The icoachcricket Podcast

Coaching in cricket has evolved dramatically over the past few decades. From the informal, experience-led approaches of the 1990s and early 2000s to today’s more structured, player-centred environments, the role of the coach continues to shift. But where might it go next? Paul Shaw has spent time reflecting on this journey, examining how coaching has developed, what has driven that change, and wha...

Sajid Mahmood enjoyed a successful career, representing England across all formats before moving into coaching. Now based at a West London school, he works closely with academy bowlers. He discusses what he looks for in young fast bowlers, how he uses competition to drive development, and his enjoyment of coaching areas of the game he didn’t focus on as a player.

John Abrahams scored 13,560 runs for Lancashire between 1973 and 1988. After captaining Lancashire to List A success, John went on to spend more than 30 years in a range of coaching roles with the ECB. Widely respected across the game, he shares his approach to developing the art of captaincy, highlighting the importance of investing time and energy into nurturing the next generation of on-field l...

Sara Begg has coached across the globe, from community cricket in inner London to leading projects in emerging cricket nations, and is currently working in Brazil. She has extended this work into her PhD, collaborating with teenagers in Nepal to design a cricket-based programme aimed at challenging gender norms and expanding opportunities for girls in both sport and everyday life. In this conversa...

Pete Alway is leading the research focusing on reducing injury risk, with specialist expertise in the biomechanics and physiology of pace bowling. As the ECB’s Research and Operations Manager he based at the ECB Performance Centre in Loughborough monitoring players and reducing injury risk. In this episode, he shares insights into how fast bowlers can be best prepared and managed to maximise perfo...

24 years ago, Deep Dasgupta was playing his final game behind the stumps for India. He is now balancing coaching in the UK with commentary in India. Deep takes time out from his busy World Cup commentary schedule to join Tim Dellor to share his coaching philosophy and approach to developing the modern wicketkeeper.

Andrew Griffiths is Head of Pathway Coaching at Somerset CCC. The club has a rich history developing youngsters into top level first class cricketers. How do they do it? Tim Dellor visited Taunton, where there's lots of work going on during the off season, to try and find out....

20 years ago Caroline Foster was opening the batting for England. 10 years ago she was doing the ECB level 4 coaching qualification.. Now she's one of the most respected coaches in the south west and working at a school in Taunton, with women's Hundred teams and in the boy's and girl's pathway. She's taken time out to talk to The icoachcricket Podcast about her work, her beliefs and how coaching i...

Richard Johnson has been coaching for the last 18 years. After a very successful time playing for England, Somerset and Middlesex, he's been coaching bowlers at Surrey and Middlesex. He finished his role as Head Coach at Middlesex during last season. He's been telling Tim Dellor about what he looks for when coaching young seam bowlers, what he thinks will happen in the Ashes, and what it's like to...

Ian Renshaw is widely regarded as one of the leading authorities in skill adaptability and coaching. Based in Brisbane and dad of Australian batter Matt Renshaw, he's honed his skills coaching his son, researching at universities, and working around the world over 40 years. Ian has just released a book summarising his coaching beliefs. He's been sharing his thoughts on communication, constraints-l...

Mark Garaway was part of Duncan Fletcher's coaching team exactly 20 years ago, when England Men's historic Ashes victory took place. He's since been working in county and school set ups, and he's been a busy contributor to the ECB Coach Development programmes. He met Tim Dellor at Millfield School, where he's Director of Cricket, to tell some stories about coaching over the years.

Kyle Hogg was a seam bowler for Lancashire, before retirement in 2014. Since then he's worked in the entertainment industry, and is now back in cricket. He had a spell coaching on the Lancashire Women's pathway, and now looks after the England Young Lions seamers. He's back in the spotlight as the lead coach on the hit TV show "Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams". He's been talking about that seri...

Martin Dighton, Senior Coach Developer at UK Coaching, talks to The icoachcricket Podcast about communication skills, and the importance of listening. Martin explores noticing, observing players, and how building relationships and problem solving is central to good coaching. Amongst other ground covered, how coaches react to their players winning and losing, and the importance of mentors for coach...

Peter Sturgess is a foundation stage coaching guru in football having spent 17 years working at the FA. Based in Wigan, supports Walsall, set up the Derby County FC Centre of Excellence, and has worked in lots of other football environments. He has studied how best to accelerate the learning and development of young footballers, by modifying practices, and encouraging learning free from structure...

Coach and coach developer, Iain Brunnschweiler has there are no shortage of stories From overseeing Shane Warne's strength and conditioning at Hampshire, Brunchy spent several years heading up the England u17 programme before moving on helping Olympic fencing coaches win medals, and leading the academy at Southampton FC. He continues to work for a variety of clients in sport and business and in th...

Carl Crowe spoke to the podcast from India, where he's currently working with the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. He explained what it's like working on the franchise circuit, how he deals with the dilemmas and issues of working in global tournaments and what the demands are on him as a specialist spin bowling coach working with some of the best players in world cricket.

England Women Head Coach, Charlotte Edwards talks about her key learning experiences, her character as a player and coach, what she thinks is important for coaches working at the top level, and how she sees the game developing over the next few years.

Surrey's Head of Talent Pathway, Jennifer Jackson-Tullett, tells us about her coaching philosophy, the importance of working alongside a good team of coaches, and how a degree in criminal psychology and time working in prisons helps her work effectively with young players.

In this episode of The icoachcricket Podcast Toby Radford looks in detail at the technique and method of top batters. He also explains why he believes that the foundations need to be in place, regardless of the format. He tells us about the people in the game who have inspired him and what he has learned during 35 years in recreational, professional and international cricket.

Few coaches have been to more countries to both play and coach cricket than Esther DeLange. After her very successful career playing for the Netherlands, she's now the Development Officer for ICC Europe. She's been telling The icoachcricket Podcast what skills coaches need to be successful around the world, what challenges exist in making the sport popular and how the female game is developing at...

Derbyshire CCC's Ajmal Shahzad talks to us about why he still lives the life of an elite athlete nearly 10 years after retiring, his pride in Bradford, what he's learned through trial and error, and how he still loves bowling. From England quick to assistant coach at Derbyshire, one of the most energetic characters in the game has a lot to get off his chest.

Nottinghamshire CCC's batting and spin bowling coach, Ant Botha talks to us about the physical stress of being a batting coach, the bravery players need to face fast bowling, and making the switch from hours practicing indoors to batting in the middle. One of the most respected batting coaches on the circuit tells us about getting set for a new season at Trent Bridge.