Former England bowler Sajid Mahmood has spent the past eight years teaching cricket to state school students in west London, a path so unusual among retired internationals that he has yet to meet another England cricketer working in the state system. Now, as an unofficial ambassador for a new national competition designed exclusively for state-educated children, Mahmood is hoping to level a playing field that remains heavily tilted towards private schools.
Mahmood, who played 38 times for England between 2004 and 2009, is head of cricket at William Perkin Church of England High School in Greenford, Middlesex. He has also set up the Saj Mahmood Cricket Academy and, more recently, partnered with Delhi Capitals to launch two academies in the UK – one at Farringtons School and another at William Perkin. “I’m fully aware of state schools not really having cricket opportunities,” he said. “That’s where I came from, so it was important for me to give those opportunities to people who can’t necessarily access good coaching or get an insight into what it takes to play professionally.”
Competition named after Stokes and Knight aims to broaden cricket’s reach
The Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup, launched in April 2026, is a hardball competition open to all state secondary schools in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Named after Ben Stokes and Heather Knight – two of England’s most prominent state-educated cricketers – the tournament targets under-15 teams, with flexibility for the girls’ competition to include two under-16 players per match. Around one-fifth of all state secondary schools in the UK have signed up, producing approximately 1,100 boys’ teams and 400 girls’ teams. The organisers, the MCC Foundation – the charitable arm of Marylebone Cricket Club – have installed a new honours board in the Lord’s pavilion for the winners. Finals Day is scheduled for 10 September on the main pitch at Lord’s.
The competition is supported by Barclays, the MCC’s principal partner, and The Black Heart Foundation, which provided initial funding. Ed Smith, the MCC president and former England selector, described the tournament as “a catalyst” rather than “a complete answer on its own”. Its launch is seen as a direct response to the longstanding fixture between Eton and Harrow, which still takes place at Lord’s each year despite growing opposition. The MCC announced in February 2022 that the Eton v Harrow match would no longer be held at Lord’s from 2023, intending to replace it with finals of school competitions for greater inclusivity, but following member opposition the fixture was reinstated until at least 2027, with a review planned for 2028.
‘Pitiful lack of facilities’ remains the main barrier
The overwhelming factor preventing the widespread growth of cricket in state schools remains a severe shortage of playing and training facilities – a situation for which successive governments over multiple decades are answerable. Mahmood’s own school is one of the fortunate ones. Thanks to a previous headteacher who prioritised physical activity, William Perkin has access to an outdoor cricket pitch, four outdoor nets and four more indoors.
At Blythe Bridge High School in Staffordshire, there are no playing or training facilities at all. The school relies on healthy local relationships with nearby cricket clubs to play and train. Cory Flint, the head of PE, said his pupils are excited about the competition. “We’re quite a strong state school so we’ve said that we can go pretty far in the competition. But you never know.” Blythe Bridge’s team eased through their opening fixture last week, boosted by a hat-trick from star player Oliver Staten, and a number of players are on the cusp of county recognition.
At the Winston Churchill School in Surrey, ambitions are more modest. Matches are played on a worn artificial strip in the middle of the school’s running track. PE teacher Jack Fuller said: “The players just wear their PE kit. We don’t ask them to wear full whites because we don’t want to make students buy something if they are only going to play a few games.”
The gap in facilities reflects a broader inequality documented by a Sutton Trust report published in February 2026, which found that 59% of professional male cricketers in England attended independent schools. That ranks the sport behind only the armed forces (63%) and senior judges (62%) as the country’s most privately educated profession, and means professional cricketers are more than eight times as likely as the general UK population to have been privately educated. The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket’s 2023 report highlighted elitism and class-based discrimination in the sport, partly because cricket in state schools is so scarce and the talent pathway is structurally aligned to private schools. Independent schools typically offer superior facilities, year-round specialist coaching and extensive touring programmes, creating a significant advantage.
To help address the shortfall, the MCC Foundation runs a nationwide network of hubs that provide free, high-quality coaching to talented state-educated young cricketers. Since 2011, the hubs have coached 20,000 young players, and the foundation plans to quadruple the number to 250 by 2027. In April 2024, the Prime Minister announced a £34.7 million funding package for cricket in deprived areas, aimed at ensuring more state school pupils have access to appropriate facilities. The England and Wales Cricket Board’s State School Action Plan and its Supplementary Support Programme, which provides additional coaching to state-school cricketers already in county age-group programmes, also support the competition’s aims.
Playing regulations for the Knight-Stokes Cup have been kept intentionally loose to remove as many impediments as possible. Close to 100 independent schools have offered to allow state schools to use their facilities during the tournament – a collaboration Mahmood described as crucial. “Living as neighbours, it’s important that the independent schools allow state schools to use those facilities as well – that’s one of the ways we can really use the competition to grow the sport. Independent schools are playing their part in this as well.”
Potential to unearth new talent
The competition’s primary aim is to broaden cricket’s reach, but there is also hope it will uncover players who might otherwise slip through the net. Ben Stokes said: “I love the fact that there’s been some time, money and exposure being pushed towards specifically a state school competition. Sometimes that’s where you find the rogue, raw, rare, talented people.” He added that he hoped in five or six years’ time, six or seven professionally contracted players would be able to say they were part of the Knight-Stokes Cup. Mahmood agreed: “Towards the latter end of the tournament, we might see some really good players. I wouldn’t be surprised if we find some who haven’t been involved in any pathway and actually get earmarked for county cricket.”
Mahmood believes the tournament must evolve beyond a symbolic gesture. “The more we can get done, the more it goes from a box-ticking tournament to something that can actually make a real impact.”
