Radley College's Andrew Wagner said it was a dream come true to receive the Sky Sports ECB Coach of the Year award

"I have been extremely lucky to forge a career from doing what I love most and being rewarded for that is a dream come true."
Andrew Wagner

Andrew has been coaching for more than 30 years since retiring from playing county cricket for Somerset.

As full-time Head Coach at Radley College for the last 25 years, he spends more than 45 hours a week developing grassroots cricket.

During his time at Radley, Andrew has been responsible for supporting a number of talented cricketers such as Ben Hutton and Jamie Dalrymple, but he is perhaps best known for his first protégé, former England captain, Andrew Strauss.

Commenting on his award, Andrew said: "It is an honour to be recognised by Sky Sports and the ECB and to have won the Coach of the Year award.

"I have been extremely lucky to forge a career from doing what I love most and being rewarded for that is a dream come true. The support that I have received from the Sky Sports ECB Coach Education programme in the past five years has helped make my job a lot easier and guided me into using more drills to help develop grassroots cricket in Oxfordshire."

Commenting on the achievement, England batsman Jonathan Trott, said: "It is really great to see such a deserving recipient of this award. The fact that Andrew has spent that many years and hours coaching grassroots cricket is a credit to his love of the game.

"If he continues to develop players like Andrew Strauss then he is certainly a top asset to the help drive forward cricket coaching in England and Wales."

In October 2006, Sky Sports and the ECB teamed up to launch the Sky Sports ECB Coach Education Programme, a scheme designed to equip coaches with the necessary skills to deliver high quality coaching programmes at all levels of the game.

The programme enables coaches to plot their training to suit themselves. Anyone who has played cricket at grass roots levels knows the value of coaching. Good coaches are vital to ensure as many amateur cricketers across England and Wales enjoy cricket, irrespective of where they play the game and to what level.

For more information about Sky Sports ECB Coach Education Programme, visit www.skysports.com/coaching.