If You Want To Be an Overseas Professional You Need a Cricket CV
Sitting down to write a résumé is a million miles from being a cricketer. But if you want to play as a club professional you need to sell yourself hard.
Clubs and agents are bombarded with requests for work from all over the world. We see dozens of applications here at PitchVision Academy alone.
A good CV allows you to stand out from the crowd.
It can also ruin your chances if you get it wrong. You can easily get tossed in the rubbish if you don’t make an instant impact.
So what are the important things that clubs and agents look for on your CV?
Highlight your achievements
Typically a CV is only given a few moments consideration before being put into the bin.
The standard CV advice is to put your personal details first (DOB, address and phone number) but no one got employed as a cricketer from personal details.
So whether your CV is on paper or online you need to put the important stuff first because that is what catches the eye.
The most important elements that are considered are:
Statistics (most recent batting and bowling averages at club and first-class level, high scores)
Notable cricketing achievements (for example helping develop young players or being part of a league winning team)
You can of course include more standard information further down: common headings include work experience, interests and educational qualifications.
But remember the top of your CV is supposed to make an impact, so don’t waste the first few seconds on irrelevant details.
Tell the truth
It’s not as obvious advice as you think. We are constantly contacted at PitchVision Academy and a good portion of the CVs we see are very hard to believe.
I mean, are there really so many undiscovered 145kph bowlers who score hundreds for fun?
Even if the liar did get past the raised eyebrows it would soon become obvious when hired by a team. It’s pointless to even bother.
There is nothing wrong with highlighting the good stuff and playing down the bad, just don’t start making things up.
Less is more
As well as playing up your achievements you can leave out irrelevant details.
I have seen CVs that include long lists of educational and work achievements that are not relevant to cricket in the slightest. I have even seen CVs with people’s passport number.
Ask yourself about everything you put into the CV: will it improve my chances of playing as a club pro?
But make sure you highlight exactly why, especially if it is not obvious.
One thing I do with CVs is to have a list of transferable skills on hand. I tie everything on the CV to those skills so it’s clearly obvious how the achievement will help me do the job better.
Make it easy
Finally, spend time making the CV as easy as possible for the reader.
That starts with a personal statement or cover letter. Use it to clarify your unique skills. Explain your position (batting, bowling), key experiences and skills (especially cricketing ones) and what exactly you want to get from the club.
Once you have that, check your spelling and grammar so it’s perfect.
Use short sentences, plenty of spacing and bullet points to make it easy and quick to read. Make sure it fits on a single page for real brevity.
Then armed with your perfectly formed CV, you can send it off to the right people for consideration.
Of course, it doesn’t stop there. CVs are a very poor way to find a job compared to other methods. So work hard following up on them too.
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Comments
Do you know if the ECB send scouts to club matches or school matches
@Anon - my experience is that they generally do not, unless they are specifically advised by someone of a player to check out.
Certainly in the past, the format has been for clubs (and schools) to nominate players at each age group to attend district and county trials with the relevant county age group. If noone from your club is going to these trials or being included in county squads (or if they are and you feel you should be nominated as well), have a word with your coach and ask them what the process for this is in your area. There is often additional coaching associated with being in the county or district squads that might be useful in your development.
At senior level it will again often be the county boards who nominate players to representative matches (though many leagues now have their own representative fixtures against other local or regional league as well) and whilst it is likely that good performances at club level will influence the people picking those teams, availability (matches are often held during the working week) and word of mouth (from other players or coaches already associated with the county) are often as important a part of the selection process.
Again, I would recommend that you discuss potential selection for such matches with your club's coaches, and see if they can put you forward.
To add: as an example, here is a link to the Wiltshire Cricket Board's policy on selection for representative teams: http://www.wiltshirecricket.co.uk/representative-cricket/district/
I play for the Bank of England (in Roehampton), which district would we be under?
It looks as though you would actually come under Surrey Cricket Board's area, based on the information on your own club's Play-cricket website.
A link to the Surrey Performance web pages is here : http://www.kiaoval.com/content/surrey-cricket/academy-performance
If you are a junior player, I would still advise that you discuss nomination to the Surrey development programme with your age group coach. Most nominations are set up in the autumn to give the county and district staff time to coach and assess the young players they hope to pick for representative matches the following summer.
If you are a senior player, well, I understand that your club plays in Division 3 of the Surrey Championship, so your chances of getting the attention of the county staff will be enhanced if you are able to star in a promotion-winning side, and show that you have the qualities that might make them consider you for 2nd XI County Cricket.
Again, I understand that the Surrey competition is involved in a regional tournament with other leagues in the South East, and you may want to discuss with your club about how you can get selected for that representative side. (I believe there is a side for Divisions 2-5 as well as for the top division).
I hope this is helpful. A judicious look through your league and county board websites may provide more specific information.
Thanks
Hi, I'm a slow, left-arm orthodox spinner from Australia, and this story caught my eye. I may not be at the stage where a CV is required, but I'd really like to hear your opinion on how to make an impact at trials, or what selectors really look for... Technique or natural ability etc.
I would appreciate any suggestions you have.
Cheers
Charles - you don't say whether this is for age group cricket or senior, but I think that the following things should always be taken into consideration when looking to impress at trials, selections etc:
1. Make sure you have your core skills down well before you go - as a SLA, you'll want to have good control of line and length and be able to demonstrate that,as well as showing that you can turn the ball (to varying degrees dependent on the surface and the amount of rip you give it).
2. At the same time you are going to want to demonstarate that you are the person they need to pick, so if you have any variations use them at the trial, but use them sparingly (to show that you both have the weapons and know that they are only to be used when the time is right).
3. Make sure you are fresh and have a good night's sleep the night beforehand, that you know when and where you have to be (you'll only irritate the coach if you show up late or get lost), and that you understand and follow the instructions you are given during the trial.
4. Do your best on the day. If you aren't selected don't be disheartened. Ask for feedback on how they think you can improve, and be prepared to work on it.
Most trials will be expecting to find players with both technique AND natural ability. If the trial is intended to lead to selection for more intensive coaching, then it is likely that the selectors will be searching for natural talent that they can then hone (and improve on the technique), wheras if it is for being dropped straight into a match scenario, the selectors are more likely to be looking for players who already have good technique in place, as they will have a lot less time to work on that.
Thanks David, I appreciate it. I have an U17 district trial in 1 week, so I hope to get through to the next stage, using your feedback.
i m Attacking cricketer both in test and one day and t 20 i 28 years old but i have a good cricket i challenge that i have a best cricket in the world i m all rounder and have skills of off spin and pacer bolling i have a great line and length i m the best
Can anyone help me.I'd like to play for international club(Australian).I'm a Sri lankan cricketer.I play for the sri lanka navy and I played premier league.I think I'm qualified cricketer.Who can help me?Is there a way to apply for Australian club?
Im a female national cricketer from zimbabwe looking to get into an overseas club or county cricket team. Currently the provisional captain and club captain in my province.
I am from pakistan 25 year old played in my school. Left arm fast bowler . I am so much confident about my talent but in our country approach system make my tallent failed unless in trials they didn't even call me. Because I am poor and have nothing to take action against those who are selectedd before the trials . My future time is missing and I dont know where to play and who will support my talent . To be a Cricketer in future is my dream.
Plz help just nothing more