David Court re-joins ECB as men's player identification lead

Formerly of The Football Association, Court fills the role vacated by new performance director Mo Bobat and will work alongside chief selector Ed Smith

^{Credit: ECB}

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The England and Wales Cricket Board have confirmed the return of David Court as men's player identification lead.

Court had occupied the role of performance manager between 2013 and 2016, having held multiple positions with Surrey.

He arrives from The Football Association where he was talent ID and development education lead and performance education lead.

Working alongside chief selector Ed Smith and performance director Mo Bobat, Court will also operate with England pathway coaches, regional talent teams and a national network of scouts.

“It’s great to be joining the ECB at an exciting time off the back of an inspiring 2019 summer," he said.

“I’m looking forward to continuing the excellent work done in player identification in recent years and supporting England’s short, medium and long-term selection needs.

^{David Court fills the role left by new performance director Mo Bobat}

“The prospect of leading the scouting team is exciting, as is working closely with the counties who work hard to develop players

“With the new CPA standards, we have a great opportunity to work with counties to create a connected and aligned player identification system and I’m looking forward to working with the counties on this.”

Bobat added: “I have no doubt that David’s experiences within football over the last few years will add huge value to us as an organisation.

“We’ve made significant progress in how we identify players across every level of our international pathway and we’re ambitious about firmly establishing ourselves as world-leading in this area. 

“David’s knowledge of both cricket and talent identification, alongside his experience of leading talent identification and technical director programmes for the FA, make him the ideal candidate to help us realise those ambitions.”