#TFTD Ben Stokes... 'The talent that we have in England is just unquestionable. The pool of players, the talent that we have, it's probably as good as it's been in a very long time' Have we ever had a 'system' that has 45% of male professionals coming from 0.5% of the general population?

What can we do to improve the MCCF Hub model so MORE state school kids reach 'talent pathways'? 🏏 onemoresummer.co.uk/post/ideas-t...

This sounds encouraging... £500K raised for Knight-Stokes Cup 'programme'... would be delivered by the MCC Foundation (MCCF)... aims to create high quality environments – akin to centres of excellence – for talented state-educated cricketers to thrive. www.lords.org/lords/news-s...

I blame George Orwell. He basically wrote a 'How To' guide for where we're at.

#TFTD How much of the annual £1m MCCF Hub expenditure ends up in the coffers of independent schools through facility hire? A large proportion of this money is charitable donations (legacies, trusts etc) as well as ECB & MCC money.

Fascinating analysis of the scholarship pathway to the professional game of #cricket

This article is almost 5 years old! Is Maturation currently the biggest unaddressed issue in Player ID & Development in English Cricket? onemoresummer.co.uk/post/is-matu... * Dated 2024 when updated but published in 2021.

In cricket is it unlawful to discriminate because of (relative) age indirectly through rules, policies or arrangements? * from 2022 but the Q is still open. onemoresummer.co.uk/post/age-is-...

🏏 New County #Cricket newsletter. Pls share & enjoy 🟣 The Great Divide comes into focus 🟢 Durham, Hants, Yorks sign overseas 🟠 Pre-season probs 🔴 Ravi reaches the end? 🔵 Bransgrove predicts counties may go under 🟡 ECB's comms plans backfire

Are scholarships cricket's biggest red herring? 🏏🧑‍🎓💷 Just how many state school kids who benefit from 'free' independent schooling become professionals? onemoresummer.co.uk/post/are-sch...

Really good review of where we are headed in terms of the English cricket coaching & coach education landscape. theteesra.com/2026/03/07/d...

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 ... sportrxiv.org/index.php/se...

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

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!

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

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-...

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?...

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

A review of Ian Renshaw & Stephen Rollnick's Dynamic Coaching - a playbook for cricket coaches. #coaching #CricketCoaching #BookReview

Do better results at men's England U19 World Cups lead to those players playing more for the Senior team? 🤔

I see the proportion of Somerset Women games away from the County Ground will increase slightly In 2025, 3 of Somerset's 15 home games were at outgrounds (20%, 2 at Taunton Vale, 1 at Exmouth) In 2026, 4 of 14 home games will be at outgrounds (29%, 2 at Vale, 2 at Exmouth) 1/7

#RelativeAgeEffects in men's England U19 World Cup Squads have increased since 2020 📅🏏🏆

Forget the Ashes, here's the real quiz... Glamorgan’s return to Division One proves that leadership, culture, and perseverance can overcome the unique challenges of Welsh cricket. First published in Wisden Cricket Monthly. open.substack.com/pub/jeffthom...

When will there be 50% extra training to state school kids on talent pathways? The recent Equity in Cricket (2025) report describes this as 'a notable area of progress' but its currently not for all age groups, not necessarily 50%, and possibly not yet at all pro counties...

On the CRICKETher Weekly: * Syd gets on board the WBBL Cane Train * The importance of the ICC’s Emerging Nations Trophy * Why can’t England play in-swing? * Who will make their England debut in the next 12 months? * Raf reviews the ECB’s latest Equity Report

ECB Equity in Cricket report & the MCCF Hub programme show little progress since ICEC. 🏏 70% more hubs yet ONLY *6* more players on England & Wales talent pathways! onemoresummer.co.uk/post/the-ecb...

ECB State of Equity in Cricket 2025 Since last year there are LESS state school girls at CAG & EPP level, fewer boys at EPP but a 25% increase in state schooled boys in Academies (now 40%). At professional level no change. 👀 www.ecb.co.uk/news/4400947

This, from Loren Anderson via Substack, perfectly encapsulates why I believe in the #EcologicalDynamics approach in #coaching #sportscoaching

France has done this, too. Brilliant idea

Jewish figures across the globe call on UN and world leaders to sanction Israel

Do Counties publish County Pathway Demographic Data? 🏏🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 i.e. are we are on track improving state school representation? Afaik* only 1 Professional county, Sussex, and 1 National county, Wiltshire, have published this data for 2024 & 2025. Credit to them! ...

61% of these players are born Sep-Nov* #RelativeAgeEffects Every year these selections are heavily biased towards early born players. * 11 of 19. 1 date of birth unknown.

I see England have avoided a shock defeat to Bangladesh in the World Cup thanks to a typically gritty and determined partnership between Heather Knight and the third umpire. #CWC25 🏏

In the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏏 men’s current Player Pathway you are 3x more likely to be selected if born in Sep-Oct (Q1) than Jun-Aug (Q4) & 40 of the 51 players attended an independent school. *Based on U19s, Lions & Ashes Test squads n=51. #RelativeAgeEffects

Portland is war-torn only if you tear it with war

Trollstigen, Norway. #Photography #BlueSkyArtShow #TheRoad #EastCoastKin

🚨 This is serious. Ex Reform UK leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, 52, pleads guilty to accepting bribes in exchange for making pro-Russia statements in the European Parliament when serving as a UKIP MEP.

When you carefully construct an organisational structure and #culture - very much the same thing - that ensures your #class always ‘win’ (as witnessed in English #cricket), these outcomes are inevitable. But, you know, ‘stop the boats’ etc. etc. 🤦🏻‍♂️ www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

fft education datalab calling on DfE to take relative age discrimination seriously? ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2025/09/dfe-...

England U19 Squad for 🇮🇪🇧🇩🏏 RAE 2x born in the first half of the year (12:6) 83% Indy schooled 83% selected at U15 national pathway (Bunbury) ecb.co.uk/news/4354459....

Relative Age Effects for Super 4s Women 2025 🏏♀️ RAE in the women's pathway appears to be much MORE of an issue than in the men's.

Relative Age Effects for Super 4s Men 2025 (Regional U18s) 🏏 NO RAE overall: Q1 20%, Q2 28%, Q3 28%, Q4 24%. 48:52 By Half Year n=53* (*7 unknown)

Important piece by Isa Guha. Not going to link as I don't want to single the player out, but this week I saw a social media post by a county where they were introducing 3 new players and the confidence in the body language of the South Asian player compared to her 2 white counterparts was striking.

#TFTD Until coaches CHANGE their current selection criteria then well evidenced bias of relative, biological & training age will continue. The best intervention we can encourage is a shift in MINDSET from just selecting the ‘best’ players to represent the 'most competitive’ team.

And for the 2nd Test... 9:5 by half year (7 Q1) 13 of 14 are independently schooled. The only state school player was not at Bunbury (U15) but 11 of 13 independents were.