A note before I begin

I have written this differently to how I have written the weekly reports over the past few weeks. Those reports were written with a different purpose, and naturally there was more humour and a lighter tone throughout. This is different. The seriousness of the tone reflects the importance I believe this achievement has, not just in terms of winning a league, but in terms of what I believe it means for the next steps for Frenford Cricket Club.

For that reason, I have deliberately avoided going into individual performances in any great detail. There will always be time to look back at runs scored, wickets taken and individual contributions, but for me there is something much bigger to discuss here. This league victory represents a collective achievement, and I want to concentrate on what it tells us about the club, the pathway and what we can potentially build from here.

A Monumental Achievement

Why winning with the 3s matters

Winning the Essex League First Division is a monumental achievement in itself, but I think it is important that we properly understand just how difficult it is to win that league with a 3s.

There is a different challenge when you play 1s or 2s cricket. Players at that level are generally more developed, more tactically aware and more experienced. They have spent years playing against the types of cricketers they are now facing and, in many cases, have been specifically developed to play that level of cricket.

3s and 4s cricket are different. You can come up against batsmen who do things you have never been coached to face, bowlers who have completely unorthodox methods and situations that don't necessarily follow the textbook version of how cricket should be played. For a young player, that creates a completely different challenge. You have to adapt. You have to make decisions for yourself. You have to find ways of dealing with things that you haven't necessarily seen before.

That is precisely why 3s and 4s cricket are so important within a club. They are development environments. They are where raw, unrefined talent is nurtured into senior cricketers, where young players begin to understand senior cricket and develop the game awareness, resilience and decision-making that eventually allows them to move towards 1s cricket.

It is also a different challenge for the people developing those players. You aren't always dealing with textbook situations, so coaching cannot simply be about correcting technique. It is about helping a player understand the game, giving them the confidence to make their own decisions and allowing them to develop the ability to adapt.

So to take a team whose purpose is fundamentally development and have that team win the First Division, while still maintaining that development philosophy throughout the season, is incredibly difficult. It should not be downplayed simply because it happened in the 3s. In fact, I would argue that it makes the achievement even more impressive.

The Middle Ground

An academy without the nets

There is something quite fitting about calling this The Middle Ground, because that is exactly where the 3s has operated this season: somewhere between youth cricket and senior cricket, between being coached and learning to coach yourself, between potential and responsibility.

The 3s this season has been a different type of academy, more like an apprenticeship. We develop whilst we are in action and not at practice. The players have had to experience senior cricket, make decisions, deal with situations they haven't seen before and learn from the consequences. Rather than taking young players away from the realities of the game, we have tried to perfect a decades-old pathway by giving them the right environment in which to experience those realities.

The 5s, 4s and 3s are where we can make sure our Colts are best prepared for the challenges that lie ahead. They are not simply stepping stones towards the 1s. They are where young players learn how to become senior cricketers. And there is nowhere else I would rather be doing this.

A pathway built over decades

The final puzzle piece

Six Colts have played with the 3s from the beginning of the season through to the end. They came to Frenford as eight- or nine-year-olds and have grown up within the club. Alongside them are senior players who themselves started here as Colts — Zulfi, Waqqas, Fiaz and Rohit — as well as loyal servants such as Atif. One senior player has been at this club for four decades.

That tells you something important. This title wasn't really built in 2026. It is the product of a pathway and of people investing in young players long before anybody knew whether those players would eventually win a league title.

I know personally how important that can be. I started my own cricket journey at nine and was fortunate enough to have a first coach who gave me belief and confidence. That first person who puts a cricket ball into a child's hands rarely knows where that moment might eventually lead.

I also had the privilege of playing against the great Hainault & Clayhall generation of the 2000s. I have seen what a genuine golden generation of club cricketers can look like, and I have seen the impact that a group of players who grow together can have on a club.

For me, this title feels like the final puzzle piece in something that has been developing for years. The league title is the reward, but the real achievement is the pathway that made it possible.

Mindset Above All

Beyond technique

The biggest lesson of this season for me is that development isn't always about changing technique. Of course technique matters. Run-ups matter. High elbows matter. Footwork matters. There are always technical areas that can be improved. But the biggest change I have seen in these Colts has been in their belief in themselves.

They began to trust their own ability.

Mindset Above All has underpinned this achievement, but it is bigger than the league table and bigger than cricket. For me, mindset is about self-awareness, accountability, self-belief and vulnerability. It is understanding yourself well enough to know where you are strong, being honest enough to recognise where you need to improve, having the courage to take responsibility when things go wrong, and being vulnerable enough to ask for help when you need it.

The statistics can give us evidence. They can tell us what happened, but they can never tell us the whole story. Cricket is rarely black and white; there is far more grey in the game and in people. Two players can have identical numbers and have taken completely different journeys to get there. That is why I would rather speak to the person than simply read about the player.

