As Eton and Harrow return to Lord’s, how can state schools hope to compete?

The cricketers of Eton and Harrow took to the hallowed turf of Lord’s this week for their annual match.

As a cricket contest, it might be an entertaining day out for the players’ captain-of-industry parents schmoozing their clients in the corporate boxes; as a metaphor, it’s right on the nose.

Eton and Harrow did not face any qualification period to get to Lord’s, it is merely what they are entitled to simply because of who they are. No challenges, no jeopardy, no meritocracy.

Welcome to life, those who can afford it (plus the VAT).

Among those watching was Rob Morris, who covers the Eton v Harrow game for the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack in his role as schools editor.

He is also schools reporter for the Cricket Paper, the organiser of the national schools boys’ U18 T20, co-organiser of the girls’ U18 100-ball competition, one of the people who will help run a new MCC competition for state schools from next year, assistant secretary of the Love Lane Liverpool Competition and a former secretary and interim chairman of Maghull CC.

Eton v Harrow is, he insists, a purely financial consideration on the part of the MCC. 

“They make more off that game than they will out of the whole of Middlesex’s County Championship season,” he says. 

And the problem of elitism in English cricket runs far beyond two teams enjoying an afternoon in the sunshine.

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Between 2011 and 2020, 95% of specialist batters selected by England in Tests were privately educated, according to Tom Brown, the co-founder and managing director of the South Asian Cricket Academy. 

A 2019 study by the Sutton Trust found 43% of the country’s male cricketers went to independent schools, compared with 7% of the country as a whole.

Morris, a former teacher in both state and independent sectors,  is an enthusiastic advocate of cricket in state schools, but he lists several factors working against the sport.

He says: “I was state-school educated and while we only had one cricket square at the school, we had access to other grounds. 

“We had U13, U14 and U15s with two teams in each year, then we had three teams at senior level. 

“I started teaching in 1979 and I see the decline of school cricket as being from that date… well, May 3, 1979, was the day it all started, when Thatcher was elected.

“The first factor is the sell-off of the playing fields from the 1980s onwards.

“At the first school I taught at, the cricket teams were coached by history teachers, physics teachers, all sorts. 

“Teachers took industrial action in the 80s because of poor pay and conditions that led to the introduction of directed time in teaching, which stopped people who weren’t PE teachers getting involved in school sports.”

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Other aspects of school life also played an indirect part, as Morris explains. 

“In the days of CSEs, a lot of the course was continuous assessment and practicals, which put less onus on the exams,” he says.

“Then GCSEs came in with a maximum of 25% coursework and so much more onus on the exams – which are right in the middle of the school cricket season. 

“And with more and more kids going to university, there’s more and more pressure on them. That’s all had an impact.”

Coursework is unlikely to come back, thanks to a googly bowled by the modern world in the form of AI, which makes cheating outside the exam room much harder to catch.

And the other problems faced by state schools are probably here to stay too – not to mention the visibility problem cricket has had since the loss of regular free-to-air Test cricket in 2005.

Which makes the work done by the likes of Morris all the more vital, to make sure future county and national selectors have the biggest possible talent pool to choose from.

He says: “The vast majority of independent schools are really keen to encourage state school cricket – the problem has been the take-up. 

“The offer went out to the local state schools in Maghull when I was secretary, to come and use our facilities when we didn’t need it – not interested. 

“Football is king in Liverpool and schools play it for three terms. The kids need a break.

“At Maghull, not one of the three local state schools near Maghull play cricket, and very few of the primary schools appear to do so.

“We used to run a primary schools competition – Rich Millington, who plays for our 3rd XI, teaches at one and he used to run that. 

“For the last couple of years, there’s only been a couple of schools interested.”

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There are success stories in the state sector. Manchester-based Myerscough College, who are captained by Sefton Park wicketkeeper James Stirling, got to the national schools final in 2022; down south, Canterbury Academy and Brighton Aldridge Community Academy have had excellent results from programmes which draw large numbers of state school pupils.

Last year’s national schools boys under 18 T20  attracted a record 216 entries. Of a slightly higher number to have entered this year, more than a quarter are state schools.

But they are the ones that already play cricket. With cash, space and willing volunteers at a premium, growing the game seems like an uphill struggle.

Morris adds: “The ECB has a state schools action plan, which focuses a lot on indoor and softball cricket – getting kids to have a go, and then if they are bitten by the bug they will go and join cricket clubs.

“The fact is, kids at the elite level and lots of kids at independent schools do play club cricket.

“The gap is getting wider. I know the ECB were talking about putting £2million into state school cricket after the ICEC report …..that works out at about £428 per school. 

“A couple of sets of pads, a couple of bats and a couple of helmets.”

Initiatives like next year’s state schools competition can only help, even if initially it only attracts the usual suspects – selective grammar schools like the Blue Coat in Wavertree, or those with an established cricket heritage like St Margaret’s in Aigburth or Formby High.

“It is still very much in its infancy,” Morris adds.

“Not much seems to be in place yet – I asked questions about financial support and they quickly moved on. 

“I think for the first few years it’s going to be the established state schools. They’re looking at restricting the numbers to 64 or 128 in the first year.”

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For Morris, the next few weeks will be filled with collating results from the national competitions, as 220 or so schools are whittled down to just two in time for the finals, at Lord’s on July 1.

Then he begins the task of compiling all the information for next year’s Almanack.

“If I were to add it up in monetary terms, I’d be working for less than minimum wage,” he laughs.

“But it’s a labour of love.”

from Merseyside Cricket Online https://ift.tt/DfGldcR