TOP 100 SCHOOLS THE ROYAL HOSPITAL SCHOOL Holbrook Ipswich IP9 2RX
THE ROYAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL, WORCESTER Upper Tything Worcester WR1 1HP
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Established 1291 Notable fixtures MCC, all Royal Grammar Schools (RGS Festival), King Edward’s Birmingham, King’s Worcester, Monmouth Cricket professional Phil Newport (Worcestershire & England) Teams 11 – 1st XI, 2nd XI, 3rd XI, U15AB, U14AB, U13AB,U12AB Girls’ cricket Girls play in boys’ teams; U12 girls’ team started this year with the view to building to all age groups Facilities Five-lane indoor sports hall, 12 outdoor nets, two main grounds at the senior school (four pitches in total) and a 16-acre site at the prep school used mainly for B team matches County affiliation Worcestershire Brief history Cricket has been played at Flagge Meadow for 130 years. Originally teams made up of masters and pupils played matches against local clubs. Then in the early 20th century matches for pupils only were started against Cheltenham Grammar (now Pate’s Grammar), KES Stourbridge, KES Birmingham and Wolverhampton GS. And cricket has flourished since, the highlight of the season now being the RGS Festival involving the six Royal Grammar Schools across the country Cricketers of note Imran Khan (Worcestershire & Pakistan), Tim Curtis (Worcs & England), Dean Headley (Worcs, Kent & England), Paul Bent, Steve McEwan , Chris Eyers, Neil Pinner (all Worcs) James Schofield (Hampshire), Tom Mees, Roy Woodcock, Kevin Griffith Extras Flagge Meadow is now the second ground for Worcestershire should New Road be unfit for first-class cricket, they host 2nd XI and academy matches, ECB county women’s matches as well as many youth fixtures
Established 1712 in Greenwich, London, moving to its current site in 200 acres of Suffolk countryside overlooking the River Stour in 1933 Notable fixtures 1st XI v MCC, XL Club and touring size from New Zealand (Mount Albert Grammar); U15 English Schools Cup v Haberdashers’ Aske’s; Minor Counties Festivals U11 and U12 Cricket professional Graham Napier (Essex) Teams 15 age groups – 1st, 2nd 3rd and A B and C for U15, U14, U13 and U12. Girls’ cricket Introduced last year and growing, particularly at U13 and U15 Facilities Six grounds, two pavilions, six grass nets, four indoor nets and bowling machine, strength and conditioning gym, fitness suite and indoor pool Club/county affiliation Essex CC Brief history Today the school is an HMC boarding and day school for more than 300 boys and girls aged 11 to 18 years, but it still continues to provide support for seafaring families. Cricket has grown in reputation under the expert mentoring of Don Topley, formerly Essex CCC and Zimbabwe coach, for 23 years. He has now handed over the reins to Graham Napier, who joined full time in September Cricketers of note Don Topley and
Reece Topley. The latter had played for Essex representative sides since the age of nine, but immediately after his England debut in a T20I against Australia in 2015 he announced he was on his way. At 21, his childhood county lacked, in his eyes, the ambition to sustain him, comfortable with Division Two of the Championship and unable to turn its excellent wins ratio in the limited-overs game into trophies. Topley headed for Hampshire, whose success in the limited-overs game was undeniable. As a tall left-armer with an ability to swing the ball at a decent lick, his appeal was obvious Extras Graham Napier Cricket Academy with the aim of establishing a high-profile centre of cricketing excellence which develops young cricketers to fulfil their potential as well as promoting participation at all levels and at all ages Finest moment on the field U15 tour to Sri Lanka in 2009 to visit partner schools. The tsunami of December 2004 killed more than 40,000 people in Sri Lanka and devastated the southern coastal areas of the island. This spurred RHS to do something meaningful to help by supporting a school building project in the tsunami-ravaged region