Spencer ONE

On 25th September 2023, the ECB published details of further steps it will take to make cricket a more inclusive sport in response to the recent report by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC).

ECB’s summary response is available here and the full response here.

The response details wide-ranging action aims to tackle discrimination and break down barriers for women and girls, people from lower socio-economic groups, and ethnically diverse communities.

Whilst the growth in our girls section and strength of our women’s teams puts us right at the forefront of the 75% increase in the total number of women’s and girls’ club teams since 2019 and we are working with the ECB and their new Women’s and Girls’ Champion partner, Metro Bank on a campaign to recruit volunteers and grow girls’ cricket, we still have work to do in attracting and retaining younger cricketers from the state sector and underrepresented groups. 

Over the next 12 months, the ECB will develop a State School Action Plan as the ICEC recommends. The scope of this is currently being developed, but is expected to include:

  • Ways to increase the number of state primary and secondary school students playing cricket, especially those from lower socio-economic groups (LSEG) and the social impact of achieving this

  • How to better support talented state school players  

  • Improving access for state school students to cricket facilities, training and coaching, competitions etc.

The outreach activities that we delivered already went some way to addressing elements of this, in particular hosting festivals and tournaments for Wandsworth Schools and coaching delivery with local primary schools and teachers but there was more we could and should be doing. 

During 2023, we established Spencer ONE to increase the number of state primary and secondary school students playing cricket, to better support talented state school players and to improve access for state school students to cricket facilities, training and coaching. We plan to achieve this through the continued delivery of more targeted Outreach Activity, with the ultimate aim of encouraging higher state school membership within the junior cricket sections. The strategy to achieve this is threefold:

  • Providing coaching and development in schools

  • Awarding  financial and other assistance where merited

  • Providing a warm welcome to Spencer

During 2024 we made excellent progress in setting up the programme, establishing partnerships with schools for the provision of offsite coaching and development, and in awarding bursaries. We see these as good foundations to encourage the more challenging aspect of converting outreach to inbound membership of Spencer. We will build this bridge over time by increasing awareness of the club, by introducing holiday camps at schools before bringing cricketers back to Spencer camps, and by seeking the support of transport partners (a significant barrier to greater state membership of Spencer appears to be the logistical challenge of getting to and from the Club). 

The aim for the initial year was to establish proof of concept, increase awareness, raise funds and establish partnerships with 3 primary schools. To date, we have provided over 150 hours of cricket coaching outreach to the following schools: 

  • 96 hours of Cricket PE lessons at Westbridge Academy State Primary (Years 1-6) since April 2024

  • 18 hours of Cricket PE lessons for Beatrix Potter State Primary (Years 1 & 2), held at Spencer CC, since June 2024

  • c.30 hours of after school cricket at St Anselms State Primary since October 2023

  • c.20 hours of after school cricket to Ark Bolingbroke State Secondary, held at Spencer CC, since February 2024

For the 2023 financial year we ring fenced funds for 25 bursaries. 17 fully funded membership bursaries were awarded. 

In conjunction with the Surrey Cricket Foundation (SCF) we are supporting the Cricket Gear Reuse project. During the Easter break, Spencer hosted several drop off and collection events, receiving over 400 items of good quality kit. Donations were made to two Afghanistani refugee projects and to a primary school, with residual stock being collected by Lords Taverners.

We continue to use our facilities to welcome newcomers to the Club. Our highly successful Wandsworth Schools festival and tournament programme continued with 14 festivals and competitions being hosted and run by our coaching team at Spencer together with a specific Primary Schools Cricket Teacher Training course.

84 schools in total (38 separate schools) with a total of 913 pupils (486 girls & 427 boys) have taken part in these festivals and tournaments in addition to 19 Primary School teachers.

We were also became a Disability Cricket Champion Club once again, building on the essential foundation established through Alain Jason’s tireless work in this area. Numbers attending the Inclusive Cricket session we ran on Friday’s grew significantly as family members supported participants who are now full Spencer members. We attended the Surrey Disability Day held at the Oval and hosted the SCF's S9 Disability team’s home festival and Surrey Coaches Association Disability Inclusion Workshop. 

We are also seeking to increase access to cricket from our shared Fishponds site. We have partnered with Balham and Tooting Cricket Club, with whom we share Fishponds on Saturdays, to develop a Walking Cricket hub, in conjunction with SCF. Relatively modest activity in 2024 focused on nets and a practice match, and we intend to continue to increase interest and host some League matches in 2025.