Oxfordshire Cricket would like to congratulate Richard Tilley on his ECB Coach Award under the category, Outstanding Contribution – Services to Coaching  

Richard has shown immense dedication and commitment to his Coaching activities over many years.  He adds value to not only coaching at his local cricket club Witney Mills, but helps Oxfordshire Cricket with the development of players on the Talent Pathway and supporting other Participation Programmes.

Richard Tilley, said: 

“As well as being a Pathway coach, I am head of the junior section at Witney Mills and we have grown from no juniors at all to around 150 boys and girls in the space of ten years. As well as the u17 and u15 sides, we are able to run two teams at u11 and u13 and the number of juniors coming through means we have gone from two teams to four teams in the Cherwell League. Everything we do is about producing cricketers with a deep emotional attachment to the club.

Our Dynamos section is girls only and they now come through and play hardball in a combined side with girls from Eynsham, Freeland and, from this season, Combe.

We are particularly proud of the fact that so many of our juniors are from state schools in and around Witney – more than 95% – and that we provide free cricket for children from refugee families.

I think it is so important that cricket clubs are fun, safe environments that welcome people from all backgrounds. Hopefully, that is what we have created at Witney Mills. I started coaching because the people I met while playing cricket were the best people I knew and the times I had playing cricket were the best times – and I wanted my children to have the same experiences I was lucky enough to have.

I love coaching on the Pathway because it is clear that the values and goals of all the other coaches aligns with my own.”