Wycombe High School Cricket Academy.
Cricket is a fast growing sport at Wycombe High School. Our U13 team are the County winners of the Lady Taverners Cup and were runners up in the Regional Finals in 2010. To support the growth of this sport in school and nationally, Wycombe High School has launched the Wycombe High School Cricket Academy. This will allow the school to work with local cricket clubs, arrange fixtures and create their own league. Isa Guha, an ex Wycombe High School student and a member of the England Womens’ Cricket Team, is supporting the Academy.
Isa is currently playing cricket internationally for England and studying part-time for a doctorate in Neuroscience. In 2005, She was a member of the Ashes winning team and in the 2009 tour in Australia helped retain the Ashes by taking 9-107 in one Test to make her 'Player of the Series'. In 2009 she was also part of the most successful women’s team in the country by winning the ICC Women’s World Cup in Sydney in February 2009, and the ICC World 2020, whitewashing the Aussies in a four-match series. She is currently playing with the England Academy from 2 – 7 July. Rosalie Birch, an ex England player, is also supporting the Academy. Rosalie made her Sussex debut in 2000, her England debut in 2003 against South Africa – Man of the Match on debut. She has played 7 Tests and 37 ODIs for England and was part of the winning Ashes team in 2005 (for the first time in 42 years) and again when they retained them in 2008 in Australia.
Rosalie is currently very involved with the ‘Chance to Shine’ campaign supported by Brit Insurance. ‘Chance to Shine’ is one of the single biggest grass-roots sports development programmes ever undertaken in Britain. The campaign, run by independent registered charity The Cricket Foundation, aims to educate through cricket two million children and to establish regular coaching and competitive cricket opportunities in a third of state schools - 5,200 primary and 1,500 secondary schools - by 2015. Wycombe High School is actively supporting ‘Chance to Shine’.
The Wycombe High Cricket Academy was formally launched on 5 July and representatives from The English Cricket Board, Cricket Foundation, The Chance to Shine Campaign, Buckinghamshire Cricket Board, Brunel University and local cricket clubs such as Wycombe, Marlow, and Great Kingshill all turned out to lend their support.
Headteacher, Mrs Sharon Cromie stated, “I am grateful to our Parents and Friends for their fundraising and helping us to make this vision a reality. Without their support this would not have happened. The launch of our own Academy marks quite an historic moment for us. The future of cricket at Wycombe High looks extremely bright. Our students are engaged and enthusiastic and they are, of course, what it is all about. The benefits of girls taking part in cricket are extraordinary. We hope that our new Academy will bring benefits to many girls in the wider community and support the national push to raise the profile of this great sport”.
Click here to see more pictures