To the Colts reading this, the things you have learned this season aren't confined to cricket. Learning to make decisions under pressure, accept accountability, recover from mistakes, trust yourself, understand your emotions and have the courage to be vulnerable when you need support are skills you will carry into every part of your life.

We haven't tried to manufacture perfect cricketers. We have tried to help young people become more aware of themselves, more responsible for their choices and more confident in their ability to deal with whatever comes next. That, for me, is the real meaning of Mindset Above All.

Philosophy to Reality

When the principles were tested

The philosophy was not something Waqqas and I arrived at on a whim during the season. From the start, it was something we worked on together. We started planning in February 2026, looking at how we could create a competitive combination between the Colts and the senior players. There were plenty of times when we ripped the plan up and started again. We changed things, challenged each other, went back to the drawing board and kept working. That never stopped. The plan was always allowed to evolve because the people and the circumstances mattered more than sticking rigidly to a piece of paper.

At the start of the season, the priority was never to chase a league title at the expense of development. The Colts would bat in positions that supported their development. Bowlers would be given their full allocated overs. Their development would not simply be sacrificed whenever a result became important. The senior players had to put pride aside and understand that their role was to create an environment in which the Colts could flourish.

Then came Billericay. It was a heavy defeat. The Colts were down and some of the senior players were left wondering what had happened. In many ways, though, it became a blessing. It gave the team the opportunity to establish the balance it needed: clearer roles, better partnerships, a greater focus on strengths rather than weaknesses and, above all, consistency.

From there came the 12-match unbeaten run: nine wins, two winning draws and one abandoned game.

But the significance isn't simply in those numbers. The numbers are evidence that something worked, but they are not the whole story. The real achievement was seeing a group begin to understand how to play together, how to trust one another and how to respond when things didn't go according to plan.

There wasn't one player carrying the side every week. When somebody wasn't at their best, somebody else stepped up. Different players took responsibility at different moments, and everyone had opportunities to contribute.

This is where the philosophy became reality. Mindset wasn't a slogan sitting above the team; it became visible in the way players responded to setbacks, accepted responsibility and continued to trust themselves and each other. Development and winning do not have to be opposites. This season has shown that, with the right environment, they can reinforce each other.

Waqqas Naqvi

The captain behind the environment

It would be impossible to talk about this season without talking properly about Waqqas.

What he has achieved as captain goes far beyond what happened on a Saturday afternoon. A huge part of the work was done away from the pitch, creating the environment in which this group could actually function. Getting senior players to buy into the mission, managing the expectations and needs of young players, maintaining belief in a new ethos and keeping everyone moving in the same direction requires a particular type of leadership.

Waqqas has that.

His record of leadership didn't begin this season either. In 2024, he captained the 4s to the Premier League title, which helped move the 4s into the 3s league. Last year, he had to take over the 3s captaincy when the team was in danger of relegation and helped steer them to safety. This season, he took on something very different: not simply trying to keep a team in a league, but creating a team capable of winning it while continuing to develop its young players.

On the field, he is a brilliant tactician. He genuinely thinks about cricket like a game of chess on grass. He is constantly looking at situations, considering options and trying to work out the best move rather than simply following convention. More importantly, he is open to ideas. He listens. He is inclusive and he has never made leadership about proving that he is the captain.

The clearest example of that was his willingness to drop himself down the batting order when the team needed it. His concern was never about where his name appeared on the scorecard. It was about what gave the team the best chance of succeeding and what allowed the Colts around him to develop.

His man-management has been just as important. Getting experienced senior players to put their own expectations to one side and commit to a new way of working is not easy. Neither is managing Colts, who require patience both on and off the pitch. There is a lot written about Gen Z and the supposed difficulties of managing younger generations, but Waqqas has shown that if you treat young people with patience, fairness, integrity and compassion, while still holding them accountable, they respond.

The Billericay defeat was an important moment. Waqqas helped establish the balance the team needed, and when players were unavailable he continually found ways to restore that balance through creativity and resourcefulness rather than allowing absences to become excuses.

His leadership has been about people as much as cricket. His passion is infectious, but it is the patience, fairness and selflessness underneath that passion which has helped make this group work.

My View of Frenford

Making amends with the past

My own journey is important to this story because, in many ways, this has been about making amends with the past. Not being bitter about it, but creating the environment that we never had. Waqqas and I are, in many ways, kindred spirits in that respect. We both wanted to create something that allowed young players to experience cricket differently, to enjoy it, to develop without fear and to understand that the person matters as much as the player.

I fell out of love with the game and eventually came back to it in a role I never thought I would accept. When I returned, I made it my aim that nobody should lose their love for cricket. Nobody should forget that when they were small children, they played this game because it was fun.

In my work at Frenford, I have only been paying it forward. I was fortunate to have a first coach who gave me belief and confidence, and I know how powerful that can be. It was Waqqas who finally convinced me to play again. What convinced me wasn't an argument about cricket; it was his belief in me at a time when I had very little belief in myself.

