TOP 100 SCHOOLS
GEORGE WATSON’S COLLEGE 69–71 Colinton Road Edinburgh EH10 5EG Established 1741 Notable fixtures MCC, Millfield Teams Six junior sides and eight at senior level. Two girls’ teams that have been Scottish champions two years in a row at U15 and 1st XI Girls’ cricket Two teams. Scottish champions two years in a row, at 1st XI and U15 level. The Girls’ Cricket Club is open to all girls in primaries 5 to 7 and to all girls in the senior school. There are also opportunities for girls in primaries 3 to 7 to play Kwik Cricket with the Watsonian Colts programme Facilities Four squares, two syntheticgrass pitches, 10 artificial-turf nets, four indoor nets Club/county affiliation Watsonians CC, Eastern Region, Scotland Brief history George Watson’s College is one of the largest single-campus schools in the UK. One of Scotland’s leading independent schools and is widely renowned for its sporting excellence. In 2015 the school won all three major Scottish sporting competitions in rugby, hockey and
24 | thecricketer.com
cricket, becoming the first school to do so Cricketers of note Alasdair Evans (Derbyshire & Scotland), Dewald Nel (Kent & Scotland), Neil McCallum (Scotland) Extras The school’s Myreside square was recently used in the ICC World Twenty20 qualifying tournament, featuring teams such as Afghanistan and the Netherlands. The school has, for the last two seasons, won three of the four national competitions – including, in 2015, becoming 1st XI Scottish Champions. The under15s compete in the East District T20 tournaments, with the winner advancing to the Scottish finals. The school’s alumni club, Watsonians, play in the top National League, and were crowned as Scottish champions as recently as 2012. Alumni include Scotland international batsman, Neil McCallum, who has scored two centuries in 43 ODIs and Alasdair Evans, who has taken 40 wickets in ODI and Twenty20 cricket for the national side
HABERDASHERS’ ASKE’S Butterfly Lane Elstree WD6 3AF
Stephen Charlwood Master in charge
Established 1690 Notable fixtures Bancroft’s, Berkhamsted, Felsted, MCC, Merchant Taylors’ (Northwood), St Albans Cricket professional Doug Yeabsley (Devon) was a full-time member of staff for many years. Jamie Hewitt (Middlesex & Kent) is employed by both Haberdashers’ and Middlesex as part of a developing partnership between school and county Teams 1st XI, 2nd XI, 3rd XI, 4th XI, 5th XI, U15ABC, U14ABC, U13ABC, U12ABC, plus prep school A and B teams at U11, U10, U9 and U8 age groups. Girls’ cricket Coaching for sister school Facilities Three grass squares, three synthetic strips, three artificial nets, five grass nets and an ‘open’ net plus a twolane indoor centre that includes instantreplay and video-analysis systems Club/county affiliation Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Sidmouth and Exeter in Devon Cricketers of note Richard Yeabsley (Middlesex) Extras There is huge enthusiasm for cricket, particularly from within the school’s Asian community