With a membership of around 1,000, and with more than 550 games of cricket played each year, the work needed to run Upminster Cricket Club in the modern era is a huge task. To support this the club is lucky to have 27 volunteers who fulfil 43 positions on the club’s committee and sub-committees.

Spring is obviously a busy time for all of these people, with preparations being made for the season ahead, but during March we will be introducing you to eight of these officers as they explain the roles they play within the club.

Previously we have caught up with Karen Burley, James Evans and Kevin Roome, and now we check-in with someone who joined the committee in 2025, Sanjay Narbheram:

What's your current role on the committee??
I picked up the role of Sponsorship Secretary last year.

What does the role entail??
There are two parts to the role. The first is finding new sponsors. The priority last year was to get a new main/shirt sponsor so we are very grateful to Griffin Group (inc. Gates, Parish & Co) for picking this up.

The second part is the day to day engagement with the 14 active sponsors we have. This includes making sure we are promoting their products, events and services. Also, I am always keen to get them over to the club for events like Windmill Whack games and the Benefit Match so they can see first hand what a great place it is.

Last year was great for the club on the sponsorship front, with a number of partnerships agreed with local firms. How are you looking to build on that in 2026??
The revenues we generate from our sponsors makes a real difference to the club and its growth and aspirations. So the priority this year is less about adding new sponsors but more about making sure our existing sponsors are happy!!

With that in mind I’d encourage all of our members to see if they can use our sponsors. They are all very generous with their money so let’s make sure we are showing them some love.

When you do use them, please don’t forget to mention you are from UCC. For sponsors like Griffin and Howden the club earns a commission which is reinvested into things like new equipment.

You joined the club around 6 or 7 years ago now. How did that come about??
Completely by chance. I grew up loving cricket but never played past school cricket. My boys (Joshan, Dylan and Anay) were playing a lot of tennis at the time.

We moved to Upminster in 2019 and found ourselves at the park on a Friday night. When we saw so many families enjoying the cricket it became a no brainer for us. With Banno’s (Rob Bannister) help we signed the boys up and haven’t looked back!!

You've been playing regularly over the last couple of summers. What are your playing plans for 2026??
Easy one - take more wickets than my kids!! I’m not having another year of being ranked the worst Narbheram by Pecky (Chair, Ollie Peck) every Saturday.

What do you most enjoy about playing and being involved at the club??
For me playing on Saturdays has been a great way for me to play in the same team as my boys. I’ve played games with all three of them over the past few years and they are memories that will stay with me forever.

The other part is having the opportunity to spend that time with my friends. The last two years have been great with Grotey, Burlos and Middle (Craig Grote, Paul Burley and Paul Middlemiss).

*For further information on all of our generous sponsors please visit our sponsors page

**To see all of our committee members, captains and junior team contacts visit our contacts page