The Derbyshire school with a track record of producing talent for Notts

Head of cricket Scott Boswell has now singled out another player to watch from Trent College

Trent College fell just short of the domestic glory that long-serving head of cricket Scott Boswell was hoping for, but it was still a successful, jam-packed season.

And there was silverware brought home from Abu Dhabi in the spring, with Trent winning the Arch Trophy for the first time, against schools from all over the world.

Trent lost in the Under-15 National Finals to Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, with the highlight possibly the win over a strong Manchester Grammar side in the last 16.

In the National Under-18s, there was no disgrace in missing out to eventual champions Rugby School in the quarter-finals, which is the furthest Trent have reached in that competition.

And there was an agonising last-ball defeat in the National Under-17s to eventual winners Gosfield.

Overall the school enjoyed the dry English summer, where there was more certainty about fixtures (Trent play on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays).

The college’s record of pointing potential first-class cricketers towards Nottinghamshire is an enviable one, and Boswell, the former Northamptonshire and Leicestershire seamer, tries to take a holistic approach when fixtures start to clash.

“We let our best kids play Premier League cricket on Saturdays if they want to,” he says. “Saturdays are friendlies for us, with our competitive games in midweek.

“But we found that Freddie McCann and Byron Hatton-Lowe still wanted to come back and play with us anyway, to play with their mates, on Saturdays. So we leave the decision up to them and their parents, because to play adult cricket can be to their benefit.

“Freddie even missed a national game for us to play for Notts 2s against Yorkshire 2s at Headingley [in April 2023]. But when you consider he caught Jonny Bairstow and scored 70, it pushed his career a fair way.”

Boswell now singles out Max Hunt, who played in the ECB Super Fours this year, as a left-hander to watch.

Boswell says that in his 14 years in the role he has “gone quite far to make sure we play as many state schools as possible” in their fixture list through the college.

He added: “We host a state primary school initiative every year where several schools come to us and play a festival. Our sixth form cricketers get involved with coaching. This year we had 16 teams.

“In Derbyshire the state school scene is quite proactive, and we do all we can to pick our most appropriate sides.”

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