Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
Public schools continue to produce the majority of Test cricketers to have played for Australia since the turn of the century but some of the nation’s biggest private schools are emerging as nurseries for the nation’s favourite summer sport.
Of the 102 cricketers to have played a Test for Australia since 2000, 54 completed their schooling at public institutions, with 48 coming through the private school system.
And our cricketing captains this century are even more likely to have come through the public system, with six of the eight Test leaders in the 2000s – Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Steve Smith and Tim Paine – attending public schools.
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Only Shane Watson – who captained a single Test in India in 2013 when Clarke was injured – and current captain and St Paul’s Grammar, Penrith, student Pat Cummins attended private schools.
Unlike the rugby codes and AFL though, which rely heavily on the school system to help develop players, the schools our cricketers attend are less likely to point to their higher-level success.
Eighty-six separate institutions have contributed to the tally this century, from all states and territories except the Northern Territory, with players schooled in city and country areas.
Seventy-two of those have produced a single Test cricketer, while 10 have two students that have gone on to play a men’s cricket Test for Australia.
But four schools stand above the rest for players this century.
Western Australia’s Wesley College has produced four players – brothers Shaun and Mitchell Marsh, batsman Chris Rogers and middle-order batter Hilton Cartwright – while wrist spinner Brad Hogg, opener Cameron Bancroft and former Test stalwart and coach Justin Langer went to fellow WA Public Schools Association (PSA) member Aquinas College.
Queensland’s traditional rugby nursery Nudgee College also schooled three players that turned out this century, off spinner Nathan Hauritz, opener Joe Burns and Australia’s latest Test debutant, leg spinner Mitchell Swepson.
Victoria’s St Bede’s College, which also has close connections with the Kingston Hawthorn Cricket Club, has produced three players – Brad Hodge, Jon Holland and last summer’s success story, quick Scott Boland.
Wesley College head of sport Luke Dwyer said the college’s facilities and the depth of the PSA competition had helped produce the champions.
“Those guys (the Marsh brothers, Rogers and Cartwright) are seriously good Test cricketers, so we do pride ourselves on the fact that we’ve had some very good athletes come through our college,” Dwyer said.
The college’s director of cricket Michael Deighton played 71 first class matches for Tasmania, while Test representative Shaun Marsh has given back to the college, doing some batting and fielding specialist coaching.
But Dwyer said on-field success – of the individual or the team, was not everything.
“We value everything that comes with sport – building resilience and discipline that it takes to commit to training and competition,” he said of Wesley, a school which has also produced AFL stars Lance “Buddy” Franklin, Ben Cousins and England Test cricketer Ben Hollioake.
