KING'S BOWLS INTO THE CRICKETER'S TOP 100 SCHOOLS

12 Dec 2018 11:57

The King's School in Macclesfield has been named as one of the UK’s best schools for cricket by a national sports title, for the fourth consecutive year.

The Cricketer is the world’s best-selling cricket magazine and has published a new Good Schools Guide in which the magazine names its top 100 secondary, and 50 leading prep and junior schools.
During what The Cricketer called “a long and exhaustive selection process”, it considered the merits of more than 350 academic institutions. Each entry was judged against extensive selection criteria including quality of facilities, commitment to cricket in the curriculum and breadth of fixture programmes. 
The Cricketer magazine editor Simon Hughes commented: “This is both an informative guide and a tribute to all those teachers and coaches out there who are nurturing the talents of future club, county and international cricketers. The competition to be included was fierce and congratulations to all of the schools included.”
The Good Schools Guide states: “King’s recently celebrated 150 years of playing cricket and unearthed a photo of the team in 1865.” The School has teams at First and Second team level, as well as teams from U10 through to U15, often with B sides and occasionally C sides. Earlier this year, King’s pupils enjoyed a cricket tour to Dubai and the school has previously toured Kenya, South Africa, Barbados, Sri Lanka and Grenada.
King’s Head of Cricket, Steve Moores, said: “We are delighted to be chosen by The Cricketer Magazine as a Top 100 School for cricket for 2019. This award is a testimony to the hard work and commitment by a number of parties, and I would like to use this opportunity to thank pupils, parents, coaches and ground staff for their year-round support. 
He added: “Generations of former cricketers remember their days playing King’s cricket with great affection and we want to maintain that long tradition.”
Cricket at The King’s school dates back to at least 1865, with a photo of this particular year’s cricket team on show inside the pavilion, along with other team photos from the last 50 years.
The School has a top quality cricketing staff, led by former Nott and Derbyshire seamer, AJ Harris. AJ, a level IV coach, is supported by a number of specialist coaches who all help to run an extensive cricketing programme.
In any one season the first team will play around 22 fixtures with teams coming from as far away as Edinburgh, but with annual derby matches against sides like MGS very much the highlight. The school has a main pitch on Cumberland Street, which is a prominent feature in the town centre, an all-weather pitch on the Westminster Road site, three more grass squares at the Derby Fields, pitches for junior and girls’ cricket at Fence Avenue and extensive all weather outdoor nets at Westminster Road. The move to new premises in 2020 will see the school retain the cricket facilities at The Derby Fields with the addition of a new 1st XI cricket pitch and a state of the art indoor cricket centre.
The school has produced a handful of first class cricketers most notably Peter Moores, who is the former England Coach and as a player was a stalwart of Sussex. The school also has a wonderful record of producing minor counties stars and feeding scores of players in the local leagues.

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