Portsmouth High School has county ambitions after cricket's return

School also wants more links with local clubs

Cricket returned to the senior curriculum at Portsmouth High School in 2022.

Thanks to the foundations laid lower down the school, and a holistic approach from pre-prep to sixth form, what started as a "handful of casual fixtures" has quickly developed into regular coaching and a formal fixture card.

That schedule includes indoor competitions in autumn and spring terms, for 10 teams from under-12 upwards. Such is the interest, the school may launch an under-12 C team in 2024, something which is "unheard of" at many schools.

"We’re doing ball skills in every sport from reception. By the time they come into year three they’ve had a go with some form of cricket," explains prep school coordinator Louise Hall. "It’s very much about developing the fundamental skills and then bringing it in competitively. 

"It’s about participation, skill development and having fun, and we can confidently say 100 per cent of our kids are playing weekly cricket in the summer term."

"The year sevens are really keen and that’s the impact of playing younger," continues senior coach Becky Vaughan-Woods.

^{Portsmouth High School 1st XI}

"If they come from other schools and haven't done cricket, they're getting pulled along by all the girls who have done five or six years of cricket. It's a gradual progression as the years go through and maintaining that engagement throughout the school. We've got some fantastic role models at the top of the school.”

Those role models include Darcey Clarke and Maya Devenish, who earned selection for the Girls' Day School Trust select side in 2023, a representative side drawn from 25 schools. 

The school is keen to develop links with local clubs, with a view to getting more pupils onto county pathways, and relaunch overseas touring from 2025. But for now, Vaughan-Woods and Hall will continue to be "creative" as they take the cricket programme from strength to strength. 

"We go for eight-a-side soft-ball [in prep school] but if we've got 10 and another school's got 11, we make it work. Some weeks we have an astroturf divided into four or six pitches or a really short boundary. It’s a hugely adapted game but making it fun for everyone," Hall says. 

"You could just pick the eight best kids but that's not our focus. It's about adapting the game to make it work in the best interest of the girls. We are creative in how we deliver [cricket] so the girls can enjoy it, be engaged and learn every single week."