We are extremely proud that three Stanfield boys have been selected to play for Lancashire County Cricket Club this season.

Zach Barton & Shivy Gautam Y5 and Nate White Y6 will represent the county’s Under 10s and Under 11s teams, respectively.

Cricket clubs across Lancashire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester nominate their best players at each year group to trial for Lancashire CCC. The boys were successful in numerous trials over recent months, culminating with the top 24 in each age category being selected to compete in a 40 over match before a final selection of 15 boys in each section.

They will now go on to compete against other cricket county teams such as Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire & Durham throughout the summer.

Mr Lyon said: “Shivy, Nate and Zach deserve enormous credit for their hard work, skill and commitment to doing their best every time they step on to the pitch. These qualities were clearly spotted by the Lancashire selectors and they fully deserve this wonderful opportunity.

“Sport plays a pivotal role in the life of our school and cricket is very much at the heart of that approach. We have been thrilled to watch so many boys and girls excelling at cricket this term. There is a real appetite to improve their skills even further and that’s great to see.”

Well done to the Year 5 boys who won their cricket matches against Birkenhead this week. Team Captains Shivy and Max have both written a match report, which you can read below.

It was perfect cricket weather for the boys’ U10s Cricket Team to travel away to their first fixture of the season. Hopes were high for a good contest, and of course a victory, as the team represented the school after a long time.

The pitch looked perfect to bowl first, Birkenhead won the toss, but they elected to bat first anyway.

Merchant Taylors’ fierce bowling attack conceded very few runs, limiting the opposition to a total score of 63 runs from 20 overs. Wickets fell at regular intervals throughout with Keshav Harave and Finlay Stiff taking the lion’s share. Rohan Patel did a great job in his debut as our Year 5 wicketkeeper. The whole team fielded well with superb backing-up and a fantastic direct hit from Jailaksh Saravanan.

Shivy Gautam and Zach Barton put up a very good opening batting partnership of 52 runs. Zach Barton out on 34 runs, with a brilliant catch from the fielding side. Shivy Gautam was retired on 39 runs after accelerating the run-rate with Jailaksh. Oliver Barton hit 3 back-to-back boundaries with Sam Ayres at the other end, both finishing the game off in style! Merchant Taylors’ finished on 129 from 20 overs.

Overall, Birkenhead put up a good fight, showing some good potential in the field, however the Merchants might was unstoppable today!

By Shivy Gautam 5R

The boys’ B team travelled to Birkenhead for their first cricket fixture of the season. Captain Max Ryan lost the toss and Merchants’ were put into bat first. Cillian Forde and Thomas Birch were the opening pair and hit 16 runs off 4 overs. Max and Blake Cameron had the highest total of runs from their pair – 28 off 4 overs. Merchants got 295 runs off 16 overs.

Abhiraj Menon and Max picked up 7 wickets between them (Abhiraj – 3 Max – 4). Jay Roy, Blake and Thomas also picked up good wickets. Simon Holt took a superb catch and Jay had a brilliant run-out. Cillian and Alex Christophorou did a fantastic job behind the stumps as well! Birkenhead finished on 207 off 16 overs.

Birkenhead tried their best, but Merchants’ were too good for them today.

By Max Ryan 5R

Congratulations to Stanfield, Merchant Taylors’ pupil, Josh, who has just been signed by Burnley Football Club.

Josh, who is in Y3W, is a keen footballer and is delighted to have signed for the Premier League team. The club offered 11 players the opportunity to sign for them, one of which was Josh, who will begin playing for the team in September this year.

We’re looking forward to hearing all about Josh’s progress as he travels throughout the UK and abroad (Covid permitting) to represent the club.

Good luck, Josh!