teams to win now when working with players for a short period of time, and a lack of knowledge on how to use these strategies.’
Even though most respondents recognised how much maturity matters in influencing selection decisions, less than half of respondents were likely to introduce either, with Player Labelling at 46% & BB at only 33%.
A recommended read. A study into attitudes towards addressing maturity bias via Bio Banding &/or Player Labelling (i.e. bio age ordered numbered shirts) in 🇦🇺 youth 🏀 coaches (n=77, 77% male) via an online survey
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sportrxiv.org/index.php/se...
The latter it seems. Pro cricket & pro roles at indy schools.
Is the ECB serious about structural change? Yes, but maybe not in the way you expect.
onemoresummer.co.uk/post/is-the-...
And so it starts... 🙃
£40K/yr
![Quote from an interviewee: "At [franchise], the men's team were getting food and we weren't. They were having their dinner cooked for them every night for free and we were going out or getting delivery. There was food in the team room, but it wasn't for us, it was for the men."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qefnz7gxtoazw436ylnafygh/bafkreiattkezimkg4n3g7gghugnatuyxohmvtafa4pmcefrbnfeobpk6we)
Quote from an interviewee: "At [franchise], the men's team were getting food and we weren't. They were having their dinner cooked for them every night for free and we were going out or getting delivery. There was food in the team room, but it wasn't for us, it was for the men."
Our 1st panel at #CRN2026 is on Gender. Two brilliant presentations first up centring on lived experience of female cricketers in franchise comps, including The Hundred.
Huge contrast between hype of "equality" & persistent disparities in Georgia Norman's interviews with players. I gasped at this!
The 2 most revealing part of these figures are 1) the trend...
2014 33%
2019 43%
2025 59%
2030 ???
& 2) As the Women's pathway grows they are creating all the same structural bias as the men.
As the Govt aren't going to fund this, maybe the ECB could fund some state school hubs to the same level of top indy cricket schools, from the £500m windfall?
Yet the PCA strangely quiet on this issue.
Hmmmm ‘Hundred is for everyone except Pakistan players’ doesn’t have the same ring to it…
The ECB plan to launch a new nationwide softball cricket competition in state secondary schools later this year | @coynejames.bsky.social
No it's totally unfair & Yes people care! Maybe not enough atm. Maybe a lot of those with influence within cricket are beneficiaries of the current systems advantages?
I'm not sure county members/followers know enough about the backgrounds of those they support either.
Well written article.
Agree. I guess for authoritarianism to succeed it needs to spread a feeling of fear to suppress protest.
It's almost like there's a stress fracture epidemic in adolescent and late adolescent fast bowlers? This is a period where the bone mineral density is still forming. Are they bowling too much in too high level cricket? Should it be managed better? A stress fracture raises the probability of another.
ESkyB
After a little digging the 2 guys appear to be 2 50somethings who were MCC YCs & Middlesex 2nds players around 1990. They also seem to be people who have genuine concerns and are raising important points.
Well done to Gary Mason and Simon Aldis posting such a good piece in The Cricket Files.
It builds and echoes on what I wrote about in The Cricketer in April 2025.
ECB is uber cautious on access to windfalls, in reality selling at a P/E of 7.5x is hardly that.
www.linkedin.com/posts/fanos-...
ECB to fund a PhD into 'Addressing Selection Bias & Injury Risk in Youth Cricket: A Growth & Maturation Research Programme'... FINALLY!!!
onemoresummer.co.uk/post/ecb-to-...
Have a read of this. It is a fascinating & well researched look at the finances of the Hundred non-host counties. It is very bleak.
‘The windfall makes Non-Host counties solvent. It does not make them competitive. It is a lifeline, not a launchpad.’
substack.com/home/post/p-...
I'd add that English cricket coaching remains unaffected by what we know about how people learn & also how adaptable skills are best acquired.
Do Professional County Academies seek out critical feedback? 🏏
onemoresummer.co.uk/post/do-prof...
Calling all cricket coaches: Do you use ANY of these techniques in promoting LEARNING? 🏏
youtu.be/GMsmB2CMrtE?...
Is it Simon Schama?
In addition high selection bias by birth quarter too. 8 of the 11 were born between September & November (Q1). #RelativeAgeEffects
Similar to the senior side in the Ashes, only 1 State School player in the men's England U19 World Cup final team. #U19WorldCup #U19WorldCup2026 #U19WorldCupFinal