Lord's to host annual Knight-Stokes Cup for state-school pupils

Lord's is well on its way to proving it is not the "Augusta of cricket", according to MCC's chair Mark Nicholas, following the launch of a new nationwide T20 competition, the Knight-Stokes Cup, aimed specifically at state-school pupils.

The tournament, named in honour of England's former women's captain Heather Knight and current men's Test captain, Ben Stokes, is for Year 10 pupils (ages 13-14) with separate events for boys and girls. It will begin in April 2026 with a season-long qualifying process, followed by regional knockouts and a finals day at Lord's in September.

The initiative, spearheaded by another former England captain Michael Vaughan, is a continuation of the sport's bid to rid itself of the "sexist, classist and elitist" tags that it received following a damning 2023 report by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC).

The creation of a "national Under-15 state school finals' day for boys and girls" was one of the report's specific recommendations, alongside a call for MCC to discontinue its hosting of the annual Eton-Harrow and Oxford-Cambridge fixtures - two of the longest-running annual sporting contests in the world.

A decision on the future of those historic fixtures has since been deferred until 2028, but Nicholas insists that MCC has made, and will continue to make, significant strides in broadening the reach of cricket's most famous venue.

"We're an open-hearted body," Nicholas told ESPNcricinfo. In particular, he contrasted the club's bid for greater inclusivity with the explicitly exclusive offering of Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, the home of the annual Masters tournament, and a venue that is renowned for its strict rules and entry criteria for members and patrons alike.

"People who say, 'oh, we're the Augusta of cricket', we're not at all," Nicholas added. "Augusta is a fabulous exclusive place. Its mystery comes from its exclusivity. We want Lord's and MCC to be inclusive. The fact that children can come here is very important for the future of cricket, and very important for the future of MCC and Lord's."

Children who attend private school are significantly more likely to play professional cricket than those in the state sector, with the ICEC report citing 2021 statistics that showed 58% of England players were privately educated, out of a nationwide figure of 7% of pupils.

Various factors contribute to this, including the cost of equipment and the standard of playing facilities. However, as Nicholas pointed out, the private sector also acts as a conduit for the best young talent in the country, citing the example of Harry Brook, England's white-ball captain, who attended Sedburgh School in Cumbria on a sports scholarship.

"It's not absolutely right to say that there's no state-school players involved in the England team," Nicholas said. "But state schools have other priorities, and it's not easy to fit cricket into the curriculum, especially when there's pressure on GCSEs in the summer term."

While the incentive for state-school pupils to play at Lord's is a strong one, Vaughan also recognises the importance of role models in driving interest in cricket. Twenty years on from his role in captaining England to glory in the 2005 Ashes, he backs the current men's and women's teams to provide similar star billing to the sport.

"We talk about 2005 all the time, and all the stories been told," Vaughan said. "But the proudest bit is when people of that age come and say, 'I got into cricket because of '05'.

"They might be 28, they might be 30-35, but they would have been at school, and not necessarily at independent schools either. It's then that you know you've done something great.

"[The current men's and women's teams] have also played a part in changing people's lives, and that's why this tournament's so important. Because, yes, it'd be great to create a new Heather [Knight] and a new Ben [Stokes], but it's not about that. It's about creating fans and cricket lovers.

"That's why this has been created, to make sure that, for the first time, a state school is going to be represented at Lord's next year, and that'll be every year going forward."

Speaking ahead of the announcement, Knight said: "As someone who played cricket from a young age at my local state school and then here at Lord's including in a World Cup final, I'm proud to have my name associated with this new competition which will inspire thousands of state-school children across the country and continue the vital work that cricket is doing to create more opportunities for children from state schools to play and access the talent pathway."

Stokes added: "Coming from a state school myself, when I was informed that they wanted to name this competition after me, it was a pretty easy 'yes'. Playing at Lord's is the pinnacle of any cricketer's career and something I dreamed of when I played cricket at my school so to open up the opportunity for boys and girls to play here is fantastic. I can't wait to see the competition get underway next year and start to see some of the incredible talent that's out there in our state schools come through the system."