School named one of UK’s best for cricket
KING’S 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 selec- tion criteria including quality of facilities, commitment to cricket in the curriculum and breadth of fixture programmes.
The Cricketer magazine editor Simon Hughes said: “This is both an informative guide and a tribute to all those teachers and coaches out there who are nurturing the talents of
SOL Campbell picked up his first home win as Macclesfield Town manager as his side came out on top against Crawley Town at the Moss Rose.
Goals from Elliott Durrell and Harry Smith earned the Silkmen the victory, meaning that while they remain bottom of the League Two table, they are now just four points from safety.
Campbell was delighted to pick up the win, and hopes his team can now kick on and continue to improve over the coming weeks.
“We had a good attitude. The weather wasn’t the best so we had to really make sure we made the right passes and knock downs and kept the ball moving, with not too much in the air,” he said.
“We had to watch ourselves because you never know on these windy wet afternoons. The lads put in a great shift and they’ve started to respond how I wanted to play.
“It was a good performance, but there were a few moments where I said to myself ‘we just got away with that.’ Overall we really controlled the game, but we need to play a bit more in certain scenarios. That will come with confidence.
“For me personally I wished we played more against the wind. Especially when we had the moments to get our head up and play the right ball, because once you kick the ball in the air it’s anybody’s game.
“We got the goal and it was a fantastic strike. He took it early and it was a great volley. That’s what we needed, it’s it good to have guys who can go for it and seize the opportunity.
“The team’s confidence 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 both proving to be lively throughout the opening half hour.
The Crawley defence were finding it tough to cope with the pressure they were being put under, and the Silkmen made the breakthrough when they took the lead on 31 minutes. Durrell was the man to get the goal, smashing the ball home from 25 yards out to make it 1-0.
Campbell’s side almost added a quick-fire second when Danny Whitaker tried his luck from the edge of the box, but his shot was deflected behind.
Macc still needed to be alert at the other end, as Crawley went close to finding an equaliser when Luke Gambin headed wide after getting on the end of a cross from Reece Grego-Cox. It remained school has teams at First and Second team level, as well as teams from U10 through to U15.
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, 1-0 at the break, but there was then a delay before the second half could get underway due to a floodlight failure.
Eventually they came back on, and the match was able to resume after an extended interval. 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 thank pupils, parents, coaches and ground staff.”