General

1. What are the key roles in a Cricket Club committee?

a. A Club’s committee can be as small or as large as you deem appropriate for the areas of the Clubs you want managed. The key committee members are Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer; if you can select someone who is experienced in dealing with finances as your Treasurer that would be helpful. Once you have these positions in place, you can look to bringing other members into the committee such as Team Captains, Junior Cricket Co-ordinator, Fundraising Officer, Communications Officer etc. More details on specific roles are available here, in the Volunteers section of the ECB website.

For further help with committee responsibilities and Club management you can find a sample Club constitution here in our ECB Clubmark pages.

2. How can my Club improve the way it recruits, retains and rewards its volunteers?

a. Volunteers are vital to the running and development of Cricket Clubs. Without volunteers Clubs simply wouldn’t survive. The ECB website has a section dedicated to volunteers so that should be your first port of call. Furthermore, the ECB holds an annual volunteer awards events – the NatWest OSCAs – fed into from County Board volunteer recognition events.

3. My club’s treasurer would like some help with the finances of the Club. What advice is available?

a. Financial advice to cricket is available by way of our Financial Management FAQs. For further information on the skills required and the role of a Treasurer click here.

4. We’d like to improve the marketing of our Club and attract new membership. What help is available?

a. The ECB’s Guide to Marketing Your Club gives some excellent advice on this topic; that can be downloaded here: Marketing Your Club (800 KB)

5. What is ECB Clubmark and how does it work?

a. ECB Clubmark is a benchmark scheme for Cricket Clubs operating a Junior Section; Clubs that achieve ECB Clubmark Accreditation show that they prioritise junior development and provide a quality environment in which juniors can learn and play cricket. For more information on the whole Clubmark process please go to www.ecb.co.uk/clubmark. If you are interested in registering your Club to work towards accreditation please contact the DCB office at info@devoncricket.co.uk

6. Does ECB provide any insurance for Cricket Clubs?

a. The ECB has worked with insurer Marshall Wooldridge to agree a package, Extra Cover, for Cricket Clubs to take up if they choose. More information can be found here. Clubs are, however, welcome to look for their own insurance and deal with this issue independently.

7. What support and advice is available for Clubs to help manage their ground?

a. There are a number of resources available to help with ground related issues, outlined below:

The ECB works in partnership with the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) to provide support and courses for Groundsmen from Club level upwards. Here you can read more about what the IOG does and what courses are currently available.
County Groundsman’s Associations (CGAs). Each County has its own CGA; they provide access to expert advice from Pitch Advisers (see below), subsidised training courses, the opportunity to hire specialist equipment for renovation and meetings and network events with other club groundsmen. To get in touch with your local CGA contact your local County Cricket Board.
ECB County Pitch Advisers. These are a network of qualified Fine Turf experts working within each County who can provide advice to Clubs on issues relating to groundsmanship and pitch care. For more information or to get in touch with your County’s ECB Pitch Advisor please contact your County Cricket Board.
The ECB’s Pitch Consultant, Chris Wood, recently worked with NatWest to produce a number of video tutorials focusing on various aspects of groundsmanship, from pitch preparation, to rolling, to pitch renovation. To access these videos please click here.


8. My Club has heard about the option to become a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) but we’re not sure if we are eligible or what the implications would be. Where can I find some more information about this?

a. A CASC is a Community Amateur Sports Club registered with HM Revenue & Customs. The CASC scheme was created in order to distinguish between sports clubs and businesses for the purposes of business rates and taxes to help ensure that sports clubs are treated fairly and money stays within sport. There is a large amount of information about the CASC scheme on the ECB website for Cricket Clubs, available here.


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Sustainability

1. What is sustainability in the context of Cricket Clubs?

a. Sustainability is the practice of balancing the Social, Economic and Environmental elements of your cricket club. These are explained here:

Social – players, volunteers, members, the playing of cricket, events
Economic – club finances, bills, membership fees, fundraising, sponsorship
Environmental – facilities, natural resources, club environment, sustainable solutions
2. What are the benefits of becoming more sustainable?

a. There are numerous benefits to sustainability that include increased energy efficiency, better financial savings, improved income generation, an increase in members, better quality facilities, superior playing standards, more community involvement and much more. Click here to view an animation addressing sustainability in your Club.

3. What can my Club do to become more Sustainable?

a. We have created a section on our website called ‘Sustainable Clubs’. This section features an animation of a Cricket Club showing what changes, big and small, can be made to help create sustainability. To support the animation and the suggestions within it, there is a large amount of advice and guidance to take you through.