Crieff High School make history at National Table Cricket Finals

Crieff High School made history in June by becoming the first school to represent Scotland in the prestigious Lord's Taverners National Table Cricket finals day at Lord's

The Cricketer | 05/08/2025 at 08:15

Crieff flew down to London to take on 11 other schools at the home of cricket, and while they didn't take home the trophy, they made memories for life playing at an iconic sporting venue. For a number of participants, this would have been their first experience of flying and paying a visit to London.

The school only started playing the inclusive sport in February, but have immediately taken to it, and Cricket Scotland Disability Cricket Development officer Connor Brian hopes their trip to London can act as a catalyst for the spread of the sport across the country.

"We have been pushing to try and get table cricket out to as many schools as we can with support from Lord's Taverners," said Brian. "We have had great work in Perthshire and Kinross, where Crieff are based, and they have really taken to the sport.

"They have been working at it for about three months and have really taken to it like a duck to water. They did really well at the national competition and have come down to represent Scotland."

The school from Perth earned their place at Lord's after competing at Cricket Scotland's National Table Cricket Festival in Dundee this March, earning the opportunity to compete against schools from across the UK.

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^{(Jack Bird photography)}

The sport provides opportunities for participants to benefit from all that sport can offer, something Brian has seen first-hand.

"Team sport isn't something that always comes naturally, it can often be seen as something that involves a lot of running around which doesn't always suit people," he added.

"Having table cricket as an option, getting the group together, learning how to work with your team-mates and having that competitive edge has been really important. It's amazing what sport can do, the confidence that young people take from achieving something, learning how to win and lose. Learning about life through the sport that you're playing is so important.

"On paper coming to Lord's today had the potential to be a really anxiety raising situation. There was a big crowd watching our games at the biggest disability cricket day there's been. But the fact that the kids have just gone for it and rolled with everything that's come their way – busy airports, getting on planes, having to navigate their way through a big city. I mean Crieff and London, there's not much comparison there… The way they've just jumped in and enjoyed it has been inspirational really."

After the success of Crieff High School's journey to Lord's, plans are already underway to continue the growth of the game in Scotland and provide more opportunities for table cricket to be played as the number of opportunities for young people with a disability to engage in cricket continue to increase.

"Going forward, we hope to have more table cricket going on, and build on the successful National Table Cricket Festival earlier this year," said Connor Brian.

"We hope that next year we can have regional table cricket festivals throughout Scotland, easing the burden of travel and making it more accessible, so that as many schools as possible can get involved and have that opportunity to compete at Lord's.

"We want to continue to grow opportunities to play, through working with Lord's Taverners, and our other partners such as Live Active, to get into schools and work with staff, providing training to them, to ensure that they are able to deliver table cricket sessions."

Click here to know more about Lord's Taverners and table cricket.