Young Derbyshire cricketers enjoy once-in-a-lifetime experience

The Derbyshire school’s Under-15 girls’ side were unable to battle past Penistone Grammar School for a place in the Lord’s final but left Yorkshire with memories to cherish.

After triumphing in their regional finals, the school made the trip to Leeds for the north versus central semi-final but fell narrowly short against the impressive south Yorkshire opposition.

The Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup is a national hard ball competition for state schools across the UK, with over 1,100 boys’ and girls’ teams from more than 800 schools entering the inaugural edition this summer.

Emily Shaw’s half-century for Penistone, bolstered by contributions from captain Josie Charlesworth and Elena Sandica, helped them set a strong score of 168-3 as Darcy Wall and Harriet Malkin both took wickets for Ecclesbourne.

And despite Lilia Buckley’s half-century in reply, Betty Drye’s brilliant five-wicket haul helped restrict Ecclesbourne to 157-8 and dash their Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup hopes.

The brainchild of Michael Vaughan and MCC chair Mark Nicholas, the Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup – named after state school-educated stars Ben Stokes and Heather Knight – is organised by the MCC Foundation and supported by Barclays and the Black Heart Foundation.

And Angus Berry, CEO of the MCC Foundation, hailed the initiative for enhancing the profile of state school cricket and giving more girls opportunities.

"By providing an opportunity for state schools to play cricket and to enter a competition that ultimately has a final at Lord's, can be a massive catalyst,” he said.

“That’s for people both playing the game already, but also people who may have not had that opportunity.

"We're really excited about the girls’ teams and what that means - but it's a start.

"It’s the start, but we hope this can really start to drive forward a culture of cricket back into state schools.

“It’s been a brilliant year for women’s sport and cricket – the growth of the girls’ game is incredible and we’re seeing more and more have that opportunity to play.

“This competition gives yet another opportunity, and that’s really important – playing at fantastic grounds like this but also at Lord’s.

“It’s really aspirational and we hope girls up and down the country will see this opportunity and grasp it going forwards.”

Over a thousand teams have signed up for the chance to play at Lord’s as stars encourage greater access to cricket in state schools. Find out more: https://www.lords.org/mcc/barclays-knight-stokes-cup