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

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. We want an environment which encourages kids to get involved, learn, develop and have fun playing cricket at Ealing.

Our Juniors enjoyed another fantastic year in 2024 winning 7 of a possible 19 MJCA competitions, all culminated in the club being awarded with the Victor Ludorum Cup once again, which is awarded for the highest achieving club in all of Middlesex junior cricket

From a standpoint of Junior cricket oversight and management, Trustees Mitul Patel and Robbie White will continue to take responsibility for the section, and in addition this year we have a new Trustee – Pinal Gandhi – who I’m sure many of you will know, who will take responsibility for women’s and girls’ cricket across the club. James Grigg is still helping with to support the Junior section with his vast knowledge, alongside his role as Chairman of the MJCA Cricket Committee. Laura Fairbairn is also continuing in her role supporting the club as our Cricket Administrator.

Junior Cricket Management & Coaching

Junior cricket will be overseen for his second season by our Director of Cricket, Shaftab Khalid who had a great first year last season and brought energy and quality to the role. We hope he can continue to build on his work last season and have a positive influence across the junior section moving forward.

Shaftab will be supported a high-quality team of new & returning coaches:

Coaches | Qualification

Shaftab Khalid | ECB Specialist Coach Programme Level 4

Faisal Shahid | ECB Specialist Coach Programme Level 4

Ayzaz Hussain | CoachED Level 4 ELITE Certification

Rodney Lalgie | ECB Advanced Coach Programme Level 3 Cohort 21 & ECB Level 2

Haseeb Bajwa | ECB Level 2

Chris Fourie | ECB Level 2

Radha Marripati | ECB Level 2

Viren Nain | ECB Level 2

Zoheb Sharif | ECB Level 2

Some of our younger coaches hold ECB Level 1 qualifications and are in the process of acquiring ECB level 2. Some of our Junior Managers and other volunteers also hold coaching badges.

As always, we are massively reliant on our Junior Managers ,who are all volunteers, and we really appreciate the time and support they give in running their teams.

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 led 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 6 teams in the U9 competition (including U8s and U9s), 4 teams in the U11 competition (including the U10s and U11s), and 3 teams in the U14 competition (including U12s, U13, 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 and U14 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. Most Age Groups/Teams will also set up WhatsApp groups to supplement Pitchero communications.

For existing parents, please update contact details and DoBs as, without this, the app can’t verify ages, which can lead to communication issues.

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 2025 season.

We have made a slight change this year - nearly all of training will be done at Corfton Road, compared with previous years where we have split the sessions between Popesfield and Corfton. The sessions will then be split on ability at Corfton road to ensure everyone gets the most out of the training. The only sessions as Popesfield are the U8/9 Eagles on Friday nights due to the volume of kids.

Taking on-board feedback from last 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.

Training groups | Main Coaches | Training day

U8/U9 Boys | Haseeb Bajwa/Rodney Lalgie | Fridays

U8/U9 Girls | Radha Marripati/Chris Fourie | Fridays

U10/U11 Boys | Chris Fourie/Haseeb Bajwa | Thursdays

U12/U13 Boys | Haseeb Bajwa/Chris Fourie/Rodney lalgie | Mondays

U10 – U13 Girls | Radha Marripati/Shaftab Khalid | Fridays

U14 – U17 Boys | Ayzaz Hussain/Haseeb Bajwa | Tuesdays

U14 – U17 Girls | Chris Fourie/Haseeb Bajwa | Wednesdays

ECC Academy Boys (Invite Only) | Shaftab Khalid/Ayzaz Hussain | Wednesdays

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. A separate note regarding when the Nets at Corfton Road are available for members to use outside of the Club’s planned activities will be sent out shortly.

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 EALING2025 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 2025, 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 mid 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, Robbie, Pinal or Shaftab.

We would also love to have more women volunteers involved particularly in the girls section where we hope to encourage more girls to continue to play, and having more female role models would be brilliant for this.

Key contacts

Shaftab Khalid | Director of Cricket | shaftab.khalid@ealingcc.co.uk | 07944412836

Laura Fairbairn | Cricket Administrator | laura.fairbairn@ealingcc.co.uk | 07704405460

Mitul Patel | Ealing Cricket Club Trustee – Junior Cricket | mitul.patel@ealingcc.co.uk | 07785 321347

Robbie White | Ealing Cricket Club Trustee – Junior Cricket | rob.white@ealingcc.co.uk | 07973 287131

Reference Document

2025 Information Document