Cricket
Cricket back with a bang in 2021
Last season may have been abandoned without a ball being bowled – but schools’ cricket is set to return better than ever in 2021.
Leading the charge is a record entry for the girls’ School Sport Magazine National Schools U15 and inaugural U18 competitions.
New sides have joined the events and other teams have returned making it a bumper draw and a packed fixture list aimed at developing the girls’ game within schools.
In the U15 cup, 2019 winners Bede’s School have been drawn against Sussex rivals Hurstpierpoint College and Mayfield School with the mini-group winners facing the
victors from Surrey’s Epsom College, Kingston GS, Reigate GS and newcomers Cranleigh School just for a place in the last 16.
Felsted School, winners in 2018 after Abbotsholme were controversially disqualified, have been drawn against Haileybury, Brentwood and Shenfield High School – with the winners meeting the victors from Hertfordshire’s Berkhamsted, Queenswood and Beaumont School.
The 11-a-side hardball competitions will be run on a local, county and regional basis in the early rounds to avoid excess travel and will be played mainly in midweek but weekends if preferred.
The U15 competition will again be run in group stages before the
summer half term before the winners qualify for the knockout stages with finals day (semi finals and final) taking place in early September.
The U18 competition will have its finals day at the end of the summer term. U15 girls may play in both competitions but U18 girls can only play in their age group.
Cricket bosses are also hoping that the boys’ game will resume as normal this summer after the virus wiped out the 2020 programme.
And while traditional Saturday fixtures are set to return, it’s still unclear what will happen with the competitive side of the game.
Last season’s David English U13 Bunbury Cup national campaign
16 SCHOOL SPORT Issue No.81 January/February/March 2021
and the ESCA U15 Cup were two of the most important competitions to be cancelled.
A decision still has to be made whether they will go ahead this year – although, with all the county winners being one year older, the tournaments would be for U14 and U16 teams.
Another alternative may be to waive those competitions altogether and stick instead with the qualifying county campaigns for U12 and U14 sides, especially as running two U14 events may lead to fixture congestion.
The U15 One Day Cup and U18 T20 tournaments are expected to go ahead as usual – with a decision made early in the new year.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
