Among Bishop's Stortford's priorities is ensuring that pupils of any standard have exposure to a competitive environment
If the ECB are looking for a nugget of encouragement following the first season of The Hundred last summer, Bishop's Stortford College would be a decent port of call.
The Hertfordshire independent enjoyed an explosion of interest in its girls’ programme which has continued into the 2022 summer term, thanks to the 100-ball, free-to-air competition run alongside the men's equivalent.
Head of cricket David Hughes says several pupils attended games or tuned in on television and returned with either an enhanced or new enthusiasm for a sport delivered in a different light.
"It has been very eye-catching for young female cricketers to aspire to achieve those kinds of standards and play within that environment and it has definitely helped school cricket," Hughes told The Cricketer.
The Hundred was a big factor in making more of the schools girls pick up the sport [supplied]
"For us it has been glaringly obvious the development because of not having the last couple of years or a huge amount of it over the last couple of years.
"It has hit us as an incredibly positive wave of female cricketers developing and enjoying the game. Schools who started their girls programme three years before the pandemic might not have seen the substantial increase that we have seen this season.
"I know a lot of our female players who went to watch The Hundred came back with a real love for the game.
"Dare I say it, for the young viewer what The Hundred did for cricket was create an exciting atmosphere that was easy for those who didn't have a full understanding of the game it was easy for them to follow, understand, enjoy and want to be a part of it.
"They then came back to school inspired to achieve greater things. We facilitated getting as many of them out there playing, doing, and enjoying as we possibly could."
Action from Bishop's Stortford [supplied]
The college have been unable to fully run their girls programme until this summer, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But this year has seen them make up for lost time, fulfilling 124 matches across the prep school (years nine to 13) with almost every girl engaging with the sport.
"Covid hit the first year that we were due have all of our prep school girls on cricket," explained Hughes. "That is from year four and above.
"We had a little bit of a stuttering start with that, but this was the first year it was able to happen, and we were able to see it in all its glory.
"Across the whole school, fixtures from under-9s we had 320 fixtures. For us was the most we've ever had.
"The prep school we had 244 fixtures from 40 teams. We had every single pupil in year four, five and six playing a fixture which is something we've never managed to do before and is a massive thing for our inclusivity.
"We managed to get down to E team fixtures which we'd never managed before. On that side of things just incredible for the number of pupils we got playing the game."
The Bishop's Stortford under-15 girls in action [supplied]
Among Bishop's Stortford's priorities is ensuring that pupils of any standard have exposure to a competitive environment. Three weeks into the summer term, Hughes and head of girl's cricket Hannha Fordham had to find extra space in the calendar to ensure pupils of a lower ability but the same enthusiasm had access to matches.
And while the programme ultimately strives to deliver elite players - Graham Doggart and Charles Titchmarsh are graduates from yesteryear - creating a welcoming environment for all is the utmost concern.
Hughes added: "What is important to us is we're creating an environment that they want to play the game and play the game beyond school.
"Whether that is playing for university, a club, outside of school time. If we get as many pupils as possible enjoying the game and playing the game that go on to continue playing the game, I think we've done our jobs.
"A successful programme from my perspective is developing the elite cricketer. But, with a lot of work in the winter programme, to create a greater inclusivity throughout the pupils that allows them to enjoy and develop within the game."
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