First 10 cricketers inducted into Luton Steelbacks Academy: "They just cheered and started shaking hands"

JAMES COYNE: A tranche of Luton sixth-form pupils begin working with Northants coaches on a landmark course which aims to start improving the yield from urban environments. David Ripley, who leads the programme, hopes many will debut for Northants

David Ripley has spent almost 40 years in professional cricket and is one of the more thoughtful coaches many will have encountered, and yet even he is capable of being surprised.

"The kit being circulated today – I did underestimate how much that would mean to the lads," he tells The Cricketer. "I suppose I've had kit given to me most of my life. I'd told them last week that it would be here today, and they just cheered and started shaking hands and patting each other on the back."

Ripley was speaking at Wantage Road about the first 10 cricketers inducted into the Luton Steelbacks Academy – a fresh collaboration between Northamptonshire CCC, Cricket East and the Shared Learning Trust (which runs two academy schools in Luton) to train up young inner-city cricketers through incorporating a cricket course into their studies.

It's a nice touch that the navy-blue kit is the same as the training gear used by the full Northants squad – except that Luton Steelbacks' bears the sponsorship of Luton-based electronics company Jaltek.

Since the start of the academic year, 10 boys, all sixth-form pupils at Stockwood Park Academy and Chalk Hills Academy in Luton, are training three times a week under the eye of Ripley, the former Northants wicketkeeper, coach and captain who has moved into a pathway role at the county.

Identifying the right 10 for the course has not been without its challenges. Indeed, when scores of interested kids turned up to the taster sessions last winter, some didn't own any cricket equipment at all. That would have been a reminder – should anyone have needed it – of how much of a difference family circumstances make to a young cricketer's chance of progressing in the game.

^{The 2023 summer, with fixtures against Stowe, Bedford and Moulton College, promises to be a busy one}

And Ripley was not able to choose the 10 most promising applicants, as their eligibility also depended on their academic aspirations.

It is also the case that, while the course was open to all pupils at the two schools, not one applicant was female – which just goes to show the work that still needs doing to encourage more women and girls to take up cricket, especially in South Asian communities.

Ripley explains: "We had a couple of other players in the sessions I was interested in, and had one of the lads down to train with the Northants EPP here, and I was very excited for him. But it just didn't fit with his academic side, but he's still on the Northants radar, and he might actually play some fixtures, as we only have 10 on the programme."

A Luton Steelbacks XI has already taken the field for matches against county development sides last summer, and for 2023 Ripley has lined up fixtures against strong neighbouring cricket schools such as Stowe, Bedford and Moulton College.

Ripley admits he was initially hoping for more than 10 players, and that they would all be ready to take the next step into an academy set-up on the fringes of the professional game. And, while the boys are all playing club cricket in the local area – and some have played Bedfordshire age-groups – a glimpse at a training sessions shows a clear variance in standard.

One boy – who would not look out of place in a club Premier League side – is smashing whatever the bowling machine sends down high into the nets behind. Two others are bowling unerringly straight and full at a decent lick, with a decent wicketkeeper taking most of it standing up.

^{Ripley served as Northamptonshire head coach between 2012 and 2021 (David Rogers/Getty Images)}

On the other hand, there is one canny young seamer experimenting with leg spin; and at least one who has a long way to go with his batting.

Ripley – a man who has spent his coaching career preparing youngsters and seniors for the rigours of professional cricket – admits he has come to see the importance of the pastoral side of the scheme.

"The big question was the recruitment of the players – would we have enough of them, and the quality? Does the academic side fit with the cricket course? There's been a few ifs and buts.

"Ten is a bit light. But if we take on 16 next year then we'll have 26 altogether. So we can see the potential for growth and we can see what it might be like in three or four years' time.

"We've got quite a breadth of ability. Twelve months ago I'd be hoping we'd have 12 lads who could all make it onto the Northants Academy, and realistically that isn't the case. We have some that certainly are capable of that.

"Down the bottom end we've got lads a bit short of confidence and it's a bit of a broader remit for them. That's grown on me, actually. I've softened my view on that over the last six months, to see that's important, as much as we're talking that in three or four years' time someone could make their debut for Northants who came through Luton Steelbacks; that'll be a little fistbump for everyone on the scheme.

"But it has a reach that's more about just trying to find another Monty Panesar. It's important we recognise lads to grow and be long-life cricket fanatics."

Part of the course will be coach support work – 40 hours of voluntary coaching, with a view to training the intake up as ECB-qualified coaches. There are said to be 44 qualified coaches active in Luton but dominated by Level 1 or 2, which leaves the borough with something of a shortfall when it comes to preparing a sixth-form age pupil to take the next step with their game.

"The first time we came to the County Ground for training there was a game against Surrey – Hashim Amla and Tom Curran batting – and then the next time it was Essex, so Sir Alastair Cook was here. They've had the best start. And I think it's important you start well."

Already, in the space of a few months, the scheme has already had an impact in breaking down barriers of perception.

During the summer some pupils and their families made the trip up from Luton to Northampton to watch a Vitality Blast game. It was the first time most of them had stepped foot inside the County Ground – an illustration of the issues many counties have had in attracting South Asian fans from their catchment area.

"Certainly here there's a real wow factor for the lads," says Ripley. "The first time we came down here to the County Ground for training there was a game against Surrey – Hashim Amla and Tom Curran batting – and then the next time it was Essex, so Sir Alastair Cook was here. So they've had the best start. And I think it's important you start well."

With the Lynn Wilson Indoor Centre at Northampton bound to be in higher demand as the winter progresses, access for the hall will become more contested, and the Luton Steelbacks cohort will be able to visit just once a month. Eighty per cent of indoor sessions will therefore be at their school halls in Luton.

Such competition for space is one of the reasons that Northants are looking to build a new academy site somewhere else in the county to act as a regional hub – a story broken by The Cricketer in July.

Before that, next winter there is the prospect of this model branching out to the Peterborough Steelbacks Academy, open to pupils at Thomas Deacon Academy in that city.

^{Luton is a central part of the ECB's South Asian Action Plan}

While setting up Luton Steelbacks has contained its challenges, the passion for cricket in the town is undeniable. Kashif Ali, who was raised in Luton and represented Bedfordshire at age-group and senior level while trialling at the first-class counties, is the best recent example of the unrealised potential kicking about – though it took the help of the South Asian Cricket Academy for him to land a deal with Worcestershire.

There is still only one high-class ground in the borough, Wardown Park, home of Luton Town & Indians, which Ripley would have played at occasionally with Northants during his playing career. And such is the demand for indoor training and leagues in Luton during the winter months, the town is crying out for a dedicated indoor cricket facility.

On that score, The Cricketer understands the ECB – which ranks Luton as one of the 10 core cities in its South Asian Action Plan – has pledged £750,000 to fund a dedicated indoor facility in Leagrave Park. For all the adoption of various Equity, Diversity and Inclusion requirements by the county boards, an indoor centre in Luton would represent concrete action on solving some of the issues of accessibility at the grassroots.

But the plan is currently being held up at Luton Borough Council level, amid the understandable need to identify a provider to manage such a facility.

It's a reminder that for all the clarion calls for swift action, meaningful progress is not always straightforward, and takes time to do right.

But Luton Steelbacks is a decent start.

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