Radley picks up his MBE

Date released: 19 February 2008

MCC’s Head Coach, Clive Radley, visited Buckingham Palace this morning to receive an MBE. His award – for services to cricket - was made public in The Queen’s New Years Honours list. He will spend the afternoon as guest of honour at a reception in the Long Room at Lord’s.

Clive Radley at Lord's Attending the ceremony with his wife, Linda, and children, Louise and Paul, Clive said: “Receiving the MBE is a huge honour for me and not something I was expecting at all. My first professional contract was signed in 1962 and I would never have imagined I’d still be involved with playing and coaching 46 years later.

“I still love the game and hugely enjoy working with the MCC Young Cricketers. While today is a real high, I’m not finished yet – we’ve just been to Mumbai with some of our guys and we’ll soon be working through a tough pre-season programme for the squad. We’ll certainly be aiming to challenge as we did last year in the second eleven championship and I hope to see more young cricketers complete the transition to the professional ranks.”

Keith Bradshaw Keith Bradshaw, MCC’s Secretary & Chief Executive, said:

“It’s not often that you get to celebrate the career of a colleague while he’s still in office, and it’s a testament to Clive that so many of his teammates, friends, coaches and colleagues from over the years are attending today to toast his achievements.

“Clive is an invaluable part of the Club set-up and, under him, the MCC Young Cricketers programme has gone from strength to strength. In an age of county cricket academies, Clive has proved that the YCs programme is still relevant and plays a vital role in developing professional cricketers and giving opportunities to unsigned talent from all over the world. He’s not only a great cricket coach but he’s a top bloke to have about the place. We don’t want to see the back of him just yet!”

Clive Radley was a one-county professional cricketer, playing twenty-four seasons for Middlesex and notching up an incredible 26,441 first-class runs. He played in eight Test matches for England, top scoring with 158 against New Zealand in Auckland.

In 1987, Radley moved from playing to coaching with Middlesex and then, in 1991, he became MCC’s Head Coach, where he remains to this day. His track record in producing first-class cricketers is impressive – players who have learnt the game under him include England cricketers Alex Tudor, Rikki Clarke and Caroline Atkins plus talent from overseas such as Darren Sammy (West Indies), Ross Taylor and Hamish Marshall (both New Zealand).

Clive Radley coaching in Mumbai, 2008 While the MCC Young Cricketers do not return to Lord’s until March, it has already been a busy start to the year for Clive and members of his squad: Charl Malan, Faisal Shahid and Stuart Ransley were recently accompanied by the Head Coach to Mumbai to attend a week-long masterclass in batting against spin bowling. In addition, Stephanie Davies, on the MCC Young Cricketer books for a second season in 2008, recently made her England One Day International debut on their tour of Australia, recording impressive figures of 4–47.