This Sunday marked the end of an era for Berkshire Cricket with Tom Lambert delivering his final pathway coaching session, having walked into the Berkshire Cricket Centre for the first time as a 10 year old thirty-three years ago.
After a stellar playing career with the county, Tom was appointed as Berkshire Cricket’s first Performance Manager in 2012 with the aim of developing the Pathway structure and building a home grown first XI. Along with Mark Allum at the time, Tom revolutionised the Berkshire Cricket pathway structure, creating a new U10 – 12 development programme with a view to introducing high quality basics to a wide range of club cricketers to strengthen the base of the Berkshire Cricket programme and Club Cricket.
Berkshire Cricket Head of Performance, Neal Robinson: “Tom’s contribution to Berkshire Cricket over the last 14 years is quite simply immeasurable. He built the foundations to the Performance side of Berkshire Cricket, and a lot of the programmes we still run were Tom’s ideas. I don’t believe that anyone will ever have a bigger coaching impact on NCCA cricket. All our team wish Tom the best in his exciting project at Datchet CC and will be watching on as he continues to work with some of our players in the Challengers this summer.”
As both the pathway and NCCA cricket grew, Tom continued to work alongside Stewart Davison and Neal Robinson, taking a lead on the senior area of Berkshire Cricket (U18, 2nd XI, 1st XI) and head up our delivery of Seam Bowling across the Pathway.
Tom introduced the Berkshire Cricket Academy with a view to bridging the gap between the pathway and First XI. This initiative was a great success with a steady flow of debutants and the First XI becoming increasingly representative of the Pathway. The Winter Academy transformed into a 2nd XI during the summer and as well as debutants in our 1st XI, both Shoaib Bashir and Jaffer Chohan spent seasons developing under Tom’s guidance in this side.
Tom’s time in charge of the 1st XI saw unprecedented success. The side won six 3-day Championships, 6 Western Division Titles, seven 50-over trophies and one T20 title, making Tom the most successful coach in NCCA history. The majority of Tom’s tenure saw a fruitful coach-captain relationship with James Morris from 2012-2021, followed by a year with Richard Morris as captain until a transition to the captaincy of Dan Lincoln in 2023. During these years, Tom and the captains have frequently rebuilt the side following players moving on within the game and found different ways to continue their immeasurable success.
Tom will be taking up the position as Director of Cricket at Datchet CC as well as leading the Challengers programme as he has done for the past few summers.
Berkshire Cricket CEO, Mark Roche, added, “Tom should be rightly proud of the part he has played in Berkshire Cricket and the development of the talent pathway. Many players have benefitted from his passion and drive for excellence, and it’s been a pleasure to work with Tom during his time with us. The impact of Tom’s foresight in player development will be seen for years to come, and on behalf of all who have benefitted from his involvement, I thank him and wish him every success in the new challenges he tackles’