The ECB’s Coach Development team has joined forces with the ECB’s Cricket Cities Programme across England and Wales to create more opportunities for people from ethnically diverse communities to become coaches and coach developers.
The initiative brings together Recreational County Board Coach Development Leads and Cricket Cities Leads, funding locally designed projects to identify, develop and support coaches from communities that have traditionally been underrepresented within cricket’s coaching workforce.
Work has so far has supported around 170 people, with activity ranging from introductory and formal coaching courses to community engagement, mentoring and bespoke support for coaches and potential coach developers.
This has taken place with eight Recreational County Boards: Buckinghamshire in Milton Keynes; Cricket East in Luton; Derbyshire in Derby; Lancashire in Manchester and Blackburn; Leicestershire in Leicester; Middlesex in London; Surrey in south-west London and Lambeth; and Yorkshire across Bradford, Leeds, Kirklees and Sheffield.
The activity forms part of the wider ECB Cricket Cities programme, which works across 21 urban communities in England and Wales, alongside Recreational County Boards and community partners. Cricket Cities uses locally designed initiatives reflecting the needs of individual communities to remove barriers to participation and make cricket more accessible, inclusive and culturally relevant.
Martyn Kiel, Learning Design & Game Insight Lead, ECB, said: “Coaches are fundamental to creating positive experiences of cricket, so it is important that we build a coaching and coach developer workforce that reflects the communities we want our game to serve.
“What has been really encouraging about Coach Development x Cricket Cities is that it is locally led. Coach Development Leads and Cricket Cities Leads understand their communities and have been able to identify the support that can make the biggest difference, whether that is a first introduction to coaching, a formal qualification, mentoring or helping an existing coach take their next step.
“We have already seen some brilliant individual journeys and we want to build on this work, supporting more Recreational County Boards and more people to take advantage of the opportunities available through Coach Development and Cricket Cities.”
Those individual journeys demonstrate how locally focused support can open new routes into coaching.
In Derby, Mohsin Ali completed the ECB Core Coach qualification in 2023 while studying at the University of Derby. He subsequently worked as a casual coach with Derbyshire Cricket Foundation before becoming a City Development Officer in 2025. He will begin the ECB Coach Developer programme this year, giving him the opportunity to use his experience to support the development of other coaches.
The programme is also helping people take their first steps into coaching. In Luton, Zuleijkha Elahi initially discovered cricket by taking her daughters to informal sessions in a local park despite having no previous background in the game. She now manages girls’ teams at Lutonian Cricket Club and, having completed the ECB Foundation Coach qualification with Cricket East, has developed the skills and confidence to coach herself.
In London, Essa Rehman arrived in the UK having previously played tape-ball and soft ball cricket in Pakistan. After developing as a player and becoming involved with the Middlesex Mavericks, he completed ECB Foundation Coach and received mentoring while shadowing Middlesex in the Community sessions. He now coaches across Middlesex in the Community programmes and hopes to progress to become an ECB Core Coach.
Across the programme, approaches have been deliberately tailored to local needs. These include targeted coach mentoring through Cricket East, community engagement and peer support in Derbyshire, introductory coaching events in Leicestershire, targeted coach and coach developer mentoring in Middlesex, and taster sessions and mentoring for potential new coach developers in Yorkshire.
Amerdeep Panesar, Senior Manager, Diverse Communities at the ECB, said: “This project is a great example of what can be achieved when different parts of the game come together behind a shared goal. The Cricket Cities and Coach Development teams have worked closely to steer, shape and support this programme, ensuring it responds to the needs of local communities while creating meaningful opportunities for people to enter and progress within coaching.
“Through Cricket Cities, we are committed to making cricket more accessible, inclusive and culturally relevant in urban communities, and developing a coaching workforce that better reflects those communities is an important part of that work. By investing in local people, creating new pathways and supporting long-term development, we are helping to grow the game in a way that is sustainable, representative and community-led.”
The ECB’s Coach Development team is keen to build on progress so far, raising awareness of the support available and encouraging more Recreational County Boards working through Cricket Cities to put forward proposals for future activity.