Cricket
at
NottinghamHigh School
Cricket is played by every boy who comes into the school, and they all get the chance to receive coaching from our staff and from our cricket coach Ian Rose. At times some of the boys will also have the opportunity to receive quality coaching from professional players in addition to experiencing national training facilities.
On games afternoons boys are grouped suited to their ability for training and practice matches. The cricket facilities at our Valley Road playing field are excellent, with 3 cricket squares, 8 nets and a further 6 pitches, and every boy has access to good quality, modern cricket equipment. Our Spring Nets programme provides structured pre-season coaching for players from January-March, whilst our Nottingham High School Cricket Academy enables us to extend and enrich our most able players per year group with focussed small group and 1 to 1 coaching in a bid to prepare them for representative county cricket.
At a competitive level the school runs teams at every age group and look forward to playing over 100 matches in 2012 against the top cricketing schools within travelling distance. We run 3-4 teams per age group to give as many boys as possible the opportunity to represent the school. The A and B teams take part in block fixtures on Saturdays, with the A teams also competing within the County Cup. Our C and D teams play a combination of Saturday and midweek fixtures, whilst also having the opportunity to represent their house cricket team within the Wheeler Cup.
At senior level the 1st XI take part in regional and national 20/20 competitions in addition to their Saturday block fixtures. However, the 1st XI also play exhibition matches against the M.C.C., Forty Club XL, and touring sides from around the world. In 2012 the boys are hosting Brighton Grammar School from Melbourne for 2 days.
Touring is also an important part of our cricket programme. We aim to offer insight to the on-road touring experience which first class cricketers and International cricketers become accustomed to. At U12 and U13 levels we run tours to the North East of England, whilst at U15 level the boys play in a 3 day festival held at a different venue each year (Somerset 2012). Previous senior cricket tours have included Barbados 2009 and Portugal 2011. Currently we are arranging a senior tour to Sri Lanka for 2013 which we are looking to launch in 2012.
Mark Baker
Director of Cricket
