State-school cricket has had its day at Lord’s, at last. On a ground that has this summer hosted men’s and women’s international Tests, the Women’s T20 World Cup final and the Hundred finals, on Thursday four school teams played in front of the Pavilion and Father Time for the Knight-Stokes Cup, named after two state-educated cricketers who have captained England’s Test teams.
Heather Knight and Ben Stokes recorded video messages for pupils from Altrincham Grammar School, John Hampden Grammar School, Penistone Grammar School and Chelmsford County High School before they competed in the boys’ and girls’ finals. The privileges did not stop there – full use of the Pavilion dressing rooms, lunch and media duties made this a day to remember and inspire.
“The players have been treated like at a Test match,” said the John Hampden coach Simon Parberry after his team were beaten by Altrincham in the boys’ final. “You see it on the TV and it looks spectacular, but there’s just a different charm when you walk on this pitch,” the Altrincham captain, Aryan Dash, said at an onfield press conference.
Reaching finals day at Lord’s was a prospect for over 1,100 under-15 teams from 820 state schools across the UK when the competition was launched in April. “It’s something special, isn’t it?” said former England bowler Sajid Mahmood. “If you spoke about state-school cricket being played at the home of cricket a few years ago, you’d think it was a mad idea.”
Mahmood is now head of cricket at William Perkin School in west London and the lure of Lord’s piqued his pupils’ interest. “Students who never really took part in cricket wanted to get involved,” said Mahmood. “They were like: ‘If we can get to the home of cricket, what an amazing experience that would be.’”
The logistical challenges that have come with the competition, open to all state schools in the UK, have been eased by a desire to play. Independent schools have offered to provide facilities and the MCC has helped with discounts on the kit and equipment that is so often a hurdle. Bins around Lord’s were filled with donations for Mahmood’s new venture, Reeqip, a sort of Vinted for cricket kit that aims to make it more affordable and sustainable. Players on Thursday wore special kits with their names and chosen numbers.
All participating schools were invited to finals day. “A thousand teams doesn’t go into four,” said the Knight-Stokes Cup coordinator, Andy Turnbull. “So what we’ve done today is to really make sure Lord’s feels like everyone’s place.” That included North v South representative games on the Nursery Ground, activities in the indoor practice centre and career advice.
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Of the participating teams, more than 350 were girls’ sides. “It’s been a real opportunity for girls to thrive and be given a platform to play hard ball cricket, which in state schools before was very, very rare,” said Turnbull – the opportunity to play at Lord’s too, where England Women only played their first Test in July. “I’ve been waiting for it all summer and to experience stuff that all the players have before is incredible,” said the Chelmsford player Alex Goodey, whose team beat Penistone in the girls’ final.
Finals day also brought the opportunity for talent spotting. “The standard has really shocked me,” said Mahmood. But the pathway for that talent is still not the clearest. Nine of the 11 England men’s players also playing on Thursday, in the Edgbaston Test against Pakistan, were in private education at some point. It was seven out of 11 for the women’s team that played against Ireland last Sunday.
“If we can get the Knight-Stokes Cup to be a feeder where we can highlight players into county systems, we naturally have a better chance of having state-school cricketers in the final England setup,” said Mahmood, who pointed to the continued prevalence of football outside of independent schools.
“In state schools especially, cricket isn’t really a cool thing to play,” said Mahmood. “But all of a sudden, having the opportunity to play at Lord’s becomes quite cool.”
Scoring a half-century at Lord’s is even cooler – there were two in the boys’ final. “Those moments will last for players for a long time, whether they’ve performed well or not today on the field,” said Turnbull. “To represent your school at the home of cricket, at the age of 15, is an enormous achievement.” And who knows, some may be back.