King’s Winter Cricket Programme Excels

In recent years, cricket at King’s has continued to excel, and we now find ourselves in a position where we can compete with any school in the country.

On the field, the success of the teams has been impressive, and we enjoy regular success at county and national level.  With two sides being crowned county champions, two sides reaching the last 32 in the country and the U17s reaching the last 16 in the country, 2023 in particular was a bumper year.

Our girls’ cricket has enjoyed similar success. The U15s reached the semi-final and the 1^st XI made it through to the regional final of their respective national cups. We have also been crowned county champions of the Lady Taverners Indoor Competition for two years running, and gone on to compete at the National Finals at Edgbaston. In 2023 we played 214 matches, with games for 3^rd XI and C teams, showing there is are opportunities for everyone who wants to play the game to be involved.

Fifth Form (Y11) pupil Seth E also was included in the prestigious Bunbury Festival, which is for the top U15 cricketers in the country, and, as a result of his performances, he was selected for an England Young Lions inter-squad match.

The recent success of the various teams can be attributed to the excellent programme we run throughout the winter months. We have both a junior and senior academy, which run from October through to Easter, where players involved train before and after school and on a Saturday if they aren’t representing the School in other sports. Every session is filmed, which allows all players to take responsibility for their own development. As part of their pre-season programme, we also run annual trips away for the 1st XI and the U15s girls and boys and an overseas tour every two years for senior cricketers. In 2025, we will tour Sri Lanka with the boys, and undertake our first-ever overseas girls tour in 2026.

As well as the excellent provision for our aspiring cricketers, there are also weekly age-group and skills sessions open to everyone, allowing all pupils to hone their skills throughout the winter months. We have also continued to develop our junior development programme, which allows pupils in Years 1 to 6 in both our Prep Schools to improve their skills and their love of the game.

At King’s, we are fortunate to have such strong links with Worcestershire CCC and benefit from their coaches and current players First Team players, namely Charlie Morris and Adam Finch, who come in to work with the pupils on our academy programme. We have also had upwards of 40 pupils as part of the county programme each year.