Oakham School - Cricket Focus
Congratulations Patrick on your new role as Director of Cricket at Oakham School. You must have some big plans for the year ahead?
Thank you. It is a very exciting time at Oakham with lots of ideas to implement to improve the cricket and build on the fantastic work of previous Directors of Cricket. I have thoroughly enjoyed the first couple of months, starting off a winter programme which includes a full plan with dedicated coaches for the girls for the first time. It has been wonderful to work with boys and girls from across the school in the indoor nets this term and the benefits for them have been plain to see.
We hear that winter nets for the lower, middle and upper school began at Oakham in the Autumn term?
We started winter cricket last term, slightly earlier than in the past, and this year we are very excited about the dedicated girls’ programme with our newest member of staff who will work with the girls in the school across the year. Mark Hudson joined the coaching team in October and began work with the girls right away. Mark is chairman at Market Overton CC, a local club side, and he is also heavily involved at Leicestershire with a focus on girls’ cricket development.
We run a senior session for boys and girls on a Wednesday evening, a wicket-keeping session with Ed Hales on a Thursday morning before school, two sessions on a Thursday evening for U14/U15 boys and girls and then Lower School afterwards. Finally, we get a good group of senior boys and girls in on Sunday morning for a bit more of a relaxed session. It has been wonderful to see the students getting back into the game this term.
We also hear that you have been providing specialist wicket keeper training too?
Mr Hales is the cricket graduate who works in Wharflands (an Oakham school house) as resident tutor and also in the PE & Games department. Ed is a talented player with a strong interest in wicket keeping who is developing a great morning session for our keepers. We invite keepers from across the year groups, so it is wonderful to watch the Lower School students working with and learning from the seniors. We intend to put on more sessions like this, grouping similar players from across the school ages to work together to consolidate the feeling of community and togetherness, creating one Oakham team who know more about each other and can celebrate in each others success.
Can you tell us a bit more about the cricket facilities on offer at Oakham?
We are lucky to have, in the summer, some of the best school wickets thanks to the brilliant work of the grounds department led by Richard Dexter. With five full time grass squares and one temporary pitch, we can host six home games. A new development to replace our main bank of grass/Astro net was completed earlier this term and we look forward to using these dedicated 14 lane Astro nets as soon as the light and warmer weather returns! Given the right conditions, this facility is able to be used all year round, so the hope is that milder sunnier spring Sunday mornings will see the seniors outdoors for winter nets from time to time. This facility also offers us the opportunity to arrange one-to-one sessions with students in their spare time.
What about away from the nets and pitches?
We are in a very fortunate position that we have a dedicated Strength and Conditioning department available to the students, based in the Sports Centre. Mr West & Miss Cafola work in the gyms providing support for all our students.
Scholarships
Oakham School offer a range of bursaries and scholarships across the school. Amongst our Specialist Awards, there are two awards related to sport, 'All-Rounder Award’ and 'Sport Scholarship'. It is also possible to apply for a 'means-tested bursary'.
Sport Scholarships are awarded at 13+ and 16+ after a performance assessment. For more information about our scholarships and bursaries, please visit:
https://www.oakham.rutland.sch.uk/admissions/scholarships-and-bursaries/
Alumni
Cricketing Alumni include, Lyndon James (Nottinghamshire), Stuart Broad (England, Nottinghamshire), Lucy Pearson (England), Tom Fell (Worcestershire), Josh Cobb (Northamptonshire, Welsh Fire), Matthew Boyce (Leicestershire), Alex Wyatt (Leicestershire) & Stefan Kelly (Bermuda).
Thank you to Patrick Latham, new Director of Cricket at Oakham School for this interview
