Ex-Durham bowler helping aspiring pros and social players alike at Sherborne School

Dorset school aiming to increase participation among pupils

Sherborne School have built a cricket programme that caters for players of all abilities and believe they have struck a balance between supporting potential professionals and increasing participation across the school. 

The most important factor is their reshaped fixture list to ensure the opposition is big enough to provide matches at all levels.

Ryan Buckley, Sherborne's cricket professional who played four first-class matches for Durham, said: "The biggest thing I've tried to change is growing that fixture card and not just taking easy option of the local school around us. 

"Keeping them in the programme because there are lots of boys schools in Dorset but it's not just the first team, we've got 15 teams out on a Saturday so we need schools that provide playing opportunities."

This included bringing Millfield and King's Taunton, two local schools with a great cricket set-up, back onto the Saturday fixture list.

The next step for the school is having facilities that can cope with the increased playing and training opportunities. Sherborne has six grass squares and one astroturf wicket, 11 grass nets and 14 astroturf nets as well as eight indoor nets in two sports halls.

The school's head groundsman has been in place for 18 months and his hard work has helped produce "fantastic cricket wickets".  

Buckley added: "We played a game last year where two of our boys were running in hitting the wicket hard and it was carrying through to the edge of the ring. It really did look like proper cricket and we have a lot of boys who are aspiring professionals and they've got to see what first-class cricket looks like in terms of facilities."

The school is aware of the important part they play in a prospective professional's young career: "We're never going to curse somebody's dream, we're there to support it, guide them and nurture them on the way. We have a responsibility to ensure somebody has the chance."

The new indoor facility has taken their offering from four indoor lanes with limited run-ups to now developing a bowlers-specific programme which combines senior and junior bowlers in the same sessions. 

It is not just what happens on the pitch for Sherborne as the school looks to highlight the values of playing cricket beyond their time at school. This includes sitting opposite their opposition at lunch during their games to encourage the teams to socialise and mirror the social aspect which is more common in club cricket.