PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

Who is the Middlesex Schools Cricket Pathway appropriate for?

Geographically, we will look at players not just based in Middlesex; but also neighbouring counties. We are looking for players who do not belong to a County Age Group squad for Middlesex CCC. Borough, Regional and Regional Select players would be suitable for this programme and players from the various local counties: Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, Essex, Kent etc ideally within the M25.

Who can nominate for Middlesex Schools Cricket Pathway?

Schools, clubs, coaches, MCC Hubs. Players must be playing a minimum of Borough/District Cricket if they are nominated by parents.). We would communicate with private coaches who nominate about areas of development for their player and have discussions about their plan with the player moving forward. 

How do I nominate for Middlesex Schools Cricket Pathway?

We have an electronic application form, we will ask you for the: Name, Date of Birth, What Level of Cricket that they play,  player(s) play-cricket statistics link, details about their game and video links can be uploaded and a guide as to what we need to see on the videos is explained on the website link..

If you missed the initial trials please get in touch via out Contact Page and we will contact you back for more details to see if it is appropriate and whether we have space to accommodate your child.

What does the Middlesex Schools Cricket Pathway programme include?

The pathway programme works at 2 levels. We have a development side who will be used in fixtures more appropriate to their developmental stage. We have a competitive side who will compete in our competition games/tours. Some age groups shall have a Development level tour and one that is a play to compete tour.

Development Fixtures are about giving players different playing opportunities i.e. a batter batting different numbers to get used to opening against a new ball vs coming in chasing down a score when the spinners are on.

Competitive Tours and fixtures are our opportunity to allow the players to compete to win, they would have (In Training and in fixtures) shown us what roles they are capable of and be utilised as the coach sees fit within the teams plans. 

We host various sides in competitive friendlies and need to ensure that our opponents gets what they require out of the fixture by challenging them appropriately. Players from County Age Groups that train with Elite Cricket Performance Academy will attend training to prepare for the competitive fixtures and get to know their age group squad.

Trials Phase of the Programme

Trials begin in late September, there is an Administration fee per Trialist/Trial. If you miss the initial trials we can look at players in training sessions only if we feel it is appropriate and we have capacity to do so. 

Training Phase of the Programme

Players are assessed then join the Winter Training Programme (Pre-Christmas), this period is used to see how they take onboard different learning points, we will use Ludimos to be able to track data about our players bowling and batting. A few players will be asked to leave in Early December if they are not taking onboard learning points or meeting the Strength and Conditioning requirements of their age group programme.

We shall have parents meeting days where you would meet us in person for discussions around what we are focussing on for that term or what we are working towards. Players will order their clothing in December our kit supplier is Juno, all of the players shall be measured then assigned squad numbers for 2025. All previous players will retain their squad numbers and can reuse previous clothing, we ask that if we change sponsors that they buy one of the new shirts with the new sponsors logos.

The programme shall include sessions from Will Lintern as part of the programme for throwing and fielding development.

Players will have access to elite coaches that work for our partner academy Elite Cricket Performance Academy such as: Steffan Jones (Fast Bowling), Will Lintern (Power Hitting and Throwing/Fielding), Marvin Rowe (Sprinting)

Game Phase of the Programme

Starting in April we have a tour abroad (optional), we then start with internal fixtures for the squad groups to come together and get to know each other around May/June. We move into external fixtures from May onwards building up the level of difficulty.

Weekend tournaments are run in July, with Tours (Development level and Competitive level) take place in July and August.

We have some 2-day fixtures and mini tours planned domestically to different parts of the country.

The programme runs around the Borough and Regional Middlesex Pathway so that players can be available for their trials process, some games/tournaments etc might clash with the Middlesex pathway, however no Middlesex pathway players would be used in those games/tournaments.

What do we expect of our squad members?

Middlesex Schools Cricket expects players to respect their team mates and opponents, this applies to all parents/guardians of the players participating.

Players must attend training once selected throughout the winter.

Players must be available for the tours, the sides will be selected as early as possible for the players that we know more about, with spaces left in the squads for new players to earn through performances in fixtures. The players learn a lot of life skills when they attend tours which aids their independence, time management and more.

Players must prioritise any County programme above our programme during the summer, if we have a fixture and a county has county training/fixtures then they must prioritise their county age group programmes as our goal for this programme is to feed players into counties.

County Age Group players can usually attend the tours arriving later in the evening if they have a CAG fixture for their county. With Middlesex CCC Age group players we can liaise with the county to see what clashes there might be with our tours and we aim to minimise them moving forward with dialogue with the county leads.

What do we expect of our parents?

Middlesex Schools Cricket expects our parents to support good cricket from both our side and the opposition. Parents would stay away from the players for the duration of the game(s) and not interfere with tactics. The coaches are there to help advise and talk to the players about how we want to adapt to the needs of the game situation. Parents would ideally help to set up games, score and assist in any capacity that they feel they can do so. We have some wonderfully supportive parents within the squads. Attending the parental workshops so you better understand what we are working on with your child(ren) and why. We have longer term visions for the players being top fielding units so Long Barriers are not practiced or used. We look at solutions to attack the ball and need to reinforce this on match day. Common other things would be running between the wickets: communication to prepare, after the delivery, running mechanics etc.