ECB Internship enhances player skillsets

Four PCA members successfully completed internships at the ECB this winter, giving them the opportunity to take their playing experience and apply it to life off the pitch.

The Blaze’s Josie Groves, former Somerset player Amelie Munday, ex-Worcestershire batter Ed Pollock and former PCA Chair and current Glamorgan bowler James Harris were the successful applicants for the four-week programme.

Working from the ECB’s Lord’s offices, the players were immediately treated as full-time employees, immersed in live projects and all the day-to-day processes that enables English cricket to thrive on the international stage.

The internships were created by the PCA and ECB to support more players who are interested in staying in cricket within administrative roles. The PCA worked with the ECB to create the opportunity for players at various stages of their careers to use their playing experience and engage with the professional side of cricket administration.

It is rare for interns to begin with 10 years of industry experience, but for Ed Pollock who made his First-Class debut in 2015, the programme came at the perfect time after he announced his retirement from playing just two months prior.

The 30-year-old said: “I started playing cricket professionally when I was 20 whilst at university. Having just finished my playing career, the work placement was a really exciting opportunity, and it came at the perfect time.

It was such a meaningful experience – it gave me a really unique insight into the business side of sport.”

The players were selected from a pool of 13 applicants, ranging in age, gender and stages in their playing career. Just eight games into her professional career, 21-year-old Josie Groves was one of the youngest applicants.

She said: “I had done basically no work experience. My work experience at school got cancelled, because it was around COVID time, so I went straight into cricket instead.

“This basically replaced that work experience for me. I’d never done anything like it.”

Combining remote working with three days in the Lord’s office, it was an opportunity for the players to experience parts of the ground away from their usual remit.

For Pollock, working among all the prestige of Lord’s was a unique and eye-opening experience.

The former batter said: “Ironically, over my 10 years of playing professional cricket, Lord’s is the only ground of the 18 counties that I didn’t play at.

“I’ve been there to watch games before, but it was great going there to work every day. It’s obviously a special place for cricket.”

As well as the players benefitting from the exposure, the ECB’s administrative teams also benefitted from the players joining them. When the programme was devised in late 2024 by ECB CEO, Richard Gould and PCA Managing Director, Ian Thomas, one of their key considerations was empowering players to carry their on-field expertise into the administrative world.

Pollock said: “There were a couple of projects I worked on where I was able to go: ‘Well, this is what I think from my experience playing’, and they said it was really valuable.

“It was a nice feeling to be able to say I’ve helped here and to add value beyond my performance on the cricket pitch.”

The link between the players and the ECB was well established over the course of the four weeks. Each player was assigned a mentor throughout the programme and had regular contact with people from all levels of the ECB.

Looking back, Pollock said: “It was amazing how much time everyone had for me.

“I had a 45-minute chat with the chief executive, Richard Gould, a couple of chats with Rob Andrew that lasted an hour, and these are guys who are right up at the top of the ECB.”

With two of the players still playing and two in career transition, the internship offered each member something different. Amelie Munday, who is looking for a non-playing job after leaving Somerset, ended the placement with three job offers, which she believes were in part down to her time at the ECB.

Groves, who is now considering a future in marketing, said: “It was really cool going around the office and seeing what people do that impacts the game. Going forwards, I learned that I need that interest.

“In the areas of finance where you work on a project for cricket, like the World Cup and seeing how finance links to that, for example, I know that having that base level interest is going to be really important for me.”

The programme is part of the PCA’s Personal Development and Welfare Programme, which helps players sustain their professional lives beyond their playing careers, whilst appreciating the importance of their time playing.

Groves, who captained England U19s in 2024, said: “I’m in no rush to get out of cricket – obviously, that’s still plan A – but it was really nice to see different options and different ways of working. I think the whole experience was nothing but beneficial in pretty much every capacity.”

Richard Gould, ECB Chief Executive Officer, said: “We were really pleased to host James, Amelia, Ed and Josie as part of the pilot PCA Internship Programme, giving them chance to develop their off-field CVs and to deepen their understanding of how the ECB works and the range and breadth of our responsibilities as a governing body.

“It was great to see them getting stuck into a variety of different work, and we look forward to seeing how the scheme develops in the future.”

PCA Managing Director, Ian Thomas said: “We wanted to develop a program collaboratively with the ECB to provide players with the opportunity to experience the wide range and important roles in cricket administration. With the variety of departments and functions of the ECB, it provided an opportunity for the 4 successful candidates to experience this working environment.

“The application process was highly competitive amongst our members in the inaugural year of the internship programme, and we look forward to repeating the opportunity on an annual basis with the ECB. We hope that in the future we will see graduates of this internship program go on to serve the game in an administration capacity.”

Find out more about the PCA’s Personal Development and Welfare Programme here.