22 - Alumni Spotlight: Marcus Lilley
Marcus Lilley, Class of 2022 Marcus Lilley (Class of 2022) captained Trinity’s First XI cricket team for three years, leading them to memorable victories including a standout win over Whitgift. Now playing for the University of Leeds First XI, he continues to combine high-level cricket with academic study. With nearly six years of coaching experience, Marcus is passionate about mentoring young
players and developing leadership both on and off the field. As First XI captain for three years, what were the standout moments and biggest challenges of leading the team? I loved the National cup and the chance to beat ‘bigger’ schools and knock them out of the competition. Being very competitive myself, it
was the only part of school cricket where the result had a further consequence with there being no league cricket like club cricket for example. Knocking out Whitgift with a depleted squad was, of course, a special highlight for me. I never really felt there were any major challenges in leading the team as it was such an enjoyable and developing experience, however if there were to be one it would probably be managing a different/ weakened team during the exam period. However this always gave the opportunity for younger players to play which me and Mr Ali Brown were a big advocate of with one of the first things him telling me on my 1st XI debut being “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough” and that was the approach we took during selection. Which teachers or coaches at Trinity had the biggest influence on you, both on and off the cricket field? Mr Ali Brown definitely had the biggest impact and influence on my development as a cricketer and individual. Having played to such a high standard I made sure to soak up as much knowledge and expertise from him as possible, learning from his past experiences. We looked at the game in a very similar fashion and agreed on