Advertise on podcast: The icoachcricket Podcast

Introducing young players to cricket in a positive and engaging way is key to long-term participation and enjoyment. Richard O’Sullivan brings more than 30 years of grassroots coaching experience, and is the creator of Box Cricket, a format now widely used in schools. His approach focuses on making the game accessible, active, and enjoyable for beginners. He joins The icoachcricket Podcast to share his coaching philosophy, explain how Box Cricket works in practice, and outline how coaches can create meaningful first experiences for players starting out in the game.

The mental side of cricket is an increasingly important area of development, particularly for young players navigating the demands of the game. Martin Fairn has worked extensively on the mental skills of players across the pathway and brings experience from a range of different sports. Currently working with Worcestershire and with footballers in the Lionesses setup, he has a broad perspective on athlete development. He joins the podcast to discuss how young players can build a strong mindset, and what coaches can do to support and develop players’ mental skills from an early age.

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 what the future might hold for the game. In the final episode of series three, he joins Tim Dellor to explore the evolution of cricket coaching, from past practices to modern methods, and considers how coaches can continue to adapt in an ever-changing landscape.

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 leaders.

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 conversation, recorded before her departure, she reflects on cricket’s power to bring communities together and its role in challenging harmful gender norms, enriching the lives of women and girls both on and off the field.

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 performance while staying fit.

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 is moving forwards....

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 be sacked from a high profile coaching role.

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-led coaching and a whole range of other key issues.

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 series, and what he's learned on his journey back into cricket and coaching.

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 coaches at all levels of experience, is attention grabbing.