Cricket
Master in Charge of Cricket Mr Ben Barton
Cricket is hugely popular at The Leys, not least due to the fabulous on site facilities, excellent coaching staff and long standing links with local clubs which enables play to continue throughout the long Summer vacation. New innovations in coaching, an award winning groundsman, new covers, mobile batting cages and purpose built indoor nets all indicate the focus and attention paid to producing cricketers of quality.
We run eight teams and the season gets underway during the Lent Term with regular indoor nets. The main campus boasts a top quality Cricket square in its middle, ensuring that there is always a crowd and always cricket to watch! Our seven outdoor nets are also sited here and are constantly in use, if not by us, then by one of the local clubs with which we have close links.
The 1st XI and elite players are coached by Justin Benson (formerly of Leicestershire CCC and an Old Leysian) and he is our link with the Essex Academy for outstanding young players.
The 1st XI have enjoyed considerable success in recent years, partly due to intensive pre-season training which has included trips to Copenhagen and Cyprus. We are currently planning a major tour of South Africa for the summer of 2009.
Each season closes with a festival which has been running for some 20 years involving teams from London, Bath and Edinburgh. Schools take it in turn to host this and one couldn’t ask for a more idyllic geographical spread of venues.