About John Birch
John first played cricket for school and moved quickly into representative teams. He played junior cricket from U11 to U15 before signing for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club in 1973. A debut followed that same year, his first captain being the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers. From 1980 to 1992 the Notts team became one of the best teams in the country, winning the County Championship, Nat West Trophy, Benson & Hedges Cup and the Refuge Assurance Sunday League.
John was a vital member of this star-studded side with many international players; Clive Rice, Richard Handlee, Eddie Hemmings, Tim Robinson, Derek Randall, Chris Broad, Bruce French, Chris Cairns, Franklyn Stephenson and many more great players.
As a player, John scored over 10,000 runs, got 100 wickets and over 200 catches. His best innings was 125 not out against Leicester at Trent Bridge and best bowling was 6 for 64 against Hampshire at Bournemouth. Man of the match awards and many trophies have been collected over an illustrious career including England U19 coaching at Lillishall. More recently John has coached at several local clubs with great success and has begun to shape many young players' careers in COunty Cricket. With his history, John is regarded as one of the best coaches around and with his knowledge and experience of the game, he is now looking forward to these academies producing exciting will-groomed all-round cricketers.
John and his team of coaches are hoping that all players enrolled in the academy enjoy and learn something in which they can all take great pride.
