Strong Middlesex link gives boost to Merchant Taylors' cricketers

School hosts county's base for indoor training

Many schools can boast good links to county cricket cubs – but few would argue theirs are stronger than those shared between Merchant Taylors' and Middlesex CCC.

The school's brand new Julian Hill Cricket Centre is Middlesex's base for indoor training, giving pupils real experience of seeing the day-to-day life of a professional cricketer up close.

And they'll soon be able to count an old boy among those inspiring them too, after school First XI captain Aaryan Sawant became the first Merchant Taylors' cricketer to pen a professional contract with the county since Ravi Patel more than a decade ago.

"For us, it's a very important link," says director of cricket Ian McGowan. "It provides young, aspiring cricketers with the opportunity to see their heroes train and the hard work that goes in as they can look up to them on a daily basis.

"Those links we have with coaches and being the Home to Middlesex Youth Cricket really put us at the centre of the hotbed of cricketing talent in North-West London."

And that's translated into success on the pitch, with the 2024 season being one of the best in recent memory for the school's First XI.

They won 15 of the 18 games played over the course of the season and reached the semi-finals of the National Schools T20 competition. 

The cup run featured impressive victories in the London area final, with Pansilu Wijesinghe and Sawant scoring 79 and 72 respectively out of a total 214 for 3.

This performance was followed by the South-East regional final, where a fine team display saw Merchant Taylors' successfully defend their score of 148 to reach the national semi-final for the third time in the last six seasons.

Good traditional Saturday fixture wins were recorded on all but one weekend, showing that their focus hasn’t moved entirely to the shortened format games. In addition to the traditional competitive fixtures Merchant Taylors’ are proud that the sport continues to grow at the school with over 350 pupils playing cricket in the summer term. These numbers included a new soft ball initiative that provided the opportunity to over 70 Lower School pupils to play the sport for the very first time.

Merchant Taylors' is now transitioning to a single entry point for pupils at 11, which McGowan believes will further benefit the cricket programme in years to come.

That will build on a solid heritage of achievement further down the age groups - the U14s won the Middlesex Cup in 2024 and now represent the school in the Lord's Taverners' National U15 Competition next season.

"It's going to allow us a whole seven years of development with every pupil through the school," says McGowan.

"We're going to be able to offer a long-term cricketing education alongside a highly selective academic education."