Wanstead and Snaresbrook Cricket Club

Player Development

One of our objectives for juniors at Wanstead is to support players to become the best player that they can be. We aim to develop both a love of cricket and excellent cricketers.  We want to support those who are motivated to be first class cricketers and also those who just want to play for fun and enjoy their cricket. 

We also are driven to continue our excellent reputation of developing players to allow us to have six adult men's teams and two women's teams specifically to help Wanstead 1st XI to regularly win trophies.  Typically each week of the league season, at least 7 or 8 of our first team are ex or current Wanstead juniors who have followed the below pathway.
Copied below is the development plan approved by the club's sports and management committee for boys and girls. It details what a junior can expect at Wanstead. Training and competitions are detailed first and then the club protocol on players, 'playing up' a year..

Junior development plan for boys

School Club

Year Squad Training Teams/competitions

 1&2 U7s Summer - 45 minute Friday training sessions

There are 3 sessions to choose from, the first starts at 4:30

Christmas to Easter - 45 minute indoor sessions.

3 U8s Summer - Friday training 4.45 to 6pm Fundamental softball league

       Christmas to Easter - 45 minute indoor sessions. Wanstead Tapeball league

4 u9s Summer - Friday training 4.45 to 6:15pm Fundamental softball league Winter - 60 minute indoor sessions. Wanstead Tapeball league

Don Coates Softball

Freddie Goldman hardball

5 u10s Summer - Friday training 4.45 to 6:15pm Wanstead Tapeball Monday focused training Hayden Davies Trophy

Winter - 60 minute indoor sessions. Wednesday midweek league

6 u11s Summer - Friday training 4.45 to 6:15pm Hayden Davies Trophy Monday focused training Wednesday midweek league

Winter - 60 minute indoor sessions.

7 u12s Summer - Friday training 6:30 to 8pm Len Stentiford Monday focused training Essex Brian Taylor Winter - 60 minute indoor sessions.

8 U13s Summer - Friday training 6:30 to 8pm Len Stentiford Trophy Monday focused training Geoff Rodrigues Thursday league Winter - 60 minute indoor sessions.
From half-term, U13s and older are able to play for adult teams.  See guidelines here

9 u14s Summer - Friday training 6:30 to 8pm Cox and Kings Trophy Monday focused training Essex Sir Alastair Cook Trophy

Winter - 60 minute indoor sessions. Tuesday midweek league

10 u15s Summer - Friday training 6:30 to 8pm Cox and Kings Trophy Monday focused training Tuesday midweek league

Winter - 60 minute indoor sessions.

11 u16s Summer - Wednesday training with adults 6 to 8pm   Essex Trevor Bailey 40 over Trophy Winter - 60 minute indoor sessions.

Friday training is for all junior male members; Monday training focuses on a particular element of the game or is additional practice for a match day squad and is therefore not for every junior every week.

In addition to our summer competitions in winter we enter teams in the Met indoor league for all teams from u10 to u15s.

We enter as many competitions and arrange as many friendly games as pitch availability and coach/manager availability allows. This is to allow all juniors who wish to* and are ready to*, to play matches.  Juniors should not therefore expect to play in all games and all competitions - for example the mid-week team is likely to be quite different from the Sunday team. While clearly the club wants to win as many competitions as possible, the club’s primary aim is to give as many juniors as possible the opportunities to experience and play matches. 

Definition of ‘juniors who wish to’ - managers will prioritise for selection those juniors who always turn up to training sessions and always make themselves available to play.  They will prioritise players whose parents respond reliably and quickly to requests about availability.  Juniors who make a habit of being unavailable for training or matches or drop out of matches at the last moment will not be a priority for selection.

Definition of ‘juniors who are ready to’ - the most important question relates to safety. The manager must be satisfied that the junior will be safe to bat when faced with a hard ball.  The next question relates to the junior's current playing level.  If for example a junior is only able to bowl one ball straight an over then it is unlikely to benefit him or the other players, for him to play in a match against another team. 

Can my junior play up?

We are sometimes asked by parents whether their junior can ‘play up’, i.e. play for an older team.  Wanstead has a long and successful tradition of producing high quality players. This success has been based on our philosophy that whatever their current level, the squad that a junior trains and plays with is the squad relating to their school year even though we recognise that some players are capable of playing with older players. The reasons for this philosophy include:

• We believe that juniors gain more from being a key player in their age related team than a less important player in an older team.
•  There is more responsibility and expectation for them to perform in their ‘correct’ age group which is a key area of development for a player;
•  It is important for other players in their squad to see players performing at a higher level; We believe that this approach is also more inclusive as by allowing players to play up, opportunities for other juniors are reduced;
•  It reduces disagreements and pressure on coaches / managers from parents about juniors playing in older teams.

