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Jamie Diamond, 22, is making a big impact as a coach

North Gloucestershire > Sport > Cricket

Author: Roger Jackson, Posted: Tuesday, 25th June 2019, 09:00

Jamie Diamond Jamie Diamond

Diamond by name, Diamond by nature.

Jamie Diamond is a cricket coach, a cricket player and a cricket fan but even at the relatively young age of 22 it’s fair to say that he sees himself primarily as a coach, happy to help others improve rather than concentrate only on his own game.

And he’s got a pretty impressive coaching portfolio too because he’s Gloucestershire Country Cricket Club’s head women’s and under-17s’ performance coach, full-time head cricket coach and sports graduate at the King’s School Gloucester as well as fielding coach (men's 1st XI) and head coach for women's cricket at Dumbleton.

Dumbleton are also the club who Diamond plays for when his coaching commitments allow – he’s a right-arm first change swing bowler and lower order batter – so he plays at a decent level as well as coaches at a high level.

But while he is a good player, good enough to have played age group cricket for Worcestershire from 11 to 15, it’s coaching that he now enjoys most, putting into practice much of what he learned while a student at first Hartpury College and then the University of Gloucestershire.

“I got a few injuries when I was playing at Worcestershire and I’ve since discovered a love for coaching,” he said. “I get more out of seeing others progress, I get more of a thrill out of seeing someone else do well.”

Diamond coaches both boys and girls but in the medium and long-term he sees his future as a coach in women’s cricket.

“Women’s cricket is growing at a phenomenal rate, you have to pinch yourself to see how quickly it has grown,” said Diamond.

“I think the women's game has come a long way in many different ways. Obviously on the field the competition's great, the standard has improved, there are more boundaries, more wickets and the fielding's definitely more athletic.

“My aim is to be a part of this big increase of women's cricket as the standard is getting better and better each year plus, I'm enjoying every minute of it.

“I'm looking to push myself as a coach to get my level 3 as well as pushing the development of the Gloucestershire players."

And Diamond has certainly been impressed by what he has seen of Gloucestershire’s players.

“Molly Robbins can bowl as fast as anyone,” he enthused. “I think she took 5-19 against Dorset, she’s a fantastic bowler".

“We’ve got some very good batsmen too, who like to hit the ball hard and are very good tactically – Newent’s Chloe Skelton, Alice Hill, our captain who plays for Charlton Kings, and Dumbleton’s Abbie Whybrow.

“We’ve got some fantastic players from the 11s through to the 17s and into the seniors. The aim is to progress them into RDC's and playing for Western Storm. The set-up at Gloucestershire is fantastic and the players we have in the county are brilliant, it’s great to work with the quality we have."

So is it very different coaching the girls and the boys?

“There’s a little bit of a difference between coaching boys and girls,” he said. “With girls you have to focus on their confidence and building up the team environment before skills and game scenarios.

"We have worked hard on these areas over the winter and the results and performances we are getting from the all the Gloucestershire Women so far have been outstanding, credit to the women as they have been working very hard."

Diamond, who lives in Bredon and learned his cricket at Overbury Cricket Club, prefers coaching girls to boys and is by no means new to women’s cricket.

“I was assistant coach for the Dutch women’s squad,” he said.

“A couple of summers ago in my second season with Dumbleton I went over to the Netherlands as an overseas pro. I was head coach at Kampong Cricket Club in Utrecht and I was given the chance to help with the women’s national team.”

He enjoyed that and he enjoyed playing in a different country as well.

“It was amazing out there,” he said. “We played in the top division which was made up of about 10 clubs. Half of them had grass wickets and half of them had good artificial wickets.

“The wickets were pretty flat and it was hard to be a bowler but I got a few wickets, I did okay.”

He’s probably being a little modest there. Certainly as a cricket coach he’s doing a lot better than okay!

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