Search for a State School Superstar 2026

In an excellent article about state schools cricket, the recently published 2026 Wisden Almanack highlights that 10 of the 11 England players in the 1976 Oval Test v the West Indies were state school educated, compared to only 2 (Ben Stokes and Josh Tongue) out of the 11 in the recent Melbourne Ashes Test. Elite cricket is it seems becoming more the arena for the privileged than ever. The England team is no longer simply “Gentlemen and Players” as in the 1920s but increasingly risks becoming dominated by one educational background.

93% of pupils in England attend state sector schools. I strongly believe that if most young people are not exposed to cricket - if it is often not an option at school and is no longer available on free-to-air television - then they are not going to watch or participate in the sport.

To this end, I have been delighted to see the emergence of the MCC Foundation’s Knight-Stokes Cup - a tournament for state school teams with a final at Lord’s in September.

It’s a brilliant initiative and I note that the take-up from schools has been impressive. However, it is a tournament that will likely favour the players and teams who are already good. They will get more games as they will progress further in the tournament. My philosophy has always been to work closer at the grass roots to see what can be done to get more state schools young people playing at clubs. Every club should have state school cricketers as the backbone of their junior section that will feed into the club for years to come.

At Twenty20 Community Cricket Academy we motivate state school kids to play cricket at an early age. Many young children have only ever experienced plastic bat cricket with inadequate equipment and facilities. Unlike at state schools, hardball cricket is often played in private schools from the age of 8. It’s a massive step up for state school kids to suddenly play hard ball cricket in the under 12s against private school pupils who have been playing it for years.

We aim to give them the start they are often missing at state schools. By the time they reach Under 12 level, I estimate that a private school pupil may have received around 250 extra hours of cricket compared to their state school counterpart.

To that end I am delighted to announce the second iteration of our Search for a State School Superstar, specifically to identify, encourage and retain, new talent.

Open to boys in school Years 4–6 and girls in Years 7–9, last year’s event surpassed all expectations: 108 young cricketers signed up from 49 different cricket clubs - representing not far off half of the clubs playing junior cricket in Surrey at that age group.

Like last year, the competition is structured around two phases.

In Phase 1 cricket-related skills are assessed. This is not about whether you can clobber the ball to the boundary, but more do you have the fundamental skills to bowl accurately, catch consistently, hit shots in the right area; it’s about agility and physicality as much as cricket skills, and above all about attitude. We’re not looking for the next super tall super strong fast bowler, but are wanting to highlight more technical players, and those who for whatever reason county boards might discount.

We are looking for players who shine beyond their cricket skills and who just need the right opportunity to progress; those who clearly have the right latent skills but are not doing much, if any, cricket at school.

The players who score highest across the Phase 1 skills assessments progress to Phase 2 which is a full hard ball match. From there, we identify the winners.

The boy and girl winners will each be offered a full bursary to join the Twenty20 Community Cricket Academy, benefiting from winter training and additional summer matches alongside our existing Academy players.

All runners-up will be offered a part bursary to join the Academy to further their development.

But this is not just a competition - it is a gathering of kids who are passionate about their cricket and want to develop.

Of the 280 young cricketers in our Academy, 86% are from state schools. No one is turned away, but we are proud of this figure as these kids are the ones who need the extra opportunity.

As the Wisden article highlights, it remains incredibly difficult for a state school child to become a professional cricketer, and this is reflected all the way down the cricket pathway at club level.

Our belief is simple: if you engage state school cricketers early and provide the right opportunities, they will become the club cricketers — and potentially the elite players — of the future.

If we can help more young players stay in the game, perhaps one day England’s Test team will better reflect the education make-up of that famous 1976 side.

The deadline to apply for Search for a State School Superstar 2026 is 15th May with skills tests at May half-term.

Parents can find out more and register their child here.