PLAYING

HABERDASHERS’ ASKE’S
BOYS’ SCHOOL
Butterfly Lane
Elstree
Hertfordshire
WD6 3AF
Established 1690
Notable fixtures Bancroft’s,
Berkhamsted, Felsted, MCC,
Merchant Taylors’, St Albans
Cricket professional No cricket
professional as such, but Doug
Yeabsley (Devon) was a full-time
member of staff for many years.
James Hewitt (Middlesex, Kent) is
employed by both Haberdashers’
and Middlesex as part of a
developing partnership between
school and county
Teams 1st XI, 2nd XI, 3rd XI, 4th XI,
5th XI, U15ABC, U14ABC, U13ABC,
U12ABC, plus prep school A and B
teams at U11, U10, U9 and U8 age
groups. An all-boys school that
offers coaching for the girls’ ‘sister’
school
Facilities Three grass squares,
three synthetic-grass strips, three
artificial-turf nets, five grass nets
and an ‘open’ net plus a two-lane
indoor centre that includes instantreplay
and video-analysis systems
Club/county affiliation Hertfordshire,
Middlesex, plus links with clubs
Sidmouth and Exeter in Devon
Cricketers of note Richard Yeabsley
(Middlesex). His father, Doug
Yeabsley, was offered a contract by
Warwickshire but chose to teach
chemistry and coach rugby and
cricket instead
Extras There is huge enthusiasm for
cricket, particularly from within the
school’s Asian community
Big hit: Sam
Billings has
broken into
England’s
one-day set-up
HAILEYBURY
Haileybury
Hertford
SG13 7NU
Established 1862
Notable fixtures MCC, plus two-day
games v Cheltenham College and
Berkhamsted
Cricket professional DLS van
Bunge (Middlesex & Holland),
GP Howarth (Surrey &
New Zealand)
Teams U13ABCD, U14ABC, U15AB,
1st XI, 2nd XI, 3rd XI, plus a girls’ U18
team, selected from all ages
Facilities 15 nets, including three
indoor lanes, plus five full grounds
Club/county affiliation
Hertfordshire, with club links to
Hertford CC and Hoddesdon CC
Brief history The match between
Haileybury and Cheltenham
began in 1893 and was played at
Lord’s until 1968. All of the school’s
cricketing history is contained
within a fact-filled book entitled
Haileybury Cricket written by
David Rimmer. The book is
held within the historic pavilion,
a listed building, designed by
Reginald Bloomfield. Past
cricket professionals
include Graham
Barlow (Middlesex), Jeremy Lloyds
(Gloucestershire) and more recently
Nic Pothas (Hampshire) and
Michael Cawdron (Gloucestershire,
Northamptonshire). There have
been 91 first-class cricketers from
the school with England one-day
star Sam Billings being the most
recent
Cricketers of note Sam Billings (Kent
& England), RJO Meyer (future
founder of Millfield School), AJT
Miller (Middlesex), Maharajkumar
of Vizianagram, who went on to
captain India on a tour of England
in the early 1900s
Extras Set among highly
picturesque grounds, Haileybury
upholds a fine tradition of
producing top-class cricketers.
Many other cricketing enthusiasts
have emanated from Haileybury
including former prime minister
Clement Attlee. Sir Donald
Bradman famously visited the
school and bequeathed his Baggy
Green, which lay in the Long Room
for many years before the school
loaned it to Cricket Australia.
Former Holland leg-spinner Daan
van Bunge is director of cricket,
while ex-New Zealand captain
Geoff Howarth spends the
summer term with the school
thecricketer.com / 27