Club Cricket Conference

Friday, 29th March 2024

Cricket clubs should be the main hub of local community

Alf Langley stepped down after a productive term as chairman of the CCC in March and remains a board director.

Quick singles with Alf Langley


Age: 65

Clubs:  Old Uffingtonians, Holmwood, South Hampstead,  Shepherds Bush, Wanstead.

Roles in cricket:  chairman of CCC  2009 -2016;  chairman of cricket Middlesex County Board;  trustee of Shepherds Bush CC.

Family links: my brother Michael played with me at South Hampstead and his son Richard represented Middlesex age groups and played professional football for QPR, Cardiff and Jamaica. 

Why I love cricket:

As a player I loved the game for its variety of challenges and the chance to make so many friendships with people from so many different backgrounds. I was very competitive and hated losing, but I managed to camouflage it with a jovial exterior... 

Main regrets:

Only one, really - I never won a league title at any club.

Main achievements as CCC chairman:  

I helped to modernise the CCC by encouraging  a more diverse and inclusive organisation in terms of membership,  governance and on-field activity. Establishing a women’s team was just one example.

Driving the formation of the National Cricket Conference,  National Asian Cricket Council and African Caribbean Cricket Association were major steps forward, which brought the needs of recreational cricket more to the forefront of ECB thinking.

My wish for cricket:

Administrators to  collaborate more proactively to promote and grow the game in all sections of society.  I strongly believe in the power of the game and the values surrounding it to make a substantial contribution to the causes of social cohesion and tolerance of difference.

I believe cricket clubs should be encouraged to become true hubs of local communities. Though seemingly under threat for a variety of reasons, I have no doubt that with creativity and strength of purpose, these threats might be converted into significant opportunities for development.

Some views on county cricket:

I think professional county cricket is too limited in its scope and ambitions. It should lead the charge in promoting and growing participation in all sections of society. All the ECB county clubs should  become more meaningful and influential in their local communities, focusing  more on the future. They should be serious about shaping the game so that it becomes representative of what people will want to play and watch in the future.

And England...

England will continue to be winners in Test cricket, but this will be seen increasingly in pyrrhic terms, given the stance of the ICC which is disincentivising the playing of Test cricket everywhere excepting England, Australia and India.