Aysgarth Selected As One Of The Top Cricketing Schools In The Country

Published by Aysgarth School on Thursday 2nd of February 2023

We are delighted to announce that Aysgarth School has been named one of the UK’s top 50 prep/junior schools for cricket by the world’s best-selling cricket magazine The Cricketer.

This fantastic achievement recognises the exceptional coaching programme and outstanding facilities on offer at Aysgarth. Aysgarth’s inclusion in the prestigious 2023 Schools Guide was finalised after an exhaustive selection process that saw a huge number of schools vying for a place in the top 50 prep/junior schools.

All entries were judged against an extensive set of criteria, which included a compelling commitment to cricket in the curriculum, facilities, fixture programmes and coaching. Alex Lane, Director of Sport, said: “We are delighted to be named in the UK’s top 50 Prep Schools once again. Our ‘Cricket for all’ philosophy is the foremost of our ethos and I could not thank our games staff enough for the outstanding enthusiasm and effort they put into coaching the children at Aysgarth.

The quality of our coaching is outstanding with one member of staff being a Level 4 and 3 members of staff with a Level 2 ECB coaching qualification. James Alderson (Head of Cricket & U13A coach) works tirelessly all year round to oversee our cricket programme grow from strength to strength.

Paul Grayson (Cricket Professional) takes real emphasis on improving the performances of the boys with their batting; offering one on one sessions all year round and coaching the boys at Prep across the age ranges in the summer term. The boys get to experience all types of formats of the game during their weekday games programme for training and matches, evening activities and weekend matches (red, white and pink balls have been used).

We are delighted with our current cricket provision and we hope to take on some of the best schools in the country with our competitive fixture list this year.” Cricket is the major summer sport at Aysgarth, with 17 teams from the 1st XI down to U8C level. The school’s facilities include 5 excellent pitches, 7 top-quality grass nets, and the sports hall also provides four lanes of nets and these nets are much used throughout the winter, during the school’s extensive winter coaching programme.

This summer we had 187 fixtures played across age groups and abilities. Our most competitive fixture is usually against RGS Newcastle. We went on tour down to Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire and had brilliant games against Caldicott and Summerfields. The 2023 Schools Guide is included alongside the December issue of The Cricketer (available on the newsstand from Friday 18 November). The guide will also be made available digitally on thecricketer.com from Friday 9 December.