Middlesex Cricket recently came together at Lord’s to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of those in the game whose commitment and dedication to cricket coaching has gone above and beyond the norm.
The Middlesex Coaching Association (MCoA) awards, launched in 2012, are presented annually to volunteers within the game who have excelled in their delivery of coaching across the county within the recreational game. Middlesex’s Club Coach, Rory Coutts, was on hand at Lord’s to hand the awards out to each of the deserving recipients, with Chair of the MCoA, Rod Croucher, presiding over the presentation evening.
Recreational clubs across the county are encouraged to nominate individuals for entry into one of four categories, with the entry criteria outlined by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), before a judging panel sits to assess each nomination to ultimately determine the winners.
The four separate ECB recognised award categories are: Young Coach of the Year, Coach of the Year, Outstanding Services to Coaching, and Outstanding Services to Coach Development, with two new Middlesex Cricket Special Award Winners also named this year to mark their immense services to coaching in the recreational game.
The award winners in each category, and a summary of their achievements that led to them being crowned this year’s winners are below.
ECB Award definition - Presented to a young person who is already making a difference and is already passing on their enthusiasm for the game and inspiring the next generation of players.
Winner: Amy Dhindsa from Shepherd’s Bush Cricket Club
“Amy has made a profound difference to women’s participation in cricket at Shepherds Bush.
Last year, before she took on the role of Head of Women’s Cricket, there were two women signed up as social members. Currently, just one year on, the club has 32 adult women members.
She has actively recruited the majority, many of whom had never played cricket before and some who were totally unsure of the rules. Not only did she get them to come to the club, but they are now passionate cricketers. She has inspired at the grassroots level, a group of women to get active and involved in cricket.
Furthermore, she has gone above and beyond to arrange social events and outings to create a community of women at the club, from young women to those with families, to those that have retired, she has brought together a real mixture of women all united in their new-found love of cricket. Amy is singlehandedly responsible for their engagement, commitment, and consequential love of cricket.”
ECB Award definition - Presented to a coach who goes the extra mile and is a true coaching hero to their club, league, county, or school.
Winner: Tanvir Ahamed from London Tigers Cricket Club
“Tanvir has been the life and soul of the London Tigers Cricket Club and local schools. Tanvir has significantly impacted many people, both young and adults. Over the period of 7 years, he has served as the primary coach for the London Tigers and has accomplished a lot.
He runs his sessions with a lot of energy, with plenty of fun sessions for kids. He is well-liked by all the young people and parents in his Colts and school teams. He leads all sorts of cricket training in winter and summer. Also, he does all the All-Stars and Dynamos cricket sessions for the club, and kids and parents like his sessions a lot.
Tanvir has contributed many hours of volunteer work to the club's development in order for it to achieve Clubmark accreditation. Tanvir is the reason why the London Tigers cricket club is currently thriving. Without his hard work and dedication, the young people and adult cricketers could not have achieved their goals.”
ECB Award definition - Presented to a person who is the life and soul at their club, in their league, their county or at their school. They have dedicated a significant amount of time to coaching and have contributed to growing the game.
Winner: John Jarvis from Botany Bay Cricket Club
“John has provided coaching services to Botany Bay Cricket Club for over 50 years. He has led the junior section previously for many years and continues to provide coaching for the juniors every week even though he is now aged 75.He coaches the winter nets programme and every week in the summer season. He runs additional coaching seasons after the league season has finished, to give the juniors training evenings to continue to the end of August.
Most recently, he has helped the club become the diversified club of today. He has run one to one sessions with new players from non-cricket playing ethnic backgrounds to teach them the game. He has particularly encouraged girl’s cricket and helped build up the ever-increasing number of girls playing junior cricket at the club.
John is the ultimate club man. Someone who has been involved with Botany Bay Cricket Club for over 60 years and is known as the face of the club throughout Middlesex and Hertfordshire. His coaching has been key to the ongoing success of the junior section, and he has literally spent thousands of hours supporting coaching over the years. All of this has been as a volunteer.”
ECB Award definition - Presented to an individual or team of coach developers, club or local initiative who is going above and beyond to support the development of coaches in your county.
