Cricket

St Paul’s School was one of the first schools to take up the game of cricket.

Four Senior XIs, three U15 XIs and three U14 XIs represent the school on a regular basis.

The 1st XI have a very strong fixture list including Radley, Eton, Cranleigh, Dulwich, Merchant Taylors’, Hampton, Reed’s and the MCC.  The 1st XI also take part in the Annual Festival at the end of term with The Leys, Monkton Combe and Fettes College.  St Paul’s has been named in The Cricketer Magazine – Top 100 Schools for the past four years.

There are winter net sessions for all age groups mainly in the Spring Term whilst several pupils will attend the school’s Cricket Academy. There are five indoor nets within the Sports Hall and winter coaching benefits from the use of three bowling machines.

The school’s Cricket Academy aims to give the best young cricketers the opportunity to receive more specialist coaching during the second half of the Autumn Term (Saturday mornings 9.30am-11.30am) and throughout the Spring term on a Saturday morning (9.30am-12.30pm). Pupils are invited to attend these sessions at the discretion of the Director of Cricket and selection is based on the individual’s cricketing potential.

Most of those invited are current U18 1st XI players, potential 1st XI players, and Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Form players who are involved at county, regional or National level.  Heads of Cricket Year Groups are also consulted regarding an invitation to attend these sessions.  Identification of potential cricket academy players also takes place during the various trials and practice sessions that occur during the Spring term.

We also offer tours for all ages recently having taken the U15 squad to Sri Lanka and the 1st XI squad to Cape Town. Most recently we toured St Lucia in 2023.

The school has a long history with cricket. The first Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill, was at St Paul’s School in the early 1660s and there is much evidence that the practice of playing cricket had already reached London from Kent.  It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that St Paul’s School was one of the first schools to take up the game of cricket. The school played at the Oval for 25 years, up to 1884, and Surrey uses the present ground for junior county matches. Former international players include Percy Fender (Sussex, Surrey and England), Edgar Thomas ‘Tom’ Killick (Middlesex, MCC, Free Foresters and England) and Reggie Schwarz (South Africa).

For the most recent fixtures and results, please view the SOCS website.

Centuries Scored at Monkton Combe

Anosh is the first player in the 1st XI to score a hundred in consecutive matches since the 1930s!

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