Hampshire, Sussex and Surrey benefit as cricket "takes off" at Seaford College

Former England all-rounder Chris Adams has overseen increase in school's county pathways representation

Head of cricket, Chris Adams, has overseen cricket "taking off" at Seaford College in terms of facilities and participation. 

Since he took over, the school have increased their cricket pitches from three to nine which has allowed cricket at the school to keep up with the increased participation and made Seaford's an "epic programme".

The other improved element is the winter programme, which Adams admitted may have fallen behind other cricket-focused independent schools due to their sports hall doubling as an exam hall. The introduction of a "bespoke made" marquee has changed their winter programme.

He said: "We invested, with the school's support, in a company to come in and bespoke build us a performance marquee.

"It's got the height and covers the width of three of our outdoor astroturf cricket lanes. We were able to build in the correct lights so it's an indoor performance centre that operates through the winter months from September through to the end of March.

"What I do is build a programme based on looking at the higher end of cricket talent at the school where we feel that we can make fast track development process for them to improve their cricket and those that are aspirational to play at the higher level can."

In the summer term, the focus turns to participation, so more students are involved. 

He added: "Our summer programme does change quite dramatically, and our participation levels are now very high which is great."

There are now 54 teams representing the school which comes with its own challenges in terms of the facilities available and the school has reacted accordingly with the increase of pitches.

The girls' programme has also received significant investment with a state-of-the-art, five-lane area which is designated to their programme only. 

"I see the girls' cricket programme being strong enough for all our girls to play in it," Adams explained. "The concept of girls playing boys cricket will naturally come to an end because of the development of the girls' programmes at schools such as ours.

"You want the girls having their stand-alone fixture programme that's going to satisfy every level."

Seaford's location is a blessing as they have a strong relationship with three counties - Hampshire, Sussex and Surrey - which are all close enough for the school to be a natural pathway. 

It allows the school to have more students on academy contracts which, Adams believes are "everything that the professionals get without being paid" in terms of the strength and conditions and off-field support.