North West Coaches

Matthew Nixon - Area Co-ordinator Manchester

Matthew has played cricket at Mottram Cricket Club for the past 12 years within the Derbyshire & Cheshire Cricket League, having always showed more of an aptitude for batting he found himself opening the batting in Second XI cricket at the club at the age of 17.

It was at this time that he was asked to help in forming a new internal coaching partnership at the club to redevelop the clubs youth system to encourage and develop young talent in a positive way. Being asked to coach allowed Matthew to step into a rewarding and enjoyable role outside of playing on a Saturday afternoon, and since 2007 he has progressed and took forward his coaching as a priority gaining his ECB UKCC2 coaching certificate in 2008.

The club has since gone on to gain ECB Clubmark (2009) and Chance to Shine (2010) status as well as strong links with Cheshire Cricket Board, which have led to funding for much improved netting and junior facilities to continue creating chances for young cricketers and coaches alike, to develop.

Chris Fenton - Area Co-ordinator North West Lancashire

Chris has played cricket for 34 years, through junior and senior cricket, at both club and league representative levels, culminating in Lancashire trials as a "skinny teenager". The highlight of his playing career was winning batting and bowling awards for club and league at the tender age of 35, taking 91 wickets in the process and captaining the team to the championship - a busy year!

Over the past three years, Chris has become involved in coaching junior cricket at both club and district level and has managed two under 13s teams in 2011. During this period he has managed to obtain the Level Two coaching awardsand the six workshop modules of the Level Three award and the Coaching in Schools Award. Chris intends to complete the Level three Award sometime in the near future.

Using these experiences Chris has designed a suite of coaching plans for indoor cricket aimed at ages 11-13 which the club has access to for other coaches to use. He loves seeing the juniors he coaches come and watch senior cricket and especially love it when they start to analyse senior performances - time for him to retire from playing!

Martin Walker

Martin is a UKCC 2 qualified coach and has also obtained the Club Coach Award.

He has played cricket for over 20 years and recently has played his cricket at Wirral CC, where he has captained both the first and second teams.

In later years Martin has taken up cricket coaching and enjoys this even more than playing. He has taken an active role in building up the junior section at Wirral, which is now the envy of many clubs in the area, and he is very keen on making sure that junior cricketers are looked after properly when going into senior cricket and that they are given every chance to participate. Martin also believes in making the sessions fun and enjoyable no matter what the age or ability.

He has also worked in schools at delivering both Cricket and Golf. He is a member of Wallasey Golf Club and is able to deliver sessions in both Tri Golf and Xtreme Golf as well as cricket.

Mike Schofield

Mike started playing club cricket for Austerlands CC in the Saddleworth League at the age of 13, where he moved from 3rd XI to 1st XI in 5 years.

He played A Grade cricket in Tasmania and had a couple of seasons in the Central Lancashire League playing for Crompton CC and also turned out a few times for Chicago CC in the USA.

Mike started coaching in 2007 in schools and colleges and now has added the District Under 13's and Austerlands 1st & 2nd XI's to that list.

He also works with Cricketers with Disabilities and Cricket for Blind People.

Mike is currently working towards his UKCC Level 3 and hopes to progress further in the future.