Matt Dwyer to become Chief Tennis Officer at Tennis Australia

JAMES COYNE: The ECB have been hit by the news that Matt Dwyer, in charge of their flagship All Stars Cricket participation programme, is leaving to take up a job with Tennis Australia

The ECB have been hit by the news that Matt Dwyer, in charge of their flagship All Stars Cricket participation programme, is leaving to take up a major role with Tennis Australia.

Dwyer will depart in June to become Chief Tennis Officer at Tennis Australia, which is headquartered in his native Melbourne.

Dwyer, 41, was brought in by the ECB three years ago as director of participation and growth to spearhead their new grassroots initiative, which they hope will lead to a renaissance in interest in cricket among young families. As many as 37,000 five to eight-year-olds were signed up to take part last year in the first season of the softball introductory programme rolled out at 1,500 clubs across the country.

The Australian was highly valued at the ECB, where he had the ear of Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket. The timing was awkward for the ECB, with them publicly unveiling the 2018 All Stars programme at Edgbaston this week, ahead of the on-field launch on May 11. They were obliged to wait for Tennis Australia to announce the appointment today.

Dwyer had been hired by the ECB from Cricket Australia, where he was game and market developer, helping run MILO in2Cricket, Australia’s equivalent participation programme.

The fact that Dwyer will fill a new role at Tennis Australia, bringing together their elite and participation programmes, shows how highly rated he is an administrator. He figured prominently in The Cricketer’s Power List over the last two years – a ranking of the most influential figures in English and Welsh cricket – coming in at 22nd in 2017.

It was natural that Dwyer might one day move back to Australia. But it is understood the announcement has come sooner than the ECB were hoping, with the launch of the city T20 tournament to come in 2020. The ECB are hoping All Stars will knit together with the city T20 in a package appealed to win over young children and their parents, enticing families back to cricket.

Early indications suggested All Stars had a decent first year: ECB statistics said 72 per cent of kids in 2017 had not been involved with their local club before. There was however, disquiet at some clubs about how to implement the drills. All Stars involved an ‘activator’ appointed by each club to lead the programme, but many clubs reported that they would have struggled to carry out the scheme without the help of existing coaches qualified at ECB level.

The ECB confirmed to The Cricketer today that the cost for parents to enrol their child in the eight-week All Stars programme will remain £40 in 2018, with £5 of that going back to the club in question. They will roll out cheaper schemes in inner-city areas where costs are deemed prohibitive.

Kids signed up to All Stars receive a backpack of goodies including a plastic bat and soft ball. Dwyer had told The Cricketer last year that ECB will consider a ‘pick-and-drop’ scheme so that kids can exchange different types of equipment.

An ECB spokesman told The Cricketer: “Matt leaves for a great role with our best wishes. We are of course very sorry to lose him after three fantastic years at ECB, where he has laid significant foundations for cricket’s future growth through his passion, commitment and appetite for the game.

“He leaves with Participation and Growth at the heart of ECB’s strategy to grow the game and our trajectory remains the same. We are proud to have such a terrific team of people delivering across both ECB and county boards on key programmes such as women’s softball cricket and All Stars Cricket – which has 20,000 kids signed up already, ahead of our projections.”

Craig Tiley, chief executive of Tennis Australia, said: “We are delighted to welcome Matt to tennis and believe his impeccable sporting credentials and sound business experience will help us continue to grow the sport at all levels.

“We welcome Matt’s proven leadership skills in both sport and business to this new executive role which will oversee the two major pillars of our sport, participation and performance.

“Matt will work closely with both the participation and performance teams on the future development of the sport in Australia, in what is truly a ‘grassroots to Grand Slam’ pathway.”