Once upon a time, I wouldn't even have allowed myself to think about playing for our sworn rivals. Yet somehow, this place is now home. That tells you something about the journey as much as it tells you about the club.

Waqqas and I started planning this together in February and kept rebuilding the idea whenever it wasn't right. That makes this season feel particularly personal.

I feel I can still say all of this with a degree of objectivity because of my own cricket journey. I have had the privilege of playing at a high level, playing with and against international cricketers and being part of championship-winning teams myself. I know what winning feels like and I know how difficult it is.

But my time at Frenford has given me a different perspective. I've only been here for two and a half years, but this club has reignited my passion for cricket in a way I didn't expect. Not simply the passion to play myself, but the passion to watch other people develop and succeed.

I've seen it from the 5s through to the 3s. I've seen young players arrive, learn, struggle, improve, laugh, make mistakes and gradually become cricketers. There is something about watching a Colt succeed that gives me more satisfaction than scoring a hundred myself.

Frenford has become a home from home for me. More than that, it feels like a family.

Unsung Heroes

The people behind the players

A league title is never made by the players alone. There are people behind the scenes whose work is rarely visible on a Saturday afternoon, but without whom the Saturday afternoon would not happen.

David Pike deserves particular recognition. Since I joined Frenford in 2024, I have witnessed first-hand his dedication, enthusiasm and passion for youth development. I particularly love watching the 5s play with that enthusiasm, passion, smiles and unbelievable team spirit. That culture doesn't happen by accident.

Every coach who has worked with these Colts has added something to the process. Every Colt had somebody who first put a cricket ball into their hands, and whoever that person was should be incredibly proud because they set this process in motion. Amir Ashraf deserves particular credit for his work with the 3s last season. A lot of these Colts played that entire season, and the foundations for what we have seen this year were being laid then.

The parents deserve enormous recognition. The journeys, the lifts, the encouragement, the support and simply making sure these young players keep turning up week after week are a huge part of youth cricket.

Daniel deserves a special mention for the ground work. Because of him, we get to play week in and week out on high-quality pitches, and those pitches have produced high-quality games. We are very lucky to have the facility of a second pitch, but more importantly, our Colts get to experience the same quality of facilities as any 1s or 2s team. If we are serious about preparing young players for senior cricket, they should feel that they belong in the same environment as everybody else.

There are also support staff and committee members whose work makes everything possible, often without recognition. Keith Hurst and Graham Sandy deserve to be mentioned for the contribution they make to the club and everything they give to Frenford behind the scenes.

Moving Forward

The Colts have arrived

I don't think this title should be viewed as a one-off success that we celebrate and then move on from. It should start a serious conversation about what Frenford wants to be and how we can build a culture that makes this repeatable.

The Colts are no longer simply a group of young players waiting for their opportunity. They have shown that they can contribute to senior cricket now. They have booted the door down, they are sitting at the table, and they are demanding to be taken seriously.

The challenge now is making sure that we give them the environment to continue developing without losing the enjoyment that brought them here in the first place.

If we want to create the next golden generation, the ambition shouldn't simply be trophies. It should be to create cricketers who enjoy cricket, who want to remain at Frenford, who eventually become senior players themselves and who, decades from now, become the people others talk about when they describe what this club means to them.

I played against the great Hainault & Clayhall generation of the 2000s, so I know what a group of players who grow together can mean to a club. Perhaps this is the beginning of another generation that can leave its own mark.

The club has spent decades creating the foundations for this. This season has shown what can happen when everybody pulls in the same direction, believes in the process and gives young players the opportunity to become more than the players they were when they first walked through the gates.

The statistics will always tell us who scored the runs and who took the wickets. They will tell us where we finished in the table. But the bigger question is what these young men have learned about themselves along the way.

If we can continue developing self-aware, accountable, resilient and confident young people who happen to play good cricket, then perhaps we have found something far more valuable than a formula for winning one league title. We have found something worth protecting.

The next chapter is not something waiting somewhere in the distance. It starts with what we choose to do with what we have built now.

Congratulations

To the club

There are so many people who deserve recognition for this title that it would be impossible to name everybody without inevitably leaving somebody out.

The committee deserve enormous credit for making Colts the focal point of the 2026 campaign and continuing to back the pathway. The objective was never simply promotion at all costs. The bigger ambition was to continue developing the young players and, at the beginning of the season, the realistic target may simply have been to stay in the division. Instead, the team became champions.

Rob Rollins deserves recognition for his work as a main coach at the club, and Irfan Shah for the contribution he continues to make to the Colts and to Frenford. There is no need to put everything that has happened this season on the shoulders of any one person, because this has been a collective effort.

The 3s may have lifted the trophy, but this achievement belongs to Frenford Cricket Club.

To everyone who has played a part, whether your name appears in the scorebook or not: congratulations. And perhaps, most importantly, thank you for believing in the pathway.

Khuram Dar