St Lawrence College currently fields nine boys’ teams and seven girls’ teams. All pupils are given the opportunity to play cricket and to represent the school.
In the junior age groups, pupils are coached in the basic skills of batting, bowling and fielding. There is an emphasis on executing simple skills well and on learning how to read and understand the game. Agility, balance, co-ordination and speed are seen as fundamental attributes to be developed.
As pupils move up the school they develop their knowledge and understanding of the game, coaching sessions become more demanding, and they have a wider experience of playing matches. Pupils have the opportunity to undertake indoor training in the Sports Hall nets and use of the bowling machines all year round. Within the very established cricket set-up, we have a Cricket Academy, girls’ cricket training, twilight nets, a comprehensive winter training programme, a Junior Development Programme, a Sports Excellence Programme as well as the opportunity for one on ones with our coaches.
We have block fixtures against the likes of Sutton Valence, Eltham College, King’s School Canterbury and Sevenoaks School. The senior team takes part in the National Schools Twenty 20 Competition as well as prestigious annual MCC match and the Band of Brothers. We often take part in pre-seasons where we play a variety of formats from two day matches to coloured kit T20’s.
Our girls’ cricket teams are just as strong as our boys’, with our U15 girls’ team reaching the Quarter Final of the National T20 Cup in 2018 and 2021, highlighting the level at which we play.
We often have county youth cricketers at every age and currently have one pupil who is in the Kent CCC Academy. We have now had three pupils in the last four years who have been accepted into the Kent CCC Academy. We are also lucky to have a great coaching team which includes ex Kent CCC, Gloucester CCC and England Cricketer, Geraint Jones MBE.
