Cricket East

An open letter to the Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire cricket communities – including players, coaches, umpires, parents, club officials, administrators – from the Cricket East Board.

To the cricketing communities of Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire,

I hope everyone is enjoying the cricket season and seeing some success on the field.

Unfortunately, at Cricket East we are regularly supporting clubs and leagues in dealing with reports of very poor behaviour on the cricket field. Both the volume and seriousness of offences appear to be increasing in summer 2024 and this is, of course, very concerning.

I’m particularly alarmed to hear that this is often in the presence of young people. We have a general responsibility to conduct ourselves in an appropriate manner, creating a welcoming environment for young people. However, we also have both a legal and moral obligation to safeguard children from harm.

As a parent and volunteer junior lead at my local club, I understand the trust parents place in us when they agree to allow their children to enter open age cricket. The minimum they would quite rightly expect is that their children will be treated with kindness and respect.

Foul and abusive language, aggressive sledging, intimidation and other forms of poor conduct have no place in our game. The Spirit of Cricket is one of the many things which makes our game special.

This behaviour is also taking its toll on our volunteers, without whom the game simply has no future at a recreational level. Our league & club administrators, umpires, scorers, captains and other volunteers make the game happen for us all. We know we are losing some of these wonderful people because of the issues they’re faced with – it is tough enough already for them to battle the weather, economic conditions and other external factors.

I’m writing to ask that we all place a renewed emphasis on player conduct and creating a welcoming environment for all. As administrators, coaches, club officials, umpires, scorers, and players we all have a vital role to play in enhancing the great reputation of our game and welcoming the next generation of players in open age cricket.

I’d be extremely grateful if you could think about what you can do to play your part in this effort. I know so many of us are already fully committed to this area, but some thought about how we can remind others and lead the change would be great.

I will work with the team at Cricket East to plan additional training and support for leagues, clubs, coaches, officials and players across the winter.

Please feel free to get in touch if there’s anything we can do to support you. Thank you in advance for playing your part.

Kind Regards,

Richard Darwin

Chief Executive Officer
Cricket East
Richard.darwin@cricketeast.co.uk
07949 658 745