Winner: Chad Barrett from Ealing Cricket Club
“Since 2018, Chad has transformed Junior Cricket at Ealing Cricket Club. This has seen a 50% increase in the number of Junior members and a substantial increase in the number of playing and training opportunities for children at the Club.
A particular focus for Chad has been the development of younger coaches. He has helped a significant number of junior players to become coaches and others to get into coaching cricket who hadn’t coached cricket before, teaching them how to lead sessions and to control coaching environments. He has given them a platform to excel and come out of their shell through coaching and has developed over 10 young coaches at the Club in the last 3 years, who all now play a major role in the coaching, and he has encouraged many of these coaches to undertake Level 2 courses. And, as part of this, he has also helped young female coaches to get into coaching, giving them a platform to learn and develop their skills.”
(No image available as Chad was unable to attend the awards presentation evening)
Not awarded every year, only in exceptional circumstances, and presented to those individuals who have, because of personal circumstances, or because of the breadth of their work, gone the extra mile. These awards are presented to individuals whose achievements have simply extended beyond the definitions outlined in each of the above four annual ECB award categories.
This year, there were two Special Award winners, as below.
Winner: Andrea Polley from Bushey Park Girls Cricket Club
“Andrea’s coaching journey started in 2013 as she watched her daughter play and develop into a county cricketer and more latterly a coach. She is a single mum of five and a committed advocate of the benefits of sport for children and young adults and so it was only a matter of time before she became involved in coaching.
Andrea is utterly inspirational, bordering on magical, with how she engages large groups of younger players and develops their love of cricket. Over the last 6 years she has worked with over 500 younger players aged from 5+ delivering fun and welcoming sessions.
Andrea’s most recent achievement of becoming a Level Two coach, overcoming significant time constraints due to parental responsibilities is a testament to her determination to be the best coach she can be. Always humble and eager to learn she is a role model to all our young female coaches who she constantly encourages and supports to achieve their coaching qualifications.
Full of heart, humour and kindness Andrea’s approach and interaction with the players has directly led to more girls coming to training and becoming club members.”
Winner: Johan De Silva from Highgate Cricket Club
“Johan was nominated for an award in two of the ECB categories, but the selection panel just felt that those single categories did not do justice to the breadth and depth of the huge contribution that Johan has made to coaching in Middlesex. He is the Director of Cricket at Highgate Cricket Club, he is the coach of the Middlesex Girls U11 County Age Group, he is a coach development tutor, he is the MCoA East Area Coaching Ambassador, he is a member of the Middlesex Recreational Cricket Committee, and he is an Board Director with Middlesex Cricket.
You ask the youth of North London how they got into cricket, and the chances are that Johan was involved. Let’s put it this way, if you start a coaching course within Middlesex, Johan will be in touch, pushing to help you finish paperwork and offering hours of his minimal free time to support you completing an assessment.
Above and beyond helping all developing coaches complete their awards, he has looked to inspire and support young coaches. This year, he has offered volunteering opportunities for young cricketers in completing Duke of Edinburgh Awards - his easy, friendly manner and wealth of experience have helped young potential coaches find their confidence and voice, trusting them to lead sessions and showing them they can do it! He has also offered work experience to cricketers in Year 10 to get them involved in all areas of cricket.
His breadth of knowledge is shared equally to all who need it, and some who don’t even realise they need it! He truly believes in everyone he meets, no matter their age or experience, and encourages them all to get involved.”
Speaking in commendation of each of the award winners and thanking all those around the county whose commitment to coaching is appreciated beyond measure, Middlesex Cricket’s Interim Director of Participation and Safeguarding, Josh Knappett, commented:
“Every year we are inspired by the stories we read of those who are nominated for recognition in the MCoA Awards, and it is so encouraging to see that the game of cricket is in extremely safe hands at many of our clubs around Middlesex.
“The passion, dedication, commitment, and energy that coaches right across the county bring to the fore, inspiring literally thousands of cricketers playing the game is heart-warming, and it is always an extremely difficult task to choose the winners from the many excellent nominations we receive.
“Our congratulations and thanks go to each and every award winner, and to those who missed out this year – what you collectively do for the game of cricket in Middlesex is simply incredible, and without the thousands of hours that you put in, to help nurture talent within the county, the game would be a much poorer place.“
