More pupils than ever played cricket before Christmas at Bishop's Stortford College. The Cricketer finds out how
Following the recent national lockdown, school cricket coaches around the country now face a nervous wait to see if they will lose another summer to Covid-19.
Appetite for cricket in schools was arguably at an all-time high last year, with pupils and staff yearning for the season that was taken away. It was heartening to see how much cricket was played in the Autumn term, with coaches navigating the logistical challenges with not only other sports but bubbles also.
Bishop’s Stortford College were one such school who were unable to run their winter programme in the Autumn term in its usual format, but speaking to the Hertfordshire school’s head of cricket Dave Hughes, it wasn’t such a bad thing.
“Normally in our winter programme we would just cover the 10-14 elite cricketers in the senior school but in this climate we had to run it in year group bubbles.”
10-14 cricketers across the senior school equates to roughly 2-5 pupils a year group which simply wouldn’t work if players were only allowed to come into contact with their own year group. Anyone who has ever been to a net session knows that having anything less than four bowlers a net just doesn’t work as at any one time there will always be at least one player removed, either padding up, talking to a coach or just having a break.
So Hughes had to adapt the programme, opening up the sessions to more pupils in each year group, and there are already success stories with players seizing their opportunities.
“It’s been really positive. There are two players in Year 11, dual sport pupils who wouldn’t class themselves as cricketers,” Hughes continues.
The college's indoor winter programme was able to be expanded meaning more pupils than ever will have played when the summer comes around
“I can honestly say that during the first two sessions one of them, a left-handed batter, barely hit a ball. I wondered whether I had done the wrong thing by inviting him but then during the last two sessions before Christmas he played three perfect cover drives.
“They might have only had five or six sessions between September and December but the difference between the first two and the last two was massive.
“Without these covid restrictions he wouldn’t have had that opportunity and we have now been able to strengthen our second tier players.
“It’s one of the odd little things to come out of all this that you can take as a positive. It’s valuable to the pupils who have been able to come to the sessions that in a normal year wouldn’t have been available due to numbers and space.
“It has allowed a couple of players to push themselves into contention for the 1st XI squad.”
It may seem odd, but the pandemic has enabled Hughes to open up his winter cricket offering to more pupils than ever, and this can only be a good thing. Another positive he cites is that with year group bubbles restricting the numbers allowed in S&C sessions, those who do attend receive a much more concentrated programme than if they were in the usual class number of around 26.
It is no secret that the East of England is a strong region on the schools circuit. Further to that coaches are ever-keen keen to investigate new and innovative ideas to stimulate interest in the game and place importance and meaning on individual fixtures.
Jason Gallian at Felsted School combined the two together to create the Eastern League.
While the name and finer details are to be confirmed, this concept pits the top six schools from the East of England in one league where they play a round-robin of block fixtures. Points are awarded for each win to determine not only the top cricketing school but also the top team at each level.
“Personally I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Hughes comments. While Bishop’s Stortford have regularly featured in The Cricketer’s top 100 schools list as determined by our Schools Guide, Hughes is happy to admit that his school may not initially feature as part of the six, but he is part of talks to form a second tier in the East region.
Every girl in the prep school will be playing cricket this summer
This opens up the inclusive format to more schools, and introduces a concept that immediately places extra interest on any competition; promotion and relegation.
“We all had a meeting at the Essex County Ground in Chelmsford and agreed that the agreed top six was 100% right. But then we were asked if we could set up a second tier.”
More formal discussions were due to take place regarding the second tier, as well as promotion and relegation, last September but understandably plans are on hold for now.
Hopefully the top tier to get underway this summer, with the second tier commencing the year after.
Speculation on timings and participants aside, such a competition will ensure that matches maintain their importance and all boys and girls have a role to play for their school. No fixture is forgotten about or deemed to not matter.
And looking at Bishop’s Stortford’s growth in those training over the winter, there will be no shortage of talent striving to play a match-winning innings for their school.
Posted by David Rimmer on 27/01/2021 at 21:40
It is good to see cricket at Bishop's Stortford College in such capable hands. I dealt with David Hughes when I was a sports reporter at the Herts and Essex Observer and we covered Bishop's Stortford Cricket Club. I can imagine he is an ideal mentor for young cricketers. A relaxed character that would not be forbidding towards children he would also know how to pass on his knowledge. It seems as if he is doing a sterling job. Hughes' background as a player is not covered in this piece so I thought I should pen a few words. As a batsman, he was good enough to have played for Surrey seconds and he also appeared for Hertfordshire. In his three years in the Haileybury first teams (1994-1996), he scored more than 1,800 runs and in his first two seasons took 44 wickets with his bustling medium pacers. He was captain of the team in his last year. After being linked with Bishop's Stortford Cricket Club, he played for around six to seven seasons with Hoddesdon which included being skipper. He then went back to captain Bishop's Stortford CC from the start of the 2006 season. At that stage the club were languishing in what was then Herts League div two. Hughes galvanised the first team and they enjoyed three promotions under his shrewd leadership. By now an attacking batsman, he was never afraid to attack the bowling and in the field came up with imaginative field placings which put opposing batsmen under pressure. Hughes, who also led the Cricketfield Lane club to the semi-final of the Evening Standard (Trophy or Challenge), was a good ambassador for the club. Under his leadership, Eddie Ballard, who went on to play for MCC Young Cricketers and once field for England as a substitute fielder in a Test Match, improved significantly. He has done extremely well for Hertfordshire while off-spinner Simon Lindop flourished and ahs been a long term member of the first team. He first appeared for Stortford first team as a 15-year-old Stortford College student in 2001 under the leadership of Ben Debenham who is now a first-class umpire. Zimbabwean Glenn Querl, who was a fine all-rounder, medium pacer Kevin Walls and keeper-batsman Luke Padgett all benefited from Hughes' captaincy. They were vital cogs in the team's success. I have digressed. It was good to see Bishop's Stortford College getting coverage and somebody like David Hughes being covered by the Cricketer.
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