Exciting new competition for state schools
An exciting new competition for state schools will be launched next year with the chance of playing a final at Lord’s – and we’re looking for entries in Shropshire.
The Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup is a new hardball cricket competition for state secondary schools across the UK at Under 15s level for both boys and girls.
Named after two state educated cricketing greats (Heather Knight and Ben Stokes) and backed by former England Captain, Michael Vaughan and The Black Heart Foundation, this ground-breaking initiative is designed to provide more opportunities for state-educated young cricketers to showcase their talent.
Cricket Shropshire will be running the early rounds of the competition in the county, with the winners progressing to the national rounds with the finals due to be played at Lord’s in September 2026
There will be a boys’ and girls’ competition launching in 2026 and both run at county level for the early stages, with progression to national rounds.
Cricket Shropshire Regional Development Programme Manager Darrell Corfield said: “This is the first time there has been a national state school hard ball competition.
“The existing competitions are dominated by the independent schools. This competition will have its own identity and hopefully will encourage more state schools to get involved.
“Obviously there is the question of equipment and facilities. We will have to rely on local clubs and utilise their facilities – and we have already had a couple offering their pitches to play the competition on.
“It can only be positive – developing links between schools and clubs and hopefully encourage more girls and boys to play cricket. The more opportunities there are for them to play cricket the better.
“Our connections with secondary schools is a lot better than if was four or five years ago, so that should allow us to arrange the competition smoothly.”
Schools can now register their interest in taking part in the competition via the form HERE.
If anyone has any questions, they can contact Darrell via darrell.corfield@cricketshropshire.co.uk
Pictured above, Cricket Shropshire’s Sacha Lee and Darrell Corfield at the competition launch at Lord’s.