Autumn fixtures, batting challenges and Tim Paine: The story of Berkhamsted School cricket

The head of cricket at Berkhamsted School tells The Cricketer how the game was kept alive in the most difficult of summers, and how it will bounce back stronger than ever

The year 2020 showed how important sport is as a part of education. It wasn’t necessarily the runs, wickets or personal achievement that pupils missed most, rather the camaraderie, structure and platform to work towards a collective goal.

“The one thing you can look back on is that this year has emphasised how important sport and physical exercise is for kids,” head of cricket at Berkhamsted School George Campbell tells The Cricketer.

“When that was taken away initially we saw how much they missed it and confirmed just how essential it is that we continue to find a way to offer sport.”

Some may deem sport to be lower down the academic totem pole, arguing that very few will make a career out of it. Others also consider the competition element to be unproductive in a child’s general education.

But cricket, and the adapted programme at Berkhamsted proved just how much our game, and sport in general, was missed.

“We did some online competitions during lockdown,” Campbell continues. “One was for Years 7 and 8 where they had to bounce a ball on the side of their bat for as long as possible with school merits available for the winners. We had a group of them who spent the next three days trying to outdo each other.

“It got to 400-odd. They had to video is too for me to verify so I’d be getting these videos of boys bouncing a ball on the side of their bat 400 times!

“Those sorts of things were where the kids got really engaged, even from a distance. It was lovely. They got so involved with it because at that stage they were just desperate for some competition.”

^{Berkhamsted ensured cricket was played in September so that their leavers could represent the school one last time}

Berkhamsted led the way with their autumn programme, such is the importance of cricket at the school.

Three fixtures were played in September, including against Stowe, and those who left in July were invited back to represent the school before heading off for university.

“They were a really special year group and it was important that we gave them the send-off that they deserved. I know they really appreciated it and so did their parents who had invested an awful amount of time and energy into their kids and their cricket.”

Much of the reason for cricket’s successful integration into the autumn term is that there is such a demand, and in outer London schools cricket is important business and not something that can be simply tossed aside and forgotten about until next summer comes around.

“The local area is so strong so the quality of opposition is there.”

Flicking through The Cricketer’s most recent edition of the Schools Guide – published in November 2020 and prominently featuring Berkhamsted, you can’t go more than a few pages before seeing a school that could be a part of Berkhamsted’s local fixture list.

“It’s important for me to have a settled fixture card. The boys who have been at the school since year seven will be playing against the same Haberdashers’ boys from under-12 right up to the 1st XI and I think that’s really lovely.

“That’s part of the fun of schools cricket, knowing the opposition. The boys will look at a fixture coming up and say, ‘they’ve got him, he’s really quick.”

Berkhamsted are one of many schools that uses SOCS, an online tool that centralises fixtures and results for school sports. As well as easing admin, SOCS gives school sport a professional feel, the ability to research your opposition before a fixture, just as those playing at the top level would do their homework before a game.

Opposition research isn’t the only way that the schools game is becoming increasingly professional. Many institutions can now count ex-international and county stars among the staff, however Campbell can count as a friend the man in possession of one of cricket’s most coveted jobs.

^{The outer London schools circuit is particularly strong, providing productive opposition every week}

“I played five seasons as an overseas player for University of Tasmania, and while I was there I did a lot of junior coaching and one of the players I worked with quite a bit was Tim Paine.

“When I played my final season he was 17 and a firm regular in the 1st XI, so I coached him for a couple of years and played with him for a couple.”

The pair have kept in touch in the years since and Paine always makes the effort to meet up whenever he is in England, most recently in 2019, to reminisce about their days together in grade cricket, a time that they both remember fondly.

“It’s incredible, no matter where he has got to in his club career, the club is still in his heart. I continue to follow their progress online and he still plays regularly despite being Australia’s Test captain. Only yesterday I saw pictures of him training with them.

“He took over leadership in very strange circumstances and it’s amazing how well they have done to turn that ship around. He is the absolute leader of that side.

"I thought he came across superbly in The Test – the Amazon Prime documentary, but it doesn’t surprise me, he has always been that sort of character.”

There would be few better players in the game to have access to, and for the pupils to be able to learn from Paine would certainly be one of the great cricketing experiences.

“I do mention to him whenever we speak that I have to get him here and he is always very keen. He is such a genuine lad.

“It would be a lovely idea for him to be the professional at Berkhamsted when he retires but I have a feeling bigger jobs might be available to him!”

Regardless of whether Paine decides to hang up his Baggy Green in the Hertfordshire town, Berkhamsted is a serious cricketing school. With dedication to the game and a strong fixture list, cricket is sure to be back with a bang in 2021.