TOP 50 PREP/JUNIOR SCHOOLS
BROMSGROVE PREPARATORY SCHOOL // CALDICOTT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
BROMSGROVE PREPARATORY SCHOOL Worcester Road, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire B61 7DU Established 1553 Number of pupils 553 Masters in charge Dave Fallows (director of cricket), Chris Munn, Jamie Thornely, Alex Lane (outgoing) Teams Boys: U13ABCDEF, U12ABCED, U11ABCD, U10ABCD, U9ABCD, U8ABCD; Girls: U13AB, U12AB, U11ABC, U10ABC Girls’ cricket This summer Bromsgrove launched the first summer of girls’ cricket – playing in competitive matches and regular games afternoons. Winter nets have proved very popular with the girls How has cricket bounced back The boys have been playing twice a week against some of the best schools in the country. The boys’ teams reached all three county cup finals for the U11 to U13 age groups. We are always looking to promote local clubs in the local area so the children can get additional coaching outside of school
Post-pandemic changes Every child≈at the prep school (boys) represented the school in at least one cricket match this summer. The majority of the girls have represented the school at pairs cricket and numbers will continue to increase Fixtures In 2020, more than 200 fixtures for boys and girls’ cricket. The Elms, Downs Malvern, Trent College, Foremarke Hall Repton, Monmouth, RGS Worcester, King’s Worcester, Dean Close, Beaudesert, Dragon School and Cheltenham Prep. The school hosts the ESCA U11 8-a-side Hardball competition for Worcestershire. U12 County Cup
Facilities 4 squares, 8-lane indoor arena, 2 additional sports hall with 4 lanes in, and a 5-lane outdoor cricket facility Club/county affiliation Bromsgrove CC, Warwickshire, Worcestershire Best prospect William Broadhurst and Flynn Dathan (Worcs U13), Seth Benjamin, Alfie Higgins, Henry Greaves, Logan Ingram, Ruby Broadhurst, Madison Falconer and Sammy Riley (Worcs U12) Cricketers of note Tom Banton (Somerset & England), Ben Cox (Worcestershire) Brief history Christopher Cobham, 12th Viscount Cobham, inherited the family seat Hagley Hall in 2006. The Lyttelton family (although not alumni) has been associated with Bromsgrove School for many years. On August 26 1867, the Lyttelton XI, a cricket team composed of 11
members of the Lyttelton family, played a match against Bromsgrove School at Hagley Park and won by 10 wickets Cultural cricketers England rugby players Andy Goode, Ben Foden and Matt Mullan What sets the school apart? Worcestershire 2nd XI have played some fixtures at Bromsgrove School. Warwickshire and Worcestershire CCC played junior matches here Finest moment Banton scoring 238 in a Bunbury Cup match, June 2012. They have won the U12 County Cup five times out of the last six years. National Bunbury Cup runners-up at U13 level in 2015 Recent progress The introduction of pairs cricket as the major game for girls in the summer term. Bromsgrove start winter nets training in September right through until the start of the season. Last season they won the U13 County Cup final against King’s School, Worcester. Despite the strength of the fixture list the prep school won 62 per cent in 2019 Future plans Very excited about introducing hardball for the U13A girls
Brief history Cricket has traditionally always been a part of the life and culture of the school. It is not uncommon to see numerous games of cricket being played at breaktimes throughout the day. The school are blessed to have an extremely good Main Square which for many years has been their pride and joy. They have also introduced many famous ex-players to Caldicott for memorable cricketing dinners with the likes of Curtly Ambrose, Garfield Sobers, Gordon Greenidge, Colin Cowdrey, Denis Compton, Yuvraj Singh and Mike Atherton Cultural cricketers Sir Tom Stoppard played on the main field when son Ed was skipper. Old boy Oli Broom cycled from Lord’s to Brisbane
for the 2010/11 Ashes and wrote the book Cycling to the Ashes. Dennis Silk and Hubert Doggart were also regulars on the boundary What sets the school apart? With excellent coaching and regular games time they are able to provide Caldicott boys with the opportunity to develop and grow as cricketers. It doesn’t matter whether a boy is playing for the 9th XI or the 1st XI Finest moment Touring South Africa in 2017 and beating the likes of Bishops, SACS, Western Province Prep then returning to the UK and winning the National 20/20 Cup Recent progress The way boys and staff managed to stay motivated Future plans Update the Main Pavilion Tours With biannual cricket tours to South Africa, the competition among staff and boys to get on the tour is fierce which means they are able to train all year round. Having missed out on an opportunity to tour this year, they managed to take U13A and U13B teams to Taunton and Bristol for a mini-tour. They were looking to tour the UAE in October if allowed and then hopefully Cape Town in 2023
CALDICOTT PREPARATORY SCHOOL Crown Lane, Farnham Royal, Bucks SL2 3SL
Established 1904 Number of pupils 240 Master in charge Terrence Zengerink Professional Lissy McLeod (Sunrisers and Welsh Fire) Teams 9 U12 and U13, 4 U11, 3 U10, 4 U9, 2 U8 How has cricket bounced back The prospect of external competition again was a great opportunity to get all the boys motivated and instilling camaraderie. The highlight was being able to see friends from other schools Post-pandemic changes Fortunate in being able to follow a similar programme to the past. What did change for the good was the way the school structured their fixtures and stuck to year group bubbles which made last-minute changes far easier Fixtures 205 matches scheduled, which included 13 block fixtures against other schools. Caldicott also have several internal fixtures as well 128 | thecricketer.com
as a competitive house competition. The highlight of the season is no doubt the final of the CPL (Caldicott Premier League). This is made up of all U12 & U13 boys in the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th XIs Facilities 6 outdoor nets, 4 indoor nets, 2 squares, 4 artificial pitches, 2 outfield pitches, astroturf Club/county affiliation Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, Hampshire Best prospect Joe Coomber (U11) is a consistent performer with the bat and has an excellent cricketing brain. He is currently also playing for Bucks age-groups. Rory Hughes (U9) Cricketers of note Andrew Strauss (Middlesex & England), Fabian Cowdrey (Kent & Glamorgan), Jack Rogers, Alex Shoff (USA U19)