Autumn prep for cricket clubs: Toyota Corolla to Storm Amy

The 2025 outdoor cricket season might be done and dusted, with a few fixtures kicking about, but the planning never stops, does it?!

Here’s a few jobs for cricket clubs – because you don’t have enough obviously 🤣 – that might spark some ideas or be helpful, at least that’s the plan…

🙏 Before I launch in, I’d like to thank all our readers for their support this season in a number of ways.

You have read and shared our articles, commented here on the website as well as on our popular Facebook page. Newsletter subscribers, LinkedIn followers and those I’ve met at matches have all got in touch and it’s been rewarding to have those conversations.

🛒 Across the year, cricketers and clubs also buy products from bats to sightscreens and insurance to live streaming from our Cricket Yorkshire website partners.

Sometimes, we earn a commission (at no cost to you) or by mentioning ‘Cricket Yorkshire’, it helps show that our website is delivering value and hopefully those companies continue to support our grassroots cricket journalism.

🎉 Toyota Good For Cricket Prize Draw

It’s the final straight for the Toyota Good For Cricket Prize Draw. The initiative helps UK clubs raise much-needed funds for equipment, kit, coaches and facilities.

Many clubs have registered a page with what their most urgent fundraising needs are. Tickets have been sold since 21 May with bundles at £5 for five chances to win.

The deadline for buying tickets is Tuesday 30 September 2025.

The overall prize draw is £232,040 across 54 prizes – including three new Toyota cars, batting and bowling masterclasses with international players and hospitality packages for Test and T20 internationals in 2026.

The prizes are fantastic and it’s a way for any club to raise money this year without having to come up with tantalising offers. At the time of writing, £226,400 had been raised for cricket clubs with less than a week to go.

The more tickets you buy, the more chance of success your club has. Tickets bought via a club’s page see 100% of the funds go to that club.

To be a little cynical for a moment, wealthier clubs are in a better position. A point highlighted by the leader, Hoylandswaine CC, who have raised £10,250!

Those buying tickets can support a particular club’s cause or choose the central fund that benefits all registered clubs.

The Good For Cricket central fund had 673 supporters and £6,965 worth of tickets sold with five days left. What this prize draw does really well is a win-win scenario. It’s not often a cricket club can sell tickets with such an impressive collection of cricket-related giveaways.

It’s not just about the sums a club can raise themselves because anyone winning prizes might choose to donate those back to a club. Good luck if you’ve bought tickets or are a club hoping to win big.

🏏 Women and girls cricket

The landscape for women and girls cricket in Yorkshire is changing.

With three women’s Premier Leagues introduced for 2026, growing leagues and an ECB requirement for clubs in the top two divisions of the five Premier Leagues to have a girls team by 2027, we will see many more clubs prioritising coaching, facilities and teams / matches for women and girls.

As a consequence of that strategic direction, it will be on the radar for committees this autumn as to whether they want to start or grow girls cricket. This doesn’t happen overnight and so laying the foundations with winter Roses sessions or indoor training and games is food for thought.

We have a range of interviews and stories from across Yorkshire on women and girls’ teams starting from an idea and it snowballing from there.

🔝 Upgrading facilities for 2026

Cricket Yorkshire will celebrate its 15th birthday in 2026 (woo-hoo! 🎂) and I’ve learnt a few things along the way. Some clubs awaken from a light-deprived UK winter in March and realise, in a slight panic, that they need new covers, teamwear and a ground in less than 4 weeks.

If you’re planning a little further ahead, the advantage of that is that suppliers (including the likes of ACS Cricket Ground Equipment, Total Play, British Recycled Plastic and others) appreciate that business in quieter months (for cricket, at least).

You might get a seasonal discount, be able to spread payment or just hop up the queue by having that autumn conversation now. They all really busy in February, March and April so advance orders and interest go a long way.

🌪️ Storms brewing

At some point, Storm Amy will hit the UK. Followed by Bram, Chandra, Dave(!) and Eddie… (if we get to Wubbo in the Met Office’s names list then we’re in trouble).

The point is that we always get battered by storms in Yorkshire and beyond. (I reckon they are getting fiercer in terms of wind speeds and frequency here at CYHQ). So, clubs need to be prepared because it will definitely happen.

If you’re a club that locks up after the last league fixture and reappears for a pre-season net outdoors before the 2026 season then secure your ground equipment like covers and sightscreens, check the water supply is off and that the whole site is locked.

(This obviously applies to clubs in regular use over winter too but at least there’s not the set-and-forget mentality that can cause a few shocks if you’re only returning in six months).

Every year, I see photos on Facebook of items like covers and sightscreens costing thousands of pounds being dumped in a neighbouring field or ruined.

They generate a few Facebook likes and laughing emojis but someone (a club volunteer) has to sort a solution in their spare time, not to mention cost and insurance implications.

Speaking of insurance, we work with Howden, the official insurance broker partner to the ECB. You might use them at your club, you might not but they’re worth a call or email. I’ve learnt a huge amount from Colin Mico and his team over the years.

Not to sound alarmist, but if it’s not extreme weather like flooding and winds, vandalism can rear its head. When it rains, it literally pours…

So, make sure you review your insurance policy not in March when it’s (perhaps) up for renewal but now before the Winter/Spring when UK weather and less or no use usually leads to more problems.

👍 The power of reviews

The final point is about reviewing which I’m sure many clubs and leagues exhaustively do anyway.

De-constructing elements such as membership, cricket offerings, grounds provision, coaching, fundraising and events all have benefit while it’s fresher after a long season.

To that, can I add your club’s digital presence? What shape is your Play-Cricket website in or maybe your have a stand-alone one that complements the ECB’s scorecards and stats.

How effective has social media been for your club? Have audiences grown? Was engagement good? Who has managed your Facebook, instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn or YouTube – and how has that been? Time to start one? Drop one?

This serves its own useful purpose but collating the effectiveness of these is likely a key selling point when you’re approaching club sponsors.

Another way to look at this is also incorporating Facebook and Google reviews. Is your club well rated on both of those with recent, glowing appraisals? If not, they’re worth their weight in gold.

So there you go…. everything from winning a Corolla Hatchback to battening the hatches for Storm Amy.

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