Sage Appliances fuelling professional cricketers

The PCA, the Cricketers’ Trust and Sage Appliances have joined forces to bring specialty coffee culture into professional cricket, creating café-quality coffee experiences that support player wellbeing, encourage connection and enhance dressing room culture across England and Wales.

The three-year partnership has equipped every professional men’s and women’s county dressing room with a Sage Oracle Dual Boiler espresso machine, complemented by carefully curated specialty coffee from some of the UK’s best roasters, giving players the opportunity to discover and enjoy a diverse range of exceptional coffees throughout the season. Players also benefit from exclusive partnership offers on Sage Appliances.

More than providing premium espresso machines, the partnership reflects a shared commitment to creating spaces where players can connect, recharge and enjoy great coffee together. Combining the PCA’s focus on player wellbeing with Sage’s expertise in specialty coffee and the support of the Cricketers’ Trust, the initiative is designed to enhance the everyday player experience on and off the field.

The initiative forms part of the Cricketers’ Trust’s Be Well, Play Well campaign, recognising the important role that moments away from training and competition play in maintaining wellbeing through encouraging teammates to come together, take a break and reset over exceptional coffee.

As part of the partnership, Yorkshire men’s and women’s players took part in a Sage barista masterclass, learning the fundamentals of specialty coffee, espresso preparation and latte art. The session gave players the opportunity to develop new skills while experiencing the craftsmanship behind café-quality coffee.

The espresso machines have quickly become a positive feature in the county dressing rooms, creating a natural meeting point where players and staff can connect throughout training days and match days alike, adding to the high quality products on offer to players through the PCA.

Middlesex batter and PCA rep, Joe Cracknell, said: “We drink a lot of coffee as a squad so to learn how to do it properly and to have a bit of fun with it making different artwork was good competition.

“This is one of the best partnerships that has been received by the players. Coming together in the morning before a game or during a game allows us to talk about certain things over a coffee. Having that facility and that space to do so is really important. It’s something really easy for us to come together and actually understanding how to make coffee properly was great.

“It’s a brilliant machine, I have a SAGE at home but it’s not as good as the one in the changing rooms. It makes the experience a lot easier for the guys that don’t understand how to properly make a coffee, it’s a great piece of kit.”

Durham leg-spinner and PCA rep, Katie Levick, said: “It’s been an amazing addition to our changing room. Someone is always stood there taking orders and there’s some healthy competition with latte art too. It’s a significant upgrade to the kettle we used to use and has meant we don’t have to spend time leaving the ground during training days to go and source coffee.

“The machine itself is so easy to use and looks great, it’s even brought the staff into our environment more as they’re usually queuing to use it as well. An important element to our playing group, that we’ve fed back to the PCA, is coffee and the culture surrounding it with going for a break and a drink with your teammates. So to have it in the changing room has been really beneficial to our team and great to see that the PCA listen to and act on the requests of the players.”

PCA Managing Director and Cricketers’ Trust Trustee, Ian Thomas, said: ‘It’s great to be working with a global leader in coffee infrastructure. We know that cricketers love their coffee, so partnering with Sage and delivering world class coffee machines to each dressing room has ensured players are being fuelled by the best in the business, as well as enhancing our Be Well, Play Well campaign, encouraging players to take proactive steps to improving their life outside of cricket and developing a healthy work-life balance.”

A Sage spokesperson, said: “At Sage Appliances, we believe exceptional coffee is about far more than what’s in the cup. It’s about creating moments of connection, sharing experiences and bringing people together. We’re proud to partner with the PCA and the Cricketers’ Trust to help bring specialty coffee culture into professional cricket, creating café-quality coffee experiences that support player wellbeing and foster team connection throughout the season.”