Let’s fast forward to November 21: the England men’s side are lining up for the national anthems at Optus Stadium in Perth ahead of day one of the Ashes.

If we were to take a stab at naming England’s line-up for that first Test, we could see them take the field with only one UK state-school educated player in their side: Ben Stokes.

Should Mark Wood prove his fitness and Shoaib Bashir make the XI, that number could potentially rise to three, while Jofra Archer moved to England following the conclusion of his schooling, but the fact remains that the top level of the game is dominated by those who have had the privilege of a private education.

That doesn’t tell the full story, though. Harry Brook received a scholarship to go to Sedbergh School, Joe Root was awarded one to attend Worksop College. Jacob Bethell also received a scholarship to leave Barbados and study at Rugby School respectively.

It’s too simplistic to view this as rich versus poor. Perhaps more pertinent is the correlation between a player’s access to quality facilities and coaching at the formative stages of their development and the chances of them making it to the highest level of the English game.

According to the ECB’s Talent Pathway Action Plan, published in October 2024, there is a significant overrepresentation of privately schooled youngsters at the entry point to the talent pathway for both boys and girls. Further up the chain, around 50 per cent of professional male cricketers in this country attended a private school, despite the fact that, according to the latest school census data, private-school pupils make up just 6.4 per cent of the total school population. It’s clear that action needs to be taken.

Talented state-school cricketers are under threat from falling behind their private-school counterparts, which is where the ECB’s Supplementary Support Programme comes in, providing extra coaching and playing opportunities for boys and girls from state schools who are already in a county age-group programme.

“We set out a vision of trying to provide 50 per cent extra coaching to those players through Supplementary Support,” says Alun Powell, the ECB’s national talent manager. “There’s a big disparity in the cricket provisions in some independent schools compared to state schools. So, in short, if you’re at an independent school, you’re afforded more opportunities.”

The programme was designed with input from the professional county clubs and focuses on under-13 to under-15 level. “If you’re at a state school and you’re 16 and showing real talent and real potential to kick on, then you’re going be in the [county] academy. At that point, your schooling shouldn’t be any kind of barrier.”

However, it’s those slightly of a slightly younger age, says Powell, who risk being left behind. “The volume and type of practice that they would miss out on could be a real threat to their progress.”

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Somerset is home to two of the country’s leading cricket-playing independent schools, Millfield School and King’s College, Taunton. The former has produced players such as Simon Jones and Craig Kieswetter, while the latter is the alma mater of Jos Buttler. Historically, the Somerset age-group sides and pathway programmes have been dominated by players from these schools, but in recent years there has been a much bigger focus on developing state-school talent, with the introduction of the Supplementary Support Programme
making a significant impact.

“For players in our pathway, we noticed that in comparison to their private-school peers, what [state-school students] are missing out on is weekly access to cricket and high-level coaching,” Matt Drakeley, Somerset’s director of talent and development, tells WCM.

“We utilised our pathway staff and got them to deliver to our state-school players during the week. They gave them around 30 hours of additional training during the winter. It allowed those players to keep up from a county age-group point of view and maintain a level that allowed them to still be competitive.”

One example is emerging all-rounder Harvey Richards, who came through Somerset’s state-school programme and broke into the county’s second XI this season. He was part of the cricket academy at Richard Huish College, a state institution in Taunton, where Somerset pathway coaches would go and work with him.

“Over a period of three or four years, he will have had hundreds of hours of access [to coaching] that he otherwise may not have,” says Drakeley. And now, with the introduction of the ECB’s Supplementary Support Programme, more players from similar backgrounds to Richards will reap the rewards.

“These are expensive programmes to run,” adds Drakeley. “They are only as good as the funding you receive to support them. We were lucky initially to receive a private donation that allowed us to run the first two years of our state-school programme. The Supplementary Support has given our state-school programme a bit more security and that’s why we’re really grateful to the ECB for
doing it and being proactive with it.

“What I want our offering to achieve is this – I don’t want a player’s decision on whether they go to a private school or not to be based on cricket. Cricket can open some amazing doors for people to go to some of these private schools, but what we’re really keen to do is to make sure it isn’t a cricket decision. We’re offering a pretty good alternative to our higher-potential players that allows cricket not to be the priority decision as to why they go to those schools.”