Early Engagement…seriously?

I wrote recently about the ECB’s apparent “re-interpretation” of a couple of recommendations from the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) report, Holding Up a Mirror to Cricket, 2023.

Although the “…workstream of developing early engagement programmes for November 2025 is…[still] underway…” (unpublished as of February 2025, although the Counties might, perhaps, have had sight of it), several Counties have started the recruitment process to support the Early Engagement Programmes (EEPs) called for by the ICEC Report.

Without knowing the final agreed format of the EEP, it does appear that the future County pathways that the Counties are preparing for might not be all that close to the ICEC proposals.

And that the Counties are not preparing for ICEC Recommendation 35, which calls for much enhanced State School engagement.

Notts are advertising a position responsible for “delivery of all aspects of the newly defined Early Engagement (Under 10-12) Assessment process, Winter Training and Summer Match-play Programmes.”

Significant, perhaps, that they talk about “…the newly defined Early Engagement Assessment process…”, to include summer matchplay programmes, rather than a broader Early Engagement Programme beyond County selection pathways.

This looks to fit in with one part of the ICEC recommendation, to remove County representative teams before U13 (although not at U14 as per ICEC Recommendation 40). Broader selection before U13, with intra-County matches; still selective, just with a larger cohort.

But the job spec does not appear to match the Early Engagement vision of ICEC (Recommendation 41), which envisaged “…County Age Group and pathway leaders…delivering a positive state school cricket offering at the U10-U13 level.”

Surrey posted a very similarly worded ad, with the same line of delivery responsibilities.

Kent advertised for an “Early Engagement Programme Lead & Pathway Coach” to lead on programme design & delivery of the U10-U13 EEP, alongside a number of CAG pathway coaching and administrative tasks. The EEP component of the role looks relatively constrained by the scope of the other responsibilities.

Dorset advertised for an Early Engagement Programme Lead, without directly specifying the structure of the EEP — “[t]o develop and maintain a comprehensive Early Engagement Programme (EEP) within Dorset. The EEP is designed to broaden the talent pool within the county and inspire lifelong engagement in cricket for boys and girls aged between 9 and 12.”

This could match up with ICEC Recommendation 41…or with the Early Engagement Assessment process from the job ads from Notts and Surrey.

Northumberland made changes to their junior pathway ahead of the 2024 season, in anticipation of the formal launch in November 2025, essentially matching the model in the ads from Notts & Surrey — expanded selection up to U12, intra-squad matches, and local inter-County games “…includ[ing] all the players in the group…at venues where two games can be played simultaneously.”

No mention of outreach & engagement programmes to schools.

ECB, Counties, & (State) Schools

ICEC Recommendation 35, on “Schools and the talent pathway” called on the ECB to put in place “…a systematic approach across all Counties…with respect to the relationship between Counties and schools…”.

The ECB State School Action Plan, October 2024, seems to be more of a vision than a strategy, and appears to centre on spending money – originally the Tory government’s election promise, now the potential windfall from the sale of the Hundred.

As to the relationship between Counties and (State) schools – CAG coaches won’t be re-assigned to secondary schools (ICEC Recommendation 41).

---

Most of the job ads are now closed, and I have resorted to web archive sources to retrieve the details. No links provided (except Northumberland).