Bath teacher's push for more state school pupils to play cricket

How school is trying to make cricket more accessible

17 minutes ago Share Save Christopher Mace & Andy Howard BBC News, West of England Share Save

BBC The tournament saw pupils from independent and state schools play together in the same teams

A head teacher has set up a cricket tournament to try and make the sport more accessible to pupils in state schools. Last week, a study from York St John University found children at private schools had significantly better opportunities to play cricket than state school pupils. State headteacher of Oldfield School in Bath, Andy Greenhough, said the sport should be a "viable option" for all children to play, no matter their background. The tournament took place at Lansdown Cricket Club and involved all of Bath's secondary schools playing in mixed teams of independent and state school pupils.

Mr Greenhough said: "If you look now at the England cricket team, the majority, and in years gone past, went to independent schools "What I'd like to see is a bigger pool of cricketers competing from state and independent schools competing to have an even healthier team."

Andy Greenhough wants to get more state school pupils playing cricket

In 2023 an Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket report found 58% of men playing for England in 2021 were privately educated, compared to 7% of the population who attend independent schools. As part of his plan, Mr Greenhough started a partnership with the independent Kingswood School. This culminated with a tournament on Thursday, which aimed to give all pupils the same experience. Speaking to pupils highlighted some of the reasons for the difference in access.

The tournament took place at Lansdown Cricket Club in Bath

Seb said Oldfield School did not have a cricket pitch, but him and his schoolmates were "really lucky" to be able to train at Lansdown Cricket Club. Whereas Charlie, a pupil at Kingswood School, said: "We're very lucky we have quite a few cricket pitches, where we can train and play matches on a weekly basis and we're very grateful and lucky to have them. "That's why it's really good that we get to play together and that we get some matches in when maybe Seb wouldn't normally get that." The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has said it plans to improve access to cricket at state schools as part of its Inspiring Generations plan.

Click here to read article