We have been included in The Cricketer Magazine’s 100 Best Cricket Schools for the fifth year in a row.
This year’s Schools Guide is particularly important in showcasing our schools who have kept the game alive through a very challenging summer. Whether it has been remote video sessions, drills in the garden or even Zoom quizzes, schools cricket has emerged resolutely from this pandemic and the appetite to get back out on the playing fields is palpable.
“There should be deserved praise for all the teachers, coaches and volunteers who have put in so much hard work, in the most difficult of circumstances, to preserve a love of the game among the next generation.
“Congratulations to all of the schools included and we look forward to hearing about all of your future successes.”
Myerscough’s Award Winning cricket programme
We are very proud of our fixture list and how it has grown over the past few years. Our fixture list has around forty five fixtures allowing all students the opportunity to represent the college on a number of occasions over the Summer term. The college plays a combination of two day, one day, T20 and timed cricket which challenges our students in different scenarios against a wide variety of opposition. Some of our students favourite fixtures are our traditional games against the likes of Shrewsbury School, Sedbergh School, Manchester Grammar School and Denstone College. For the past couple of years, the summer term and fixture programme has started with a Pre-Season Tour to Potchefstroom in South Africa before Easter. Following the Easter Holidays, we start the summer term with a traditional Cricket Week, normally against the University sides of Leeds, Liverpool, Loughborough, Manchester and Cardiff. Additionally, we play a number of representative sides each year, such as Marylebone Cricket Club, overseas touring sides and a number of County teams which our students particularly enjoy. We are able to play red ball cricket in whites as well as white and pink ball cricket in our coloured kit making the fixture list varied and exciting. We aim to run four teams per year and our fixture list is constantly evolving meaning that whatever the playing standard of the student they will have plenty of opportunity to play a full summer of cricket. The college will also play in different competitions, we enter The National Under 17’s Cup, this is a first year tournament – we reached the National Quarter Finals in 2019, beaten by the eventual winners, Bromsgrove School. We also enter the National Schools T20 Competition – in both competitions, playing against some of the best and most illustrious schools in the country. Each year, we meet with students in September to put together a fixture list which suits their requests for that year. Students are proud to represent the college when they play their fixtures and take great pride in both the colleges and their own performances.
Training
Our students are in a very fortunate position to be based at Emirates Old Trafford as they get to utilise the amazing facilities that are on offer to help progress them as cricketers.
The training side of our programme is taken very seriously and many hours go into the planning and preparation of all the sessions. We have divided our training into three stages. Stage 1 – This links in with our strength and conditioning side of the programme and at this stage there is a big emphasis on getting the students fit and strong. This helps prevents injuries which can happen as the students grow and develop. We focus on competitive games during this stage that are alternative to cricket (i.e. football or hockey). With the summer cricket season just coming to an end we need to insure that there is no burnout during the winter months and this stage is hugely important in adding to that.
Stage 2- This is our skills and drills phase. During this stage we challenge the students to think and analyse their own game. Often, we strip their techniques right back and allow them to explore what they do well and then also to identify what areas of their game they would want to improve on. The drills start at basic, which allows the students to then progress at their own speed. Most of the sessions will have an overall theme or goal to them, however within that session students have the freedom to explore and develop as much as they want. Regardless of their individual cricketing abilities this phase allows them all to develop their own game.
Stage 3 – This is our high intensity, season preparation stage. Here we start to implement game scenarios and really up the intensity of the session. We try to create an environment that mirrors what they will face during the season. In saying this there is always the goal of improving. Students will train in what they believe will be their roles come the season. For example the opening batters will face new balls like they would in a game. Throughout this phase we are creating good habits and allowing students to have good clear plans for when the season starts.