St Helen and St Katharine has today become the first-ever all-girls school in the 161-year history of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack to enter their 1st XI stats.
Wisden is seen as the ‘Bible of Cricket’ – or the Beano Annual with stats for those more cultured than cricketers! It includes stats from every first-class cricket match played across the country in the year of publication, as well as summarising the minor counties, second XI, school and premier club season. To be included in the Almanack is seen as a privilege and to be featured is an honour.
This is a culmination of the growth and development of both women and girls’ cricket around the country, but also at St Helen and St Katharine. From cricket barely existing in the school pre-Covid, we now field sixteen teams across what is a short but hectic summer term in five different cup competitions, countless friendly fixtures and big weekend blocks against some of the largest boarding schools in the area. This is a reflection of dedication, hard work and huge amounts of time put in by the students to grow what will be a long legacy of cricket at the school.
The 2024 season has been another great year for the sport. It began with indoor cricket success at county rounds in the Lent term, aiming to build on 2023’s double national success, which was always going to be a tough task. For the third year in a row, both U13 and U15 teams progressed to the regional stages at Edgbaston, this year with our young squads just missing out on finals, winning three of their four games on both days. The outdoor season began at Haileybury School on a glorious Saturday with six teams taking to the field. Following this, there were runs in national U17 Smile Cup (where we reached the quarter-final), and the U15 and U18 School Sport Magazine Cup (where we reached the 4th rounds), losing out in tight games to Bradfield and St Edward’s School. Results across the season reflected the hard work put in through the winter by our players and left all feeling positive.
This year we had over 150 students take part in cricket fixtures from Years 5 to Upper Sixth, this continues to grow year-on-year. Looking ahead to 2025, we have exceptionally strong year groups in the key Years 10 and Lower Sixth, so ambitions are high for huge successes, and continued growth of participation in the game at the school.
We look forward to further success, longer cup runs and punching even further above our weight, beating schools double the size and with decades of cricketing history. Who knows what the future may hold, but cricket at St Helen’s is only going one way. Up!
In the past year, St Helen and St Katharine has been ranked top 4 girls’ school for sport in the country by Schools Sport Magazine and ranked in the top 20 girls schools for cricket in the UK in The Cricketer’s annual Schools Guide 2024 – find out more below.
Top 4 girls’ school for sportTop 20 girls school for cricket
