Middlesex Cricket can today announce that following a review process, the Club has restructured its Player Pathway management team, with the creation of two new roles - a Player Pathway Head Coach and a Player Pathway Manager, superseding the previous role of Head of Youth Cricket.
The new structure mirrors that of the Middlesex Men’s Professional coaching set up, where Alan Coleman sits as the Club’s Head of Men’s Performance Cricket and Richard Johnson in the First Team Coach’s role.
The new structure will see Mark Lane filling the role of Player Pathway Coach, focussing on coaching the Middlesex Elite Player Group and senior Age Group players, having previously held the role of Head of Youth Cricket role on an interim basis following Rory Coutts move into the Middlesex’s Club Coach’s role.
Lane has an impressive coaching track record, having previously led England Women to both ICC World Cup and ICC World T20 trophies in 2009. He has worked within Middlesex’s Youth system since 2014 and in his new role will report directly to the Head of Men’s Performance Cricket.
Stewart Davison joins the Club to take the Player Pathway Manager’s role, responsible for administrative oversight, management and logistics of Middlesex’s player pathway programme.
Davison joins from Berkshire Cricket, where he has held a similar role, and has been influential in developing the Berkshire player pathway programme to the point where it is one of the most respected National County programmes in the country.
Talent ID will form a major part of Davison’s new role, with responsibility for coordinating Middlesex’s county scouting network, to widen the net, ensuring that all talented young cricketers across the county are entering the Middlesex player pathway. He will also be responsible for building a comprehensive database, allowing the Club to closely monitor the progress and development of each of its pathway players.
Speaking of the new player pathway structure, Alan Coleman, commented:
“After a period of review of our pathway, I am delighted that we have devised a new structure to take our programmes to the next level.
“The Middlesex pathway has been responsible for developing a constant pipeline of exceptionally talented young people into the professional game, many of whom are still representing the Club and others who are still forging successful careers in the game.
“The appointments of Mark Lane and Stewart Davison are pivotal to the ongoing success of the programmes.
“We are committed to our pathway being as open and inclusive as it possibly can, so that any young person in Middlesex and our surrounding areas can access high quality cricket experiences whilst aspiring to play at the highest level they can.”
Mark Lane commented:
“We are all really excited about the new structure that has been put in place for the Middlesex Cricket Player Pathway.
“To take on the role of Player Pathway Head Coach and to be working alongside the other specialist coaches is a really exciting prospect and one that I am particularly looking forward to.”
Stewart Davison added:
“I’m delighted to have been appointed Player Pathway Manager.
“In my previous role with Berkshire I worked closely with Middlesex and saw how impressive the Pathway is.
“I’m looking forward to continuing to develop what is already an excellent system that has helped to produce so many fantastic young cricketers.
“We are fortunate to have lots of passionate and caring people that work throughout the pathway - at Borough, Regional and County Age Group cricket - which is one of the many reasons that the role appealed to me - I can’t wait to get started.”
