There is a lot to communicate as we gear up for the season but if you, or your children, have any queries, please do reach out to any of the key individuals listed below or the Manager(s) of your child’s age group(s), details of whom are laid out in the ‘Junior Parents Information’ document accompanying this note (see hyper-link at end of message).

Introduction

Our Juniors enjoyed a great year in 2023 winning 9 of a possible 18 MJCA competitions, with the season capped off with our U13 boys being crowned National Champions, a phenomenal achievement!

We look forward to the new season with anticipation as we continue to strive to provide all our Juniors with the opportunity to continue growing their love for the game and maximising their cricketing potential.

From a standpoint of Junior cricket oversight and management, having done an outstanding job of overseeing Junior cricket at ECC in recent years, James Grigg will begin to step back over the course of 2024 and start to distribute responsibility to Mitul Patel & Robbie White, our new trustee members with accountability for Junior cricket, and Laura Fairbairn our Cricket Administrator.

The Club are indebted for all he has done, and continues to do, in helping drive our thriving Juniors section and he continues to play a vital role in helping manage the many components that go into running our Juniors cricket.

James will continue to stay close to Junior cricket in Middlesex as the newly appointed Chair of the MJCA Cricket Committee.

Junior Cricket Management & Coaching

Junior cricket will now be overseen by our new Director of Cricket, Shaftab Khalid who has joined the club from Rajasthan Royals & Warwickshire CCC having represented England Lions and Worcestershire CCC during his playing career.

Shaftab will be supported by Tammy O’Connell who will oversee the coaching of Girls cricket and a high-quality team of new & returning coaches including Ayzaz Hussain, Faisal Shahid, Hasseb Bhajwa, Radhakrishna Marripati, Shahbaz Azizullah, Shashi Malik, Dylan Tollett, Zobie Sharif, Rodney Lagie, Nikhil Nomula, Jackson Koop, Arjan Nahar, Lucas Smith, Noah Harvey, Absar Mohammed, Martin Fourie, Ethan Petta & Mitchell Oliver.

MJCA

The main inter-club competitions in which our Junior cricketers play matches are organised by the MJCA (Middlesex Junior Cricket Association - https://mjcacricket.org/)
We have 29 teams playing MJCA fixtures this year. Details of all fixtures will be available on the Ealing CC Play Cricket website (https://ealing.play-cricket.com/home) and will also feed through to Pitchero.

Each age group playing in MJCA fixtures is lead by age group Managers, who from this season, will also be supported by specific age group Club coaches. Details of the Managers can be found in the accompanying document.

IFL

Ealing CC introduced the IFL (Internal Franchise League) a number of years ago as a participation league to provide as many Juniors as possible, particularly those in younger age groups, the opportunity to play in safe, organised matches covering a wide range of abilities if they would like to do so.

Many of our junior cricketers had their first experience of playing a cricket match as part of the IFL. It is a unique set-up that relies on players, parents and IFL team managers (usually volunteer parents) to make it fun for all.

• This season, we are planning to have 7 teams in the U9 competition (including U8s and U9s), 5 teams in the U11 competition (including the U10s and U11s), and 4 teams in the U14 competition (including U12s, U13s and U14s).
• We have a separate Girls team in the U9 competition, in which U10 Girls can play. Older Girls participate alongside the Boys in the U11 competitions, but may play 'down' one year.

Details of the teams to which our Junior members have been allocated will be available on Pitchero and all the fixtures will shortly be available on the Club’s website. We will also be publishing details of the Team Managers of each of the IFL teams shortly. If you are not sure which IFL team your child is in, please look on Pitchero and/or ask the Manager for your child’s Age Group.

Pitchero

Junior parents need to download the Pitchero Club App and to be registered on Pitchero as it is the Club’s primary means of communicating information related to Junior cricket to parents.
Most communications between the Age Group Managers and Junior parents will be via Pitchero. Some Age Groups/Teams may also set up WhatsApp groups to supplement Pitchero communications.

For those who are yet to download the Pitchero Club App and require assistance, Age Group managers can point you in the right direction. If there is no Age Group Manager for your child’s age group, i.e. U5 – U7 Boys and U6 – U8 Girls and you need assistance, please contact Shaftab Khalid or Laura Fairbairn. Their contact details are set out in the Information document that is being sent out with this letter.

You should also be able to see the following on the Pitchero Club App:
• Details of all MJCA and IFL fixtures that have been arranged.
• Which training group your child is training in
• Which playing squad(s) your child is likely to be playing in
• Which IFL team your child has been allocated to

If these details are not there yet, please be patient as all the information will be available soon. If you are not sure what training session your child should attend, please look on Pitchero and/or contact the relevant Age Group Managers, Shaftab or Laura.

Training Schedules & Coaching

The attached document sets out the training timetable and locations for the 2024 season.
In order to cater for the number of Juniors we have, and their varying levels of abilities, we split training venues across Corfton Road and Popesfield to ensure that we can provide high quality coaching to meet the needs of our entire pool of Juniors.

Taking on-board feedback from the survey conducted earlier this year, Shaftab Khalid will be working with our coaches to embed structured coaching sessions for all age groups, and at all locations, to ensure that we provide opportunities for all our Junior cricketers to develop their skills in a fun and safe environment.

The Age group coaching leads are as per the table below. If you have any questions on their role supporting Age group managers, please reach out to Shaftab in the first instance.

Age Group Lead
Haseeb Bajwa - U9's, U10
RadhaKrishna Marripati - U11/ U12s
Ayzaz Hussain - U13, U14, U15s
Dylan Tolett - U17, U19, U21
Tammy O'Connell - Head W&G
Shashi Malik - Assistant W&G

Use of the Nets

Many members will want to use the Club’s Nets Facilities.
The Nets at Corfton Road (CR Nets) may only be used by members when they are not being used by the Club for our training sessions and other organised activities, including our holiday courses.

The Trustees are currently evaluating how we can provide more informal nets access to Juniors in a safe and structured manner. We will provide further guidance as soon as we are able.

Club Clothing

We continue to have an objective to have all ECC cricketers, both Senior and Junior, wear ECC branded clothing whenever they are playing for the Club.

ECC branded clothing can be purchased from the ECC online shop, www.surridgesport.com/ealing-cc

ECC members benefit from a 20% discount on all non clothing cricket equipment. Please use the discount code EALING2024 at checkout.

Premier Cricket Coaching

The Club has its own coaching business, Premier Cricket Coaching, which has been running successfully since 2016 and now being refreshed under our new Director of Cricket, Shaftab Khalid.

In 2024, we will again be running courses in Easter holidays, in the May half term and throughout the summer holidays. And the popular Sunday Coaching Club will be starting in late April.

Volunteers

We are an amateur sports club and only focused on cricket. Although we do employ a small number of full time employees (one of the few Clubs in Middlesex able to do so), we remain reliant on volunteers to help to run the Club.

Managing and coaching our Junior section is an obvious area and we have many parents involved in this activity to whom we are indebted to. We always need more people to help, particularly among the younger age groups and if this is something you would like to get involved in please do reach out to Mitul or Shaftab.

Key contacts

Shaftab Khalid - Director of Cricket 07785 321347
Laura Fairbairn - Cricket Administrator
Mitul Patel - Ealing Cricket Club Trustee – Junior Cricket 07973 287131
Robbie White - Ealing Cricket Club Trustee – Junior Cricket

Reference Document

• Junior Parents Information 2024