Staff Chief executive Guy Evans-Tipping Editor Simon Hughes Deputy editor Huw Turbervill Art director James Bunce Assistant editor James Coyne Art editor Jessica Hutchinson Commercial director Manpreet Singh Pattar Head of marketing Jess Davidson Finance and subscriptions manager Chris Smith CricketArchive managing director Jim Hindson Social media manager Owen Riley
Schools’ cricket is superb introduction to the greatest game on earth There is something wonderfully old fashioned about watching schools’ cricket. The beautiful green sward immaculately tended by the devoted groundsman. The players (mostly) in whites, apart from the one who forgot his boots and is playing in his school shoes. The variety of physiques – small, large, thin, lumpy, athletic, clumsy, and the gawky one who fields long leg both ends and doesn’t bat or bowl (which in my school team was none other than Hugh Grant in a pair of white jeans). There are the funny run-ups and the myriad bowling actions, the carefully rehearsed defensive strokes leading to random bouts of wild slogging, the diving stops, the overthrows, and the hilarious running, culminating in a sudden collapse with three runs to win to the exasperation of the dedicated coach. There is a spirit and an eyeswide-open optimism and a sense of total enjoyment that you do not always see at other levels of the game. Schools’ cricket is a superb
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introduction to the greatest game on earth. It emphasises fun and competitiveness and teamwork and dealing with awkward situations and occasionally the fear of facing a demon opposition bowler. Many people I meet look back with great fondness at their school cricket career where lifelong friendships are often formed and memorable moments live on and become more embellished by the year. So we at The Cricketer bring you the second Playing Fields of England. It is a celebration of the best of school sport, the grounds, the facilities, the coaching, the fixture lists and the general commitment to getting those blighters on the field to play a semblance of the game that has characterised England and Englishness for more than three centuries. Those lads and lasses may not express their gratitude to their establishments for leading them into this special, enduring, bewildering but ultimately captivating world, but we will! Thanks for all your efforts. It is worth it.
SIMON HUGHES Editor @theanalyst
ON THE COVER A match at St John’s School, Leatherhead, with the dining hall forming the backdrop
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