Our Team
DARREN TALBOT
Managing Director
Darren is former High Performance Manager for the Sierra Leone national teams and ex-Iceland National Team Head Coach. He was also CEO of the England National Cricket for the Deaf (ECAD) Charity.
Darren is Inclusion lead for the Surrey Junior Cricket Championship - the largest cricket league in the UK.
Through his talent ID skills, over the past decade Darren has increased the number of Deaf cricketers by over 500% as well as discovering many hundreds of mainstream cricketers in Surrey, particularly from the state school system.
He has been coaching since 2004 and his knowledge of grassroots cricket, participation and cricket in Europe is renowned.
ROBIN MASLIN
Head Coach / Director
Robin is a level 3 coach with many years of coaching across a number of programs both in the UK and in Europe.
He joined the team in 2010 and has overseen many coaching programmes in Europe including being lead talent coach for Switzerland under 11s and under 13s and working with Gingins and GRYCC cricket clubs in Geneva, which has seen him make over 50 trips to Europe over that period.
In the UK Robin is head coach of our Regional & Surrey Slam Schools Academies as well as being Juniors Head Coach at Epsom & Ewell Cricket Clubs.
Robin also works closely with other players and administrators around the world to develop cricket in Associate & Affiliate nations including the native Polish team, the Warsaw Hussars.
DAVE WALTER
Operations Manager
After a successful career in IT, Dave joined the team in Summer 2018 as Operations Manager with a primary focus on back office activities but as a Level 2 Qualified Coach and a stage 3 Qualified Umpire he will provide a useful additional pair of hands when the need arises. Dave's passion for cricket has led him to fulfil a wide range of roles within the game over many years so be brings with him a broad range of skills and knowledge.
Dave's main cricketing association has been with Normandy Cricket Club since 1985 where he has been 1st XI Captain, Cricket Manager and Club Chair. He started coaching when his son started playing at the age of 10 and in addition to coaching his son's age group all the way through to senior cricket, he has coached Normandy's Academy squad and Normandy's Ladies.
Dave spent many hours umpiring during his playing days and since he stopped playing has umpired a wide variety of cricket including for Normandy, Surrey Performance Cricket, Women and Girls Cricket and has completed several seasons on the Surrey Championship Umpires panel.
Off the field Dave was Chair of the Surrey Trust League for the ten years and was a key member of the group that helped form the Surrey Junior Cricket Championship which now includes the Surrey Trust League. He is currently Chair of the Surrey ACO.
JOHN MATTHEWS
Head of Player & Coach Development
John brings a wealth of expertise, understanding and knowledge to the Twenty20 Community Cricket team.
He is an ECB Club Coach and a qualified Physical Education teacher with over 40 years' experience of teaching and over 25 years' cricket coaching experience.
John is also a Level Two umpire, a Level Two British Sign Language signer, and Assistant Principal Moderator for AQA's GCSE Physical Education course.
He has been part of the Surrey Pan disability coaching team, supporting the Deaf players, and has been one of the lead coaches for the England Cricket Association for the Deaf's (ECAD) Junior Academy.
John is head coach of our Girls' Academy and the MCC Foundation Guildford Hub Girls' squad which we run on behalf of the Foundation.
As lead on player & coach development, John uses his wealth of experience to advise and support both our Academy players and coaching team.
He currently plays his cricket for Englefield Green CC
SIMON EKINS
Assistant Head Coach
Simon is a level 2 coach and has been working at Farncombe Cricket Club, his home club, for many years.
He coaches the juniors and ladies teams as well as organising and running the summer camp programme.
As well as coaching at his club, Simon has been coaching in schools during the summer term since 2017, being a mixture of private and state schools, coaching everything from new starters to county players.
Simon also delivers Chance to Shine and other programs for the Surrey Cricket Foundation.
CALUM ESTALL
Surrey Slam Schools Lead Coach
Calum is a level 2 qualified coach who plays his cricket at Banstead Cricket Club.
He started his coaching journey at the club in 2013, helping out with the juniors and has played in the club 1st team and captained the u19 team.
Calum joined the company in 2018, working on our school holiday courses and at cricket clubs, most notably Weybridge CC, before becoming the lead coach on the Surrey Slam Schools state school cricket program in 2022.