Note: The idea that cricket is an elite sport is a nonsense . Take the squad from which the team to play today will be chosen. most did not go to public schools and none of the really big public schools are do not appear.

Looking at the short biographies I looked at the main influence for these players was the fact that someone influential in cricket noticed their talent.

RH
PLAYER
Jos Buttler (c) Kings College Staunton
Moeen Ali Ethnic minority
Jonny Bairstow † St Peter's School, York
Brydon Carse Educated in SA
Sam Curran eSpringvale House, Marondera, St. George's College, Harare, before moving to Wellington College, Berkshire.
Liam Livingstone Chetwynde School is a Free school in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England.
Craig Overton West Buckland School
Matthew Potts St Robert of Newminster Catholic School and Sixth Form College
Adil Rashid Ethnic minority
Joe Root Worksop College as a weekly boarder.
Jason Roy The Hawthorns School for a few years, then Whitgift School.
Phil Salt Reed's School on a cricket scholarship.[
Ben Stokes Cockermouth School
Reece Topley Royal Hospital School.
David Willey Northampton School for Boys
RH

Can Freddie Flintoff stop English cricket's slow march to wider irrelevance?
A new reality show trains the spotlight on the sport's growing elitism, and hopes to do something about it

Cricket is the most elitist sport in Britain, asserts the voice-over in Freddie

Flintoff's Field of Dreams, but here is Fred, one of English cricket's best-loved figures, gathering together a disparate group of Preston teenagers and determined to do something about it. That is the premise of the reality TV show that should leave many of those involved in running English cricket over a generation or more squirming with embarrassment.

You are probably aware of the statistics by now - if you did not go to private school, even more so if you have a minority-ethnic background, your chances of forging a professional career with a county club are drastically lower. That you will feel that cricket has any relevance to you at all is also unlikely. But quoting statistics is changing nothing, so perhaps Flintoff can reveal some home truths from a more emotional perspective.

Fred wants to explore cricket's image as a "posh boy sport", and gathers some coaches around him to help. He begins in optimistic mood, imagining how wonderful it would be if he could unearth "the next cricketer who's going to play for their country or a county". But two episodes into this three-episode series, he has become part teacher, part social worker, wrestling with the balance between demanding discipline and providing emotional support, moved by the stories he hears about teenagers sleeping rough in bus stations and asylum seekers desperate for a better life, and the depressingly familiar collection of broken homes and damaged minds.

Read more at https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/can-freddie-flintoff-stop-english-cricket-s-slow-march-to-wider-irrelevance-1325408

RH

On Tuesday, 19 July 2022 at 11:56:20 UTC+1, anywh...@gmail.com wrote:
> Note: The idea that cricket is an elite sport is a nonsense . Take the squad from which the team to play today will be chosen. most did not go to public schools and none of the really big public schools are do not appear.

Another one for the scrapbook of Robert's "take a theory and ignore all data available that may disprove it":

Buttler - Private
Ali - State
Bairstow - Private
Carse = Fee-paying school in SA (Private?)
Curran - Private
Livingstone - State
Overton - Private
Potts - State
Rashid - State
Root - Private
Roy - Private
Salt - Private
Stokes - State
Topley - Private
Willey - State

Of the 15 lads, 6 went to state schools. If you believe that's a fair representation of society and that 60% of kids across the broader country go to fee-paying schools then you've got a particularly dreamy view of England.

Next!

On Sunday, July 24, 2022 at 11:40:10 AM UTC+1, richsdi...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, 19 July 2022 at 11:56:20 UTC+1, anywh...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Note: The idea that cricket is an elite sport is a nonsense . Take the squad from which the team to play today will be chosen. most did not go to public schools and none of the really big public schools are do not appear.
> Another one for the scrapbook of Robert's "take a theory and ignore all data available that may disprove it":
>
> Buttler - Private
> Ali - State
> Bairstow - Private
> Carse = Fee-paying school in SA (Private?)
> Curran - Private
> Livingstone - State
> Overton - Private
> Potts - State
> Rashid - State
> Root - Private
> Roy - Private
> Salt - Private
> Stokes - State
> Topley - Private
> Willey - State
>
> Of the 15 lads, 6 went to state schools. If you believe that's a fair representation of society and that 60% of kids across the broader country go to fee-paying schools then you've got a particularly dreamy view of England.
>
> Next!

SIGH. Four points, (1) I demonstrated that state educated England cricketer are far from being ignored, (2) most of those in the squad who went to private schools did not go to strong cricketing schools - Kings College Taunton might be one but that's your lot, (3) most of the schools were not schools charging tens of thousand per year (and there are scholarships including scholarships to play sport) and (4) as I pointed out in my original post the common factor among the state and private school pupils in the list is the fact that they were picked up by those with influence within county clubs . RH