Exceptions.

Essex competition-players can play one year up in the prestigious Essex competitions, that is the U12 Brian Taylor, u14 Sir Alastair Cook Trophy and U16 Trevor Bailey Matchplay.   For the u19 Ravi Bopara Trophy players from u16 are eligible.  So for example an U11 can play in the U12 Brian Taylor competition.  

In the Met District competitions however, a junior must play with their age related squad. For example, an u13 must play with the U13s in the Len Stentiford Trophy and not the U14s in the U15 Cox and Kings Trophy.  It is recognised that there are exceptional circumstances, for example in the summer holiday when it is difficult to ‘get a team out’, that this guideline can be broken. But this is by exception and should be with the consent of the head of junior cricket.

Our youngest juniors (Year 1,2 and 3) - there are occasions where, due predominantly to the amount of cricket a young cricketer has played, they are significantly ahead of other juniors their age.  Our starter sessions are aimed at children aged 5 to 7 and then for children in year 3 (U8s). Where the club deems it appropriate, based on a child’s cricketing ability and maturity, we will place them in the training session for children a year older. We are usually able to enter two teams in the Met District u9 competitions and when this is the case, u7 and 8 children, when they are ready, are also eligible for this team.

This approach has served the club and our juniors well over many years.  In the 2023 season, six current juniors (u15s to u19s) have represented the first team with three being regular players (Ali Zeb, Haaris Usman and Zoraiz Saeed) who have also represented Essex seconds. Robin Das is just two years older and is regularly playing for Essex. We are confident no other Essex club can boast this record.  As important to the club, 8 or 9 juniors play regularly for our sixth eleven.  Again this is unusual if not unique in Essex.

We are therefore confident we have the right approach.  If you have any questions about the development of your junior then please speak to their coach or Head of Junior Cricket, Jon Gritten who you can contact on jongritten@gmail.com

Junior development plan for girls

We are delighted that our focus on girl’s and women’s cricket over the last three years continues to lead to significant growth at the club with 80 active members from 5 to 16 years old in the 2023 season.  Increase in the girls’ game generally has led to more competitive cricket against other teams and this trend is set to continue. In 2023, Essex introduced an U13 league and this coming season, 2024, will see a brand new U11 league.  In addition we have now established a second senior women/s side enabling our older juniors to play adult cricket.

In 2023, our u11,13 and 15 teams played 33 games between them. This included our U13 progressing to the regional rounds of the ECB T20 competition having triumphed in Essex. Several juniors also played in the women’s second and first team.  

We have a separate training evening on Thursdays for girls and women.  This gives sufficient space for quality training and allows development through to the women’s training teams.

Training

Years 1&2

Mixed with the boys on Friday evening. There are three, 45 minutes to choose from, the first starting at 4:30. 

Years 3 to 5 and older beginners

Thursday 4:30 to 5:45 - Softball session - for girls fairly new to the game

Focuses on building basic ball skills in a fun and friendly environment.
The coaching team will invite girls from the softball sessions to the later hardball session when they deem they are ready for hardball. Please do speak to us if you believe your girl is ready for hardball.

Years 6 and 7 (transition to hard ball)

Thursday 6 to 7:30  - For girls who are more confident and have been playing for a while and are ready to play with a hard ball. 

Girls in this group should aim to start practising with a hard ball in the nets.

Year 8 and above (hard ball)

Thursday 6 to 7.30 - this is largely a net session for girls ready to train with the women

Mondays 6 to 7 (time TBC) - coaching session, further development of skills.

Festivals, matches and competitions

Now that there are competitive matches for girls in all age groups from Year 5 up, girls will only play in what are predominantly boys’ teams by exception. That is if it is considered that girls merit their place in the boys’ team by their playing ability and that their development as cricketers will be constrained by only playing in girls’ competitions.

To join the club as a junior

We open registration for new members at the end of March/early April.  Prospective members are invited to information sessions after which they are able to apply for membership.  There are limited places available for u8s and above and registration is usually closed for boys by the end of April.  For the dates of these sessions for the 2024 sessions and to register please complete this Google form (forms.gle/X13mVLSJLfAKLnUXA).

Volunteering

Wanstead relies on our wonderful volunteers - all of our junior managers, administrators and safeguarding team for example are volunteers.   If you are interested in becoming a support coach or an administrator to support our Friday sessions please contact Len Enoch lgenoch43@gmail.com for a non commitment chat. 

Training Timetable

 For queries, or if you are unsure which session to attend please contact the Head of Junior Cricket, Jon Gritten at jongritten@gmail.com