Adam Hopkins speaks to Darren Talbot of Twenty20 Community Cricket Academy about his state school talent search
The search is on to unearth some of Surrey’s untapped state school cricketing talent with the launch of the second edition of Twenty20 Community Cricket Academy’s Search for a State School Superstar programme.
Aimed at boys in school years 4-6 and girls in years 7-9, the successful players have the opportunity to earn a full bursary to cover a place at the nearest hub of the Twenty20 Community Cricket Academy for the 2026/27 season.
“Our academy’s been going for 15 or 16 years now,” Darren Talbot, managing director of Twenty20 Community Cricket, tells The Cricket Paper. “I changed from working in the city to working in cricket after doing some Chance to Shine sessions for Surrey and I realised that state school cricket was in a bit of a woeful way.
“The aim has always been to support the underdog in cricket, and in the UK that is state school kids. Our academy is now 277 boys and girls and 87 percent of those are at state school and that percentage goes up two or three percent year on year.
“I spent the first 10 years of the business going into schools, trying to upskill teachers and encourage schools to do more cricket. I felt like at the end of those 10 years that we weren’t making much of a difference as there were too many barriers. It was a shame.
“We then set up these academy hubs where the kids come out to us and that made a huge difference. Parents are over the moon that we are doing something specifically for state school kids and it’s growing immeasurably.”
Cricket in Surrey in particular has a very high density of private-school-educated players with several of the top club sides as well as the county age groups sourcing a vast amount of their players from private schools.
“It’s hard to argue with the fact that Surrey are great at producing young players that go on to be England players, so it doesn’t really matter to them whether they’re from private schools or state schools,” Talbot explained. “State school kids who are any good often get offered scholarships to private schools and then that makes it look like they came through private school as well.
“Counties aren’t there to produce state school cricketers. They’re there to support state school cricketers the best they can but first and foremost they’ve got to produce first eleven county players and England players; it’s a very different focus.
“Our focus [at Twenty20 Community Cricket] is to produce players who stay in cricket as long as possible. We’re trying to give them a love of cricket and stop them feeling dominated by private school players.
“If any of our kids end up being captain of their local club’s third eleven or fourth eleven, to us that’s a huge success.
“We’ve had players go on to play under-19 and second eleven cricket, but that’s not what we call a success story. A success story for us is someone who perhaps might not have continued with the game without being encouraged by us.
“Parents often say ‘what do I need to do to get my kid into Surrey?’ but the answer is ‘let’s just get them as good as they possibly can be and then see what happens.’
Phase one of Search for a State School Superstar involves a basic skills assessment where hopefuls are tested on bowling, fielding, batting and agility. In Phase two they are invited to take part in a hardball match from which the most deserving players will be offered bursaries, with the top boy and girl awarded a 100 percent bursary to join the academy, while runners-up will receive part funding.
“Search for a State School Superstar was just an idea that jumped into my head,” Talbot said. “One of the hardest things is recruitment. We were relying on clubs to pass on details, or on social media, and it’s hard to get the message out there to enough players.
“It was a different way of identifying ability. I say ability and not talent because it’s quite a nebulous thing, sometimes it’s just down to gut feel.
“We boost kids' confidence and give them lots of opportunities. We give them a ‘cricketing cuddle’, as I like to call it, and we make sure our games are as inclusive as possible and our training is fun and we create an environment that’s better suited to nurturing state school cricketers.”
The deadline to apply for phase one of the programme is May 15, with the testing taking place during May half term. Any parents wishing to enter their child can apply at www.twenty20cricketcompany.com/state-school-superstar
