TOP 100 SCHOOLS
ALDENHAM SCHOOL Aldenham Road Elstree Hertfordshire WD6 3AJ
6 | thecricketer.com
Established 1597 Notable fixtures MCC, Merchant Taylors’ Northwood, Haberdashers’ Aske’s, Highgate, XL Club, UCS, Watford Grammar, Mill Hill, Berkhamsted, Haileybury, John Dewes Inv XI, Westminster Director of cricket David Goodchild (Middlesex) Teams Seven from U14 upwards, plus four U12–13 Facilities Large indoor sports hall, five nets and a bowling machine Club/county affiliation Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Watford Town CC, Eastcote CC and Radlett CC Brief history The boards in the quaint old pavilion claim that cricket was first played at Aldenham in 1857. Aldenham has produced one Test player, Middlesex’s John Dewes, who played for England in Don Bradman’s final Test. A match has been established in his honour, with John Emburey and Aftab Habib representing the John Dewes XI Cricketers of note Dewes, Scott Moffat (Middlesex) Extras Lee Tyrrell recently broke the school record and now has amassed over 2,000 runs and 70 wickets for the 1st XI, and was awarded the Cricket Society Wetherell Trophy for the leading schools allrounder. Chris Gayle and Kevin Pietersen filmed an advert here for the Caribbean Premier League. In 2016 Aldenham made two county finals, winning the U15 competition
AMPLEFORTH COLLEGE Ampleforth Abbey Yorkshire YO62 4ER Established 1802 Notable fixtures Hymers College, Pocklington, St Peter’s York, Bradford Grammar, Woodhouse Grove, Sedbergh, Durham, Barnard Castle, Stonyhurst, Worksop College, Oundle, Uppingham, Denstone, Oakham, Blundell’s, Taunton School, Canford, Dulwich, Eastbourne Cricket professional Jim Love (Yorkshire) Teams 10 Girls’ cricket The best girls play in boys’ teams; the school has hosted girls’ festivals Facilities Eight indoor cricket lanes (in two sports halls), eight artificial nets, six grass cricket nets, seven cricket squares Club/county affiliation Yorkshire Brief history Records survive from 1919 and in that time a fine tradition has emerged. Spectators enjoy the idyllic setting and the Benedictine hospitality. Fr Peter Utley of Hampshire returned to Ampleforth as a monk and gave much to the sport from 1936 to 1955, nurturing many a quality batsman. CF Grieve
scored 2,344 runs in his five years in the team. JP Pearce (1972–1977) claimed 141 wickets and F O’Connor (1976–1977) 91. In latter years, batting has dominated, testimony to high quality of the square and ground, expertly prepared by JM Wilkie. This culminated with Toby Pratt (2012–2015), scoring a career 1,990 runs at an average of 62 Cricketers of note Edmund King (Warwickshire), Richard Utley (Hampshire), Nick Derbyshire (Lancashire & Essex) Extras Ampleforth boasts a broader range of geographical opponents than most other schools, with opponents from as far down as the West Country, such as Blundell’s and Taunton School. Old Amplefordians are one of the fixtures on the friendly cricket scene in the south of England. The ground is the last place that Fred Trueman and Brian Statham opened the bowling together. Scyld Berry, The Telegraph’s longstanding cricket correspondent and former Wisden editor, went to school at Ampleforth