Warwickshire County Cricket Club has built on the recent success of its Performance Pathway by appointing two new coaches to work alongside Elite Cricket Development Manager Paul Greetham.
Following the appointment of former Bears fast bowler Richard Jones earlier this year, Tharindu Perera and Omar Ali have also been appointed as ‘High Performance Coaches’ to work with young cricketers in its county age group teams, Emerging Players Programme and Academy.
Perera, who previously played First Class cricket in Sri Lanka and represented Northamptonshire Second XI, is currently studying for his ECB Level 4 coaching qualification and has previously coached Yorkshire Women’s team and county age group teams.
Whilst there have been some great success stories in 2019, there’s a very firm commitment from everyone at Warwickshire CCC to build on this and to ensure that many more young cricketers graduate in the coming years, aspiring to become capped Warwickshire and England cricketers.
Paul Greetham
Ali is a former Warwickshire Academy and county age group cricketer who has coached for Warwickshire Cricket Board and the Munir Ali Cricket Academy for several years. He also plays National Counties cricket for Shropshire and for West Bromwich Dartmouth CC in the Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League.
“Tharindu and Omar both stood out as outstanding candidates throughout the recruitment process,” said Paul Greetham.
“They are vastly experienced in working with talented young cricketers and its fantastic that we’re able to build on a very successful 2019 for the pathway by expanding our coaching team.”
Four graduates from the Warwickshire Academy made First Class debuts in the men’s team earlier this year, including Moseley Cricket Club’s Rob Yates who scored 570 First Class runs across the season and made his maiden century against Somerset; the others being Dan Mousley, Ethan Brookes and George Garrett.
These debuts follow on from Henry Brookes, Matt Lamb and Liam Banks who have all come through the pathway to play men’s first team cricket across all formats in the last two seasons.
In the women’s game, captain Marie Kelly was one of several homegrown players to help the Bears to a first major women’s trophy in 2019, by lifting the Vitality County T20. Additionally, the Under 17s girls’ team were crowned ECB national champions.
“It means a huge amount to everyone at the club when we see our young players progress to the senior ranks and achieving success,” added Greetham.
“However, whilst there have been some great success stories in 2019, there’s a very firm commitment from everyone at Warwickshire CCC to build on this and to ensure that many more young cricketers graduate in the coming years, aspiring to become capped Warwickshire and England cricketers.”
