England Test cricket & class. Still Gentlemen & Players
Out of the 11 England men’s players to face Australia at Sydney for the Fourth Test just 3 went to State Schools- Ben Stokes, Mark Wood and Jimmy Anderson. That is about average in recent years. A recent statistical survey suggested the figure was around 37%. By contrast the England men’s football has an average of 86%.
That is not to suggest that the England X1 are anything but good cricketers. No doubt the next few days will be spent discussing their strengths and weaknesses. The context to that must be the enormous stress and strain the players will have felt playing under all manner of restrictions since the English summer of 2020. That’s a long time now.
It does however still suggest that English cricket is very narrowly class based and is missing out on a huge range of potential talent from State education students.
A further interesting point that of the three players who went to State schools two are fast bowlers and third Ben Stokes is an all-rounder who also bowls. It looks like the Gentlemen (batsmen) v Players (bowlers) distinction which was abolished in the early 1960s still in practice exists.
Times have changed, or they should have.
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