Falkirk high school pupils head to the home of cricket for National Table Cricket Finals

Falkirk High School first discovered table cricket through an online course during the pandemic and have fought their way to a place at Finals Day at Lord’s. Thousands of youngsters from across the country have been chasing down a place at Lord’s to win through to the Finals Day – with ten schools now confirmed for the competition at the home of cricket on June 9.

Following months of county competitions, nearly 70 schools and over 500 young people with a disability competed in the charity’s table cricket regional finals across the country throughout April with the final ten teams now eagerly awaiting the opportunity to become the 2023 national table cricket champions.

Table cricket has become a popular pastime for both disabled and non-disabled pupils at the school, and Friday’s Finals Day signals a huge opportunity for Falkirk’s team to visit such an iconic venue.

“I work with SEN pupils who really love sport but have not really got the opportunity to participate, so I went online and hunted around for different activities,” said special needs teaching assistant Jonathan Taylor. “I stumbled across table cricket and noticed there was a regional competition going on. When I entered the team we didn’t know anything about how to play it, but we turned up and we ended up winning it which was a surprise to us all!

“It just snowballed from there, we qualified for another tournament by winning that and then another one and another one, and now we’re going to Lord’s. We’re so excited, because it’s the home of cricket and to have the privilege to even just walk around and visit it and go down would be good enough for us, but to actually have the chance to go down and do some table cricket and play in the national finals, we’re just over the moon. Everyone around the school is so excited for the boys and we’re just so proud of them.”

The ten regional finals, where young people with disabilities from across 34 counties and Scotland showcased their table cricket skills and teamwork, included competitions at historic venues such as Edgbaston, Old Trafford and Headingley. Being able to play competitive cricket at such stadiums provides young people with a disability a potential once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their teams at stadiums embedded in the history of the sport.

This past year has seen over 6500 young people playing the game, benefitting from immeasurable personal development opportunities through table cricket. Participants learn leadership, communication and endless amounts of key skills whilst travelling to new places and creating friendships with other players.

Much of the Lord’s Taverners work in cricket for young people with disabilities is made possible thanks to funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and awarded by the Postcode Active Trust, in addition to support from the ECB and Sport England.

Barbour added: “A lot of them, they feel like they’ve made a nice team. We’ve got first years and sixth years playing and it’s not like anybody is older than anyone else. They’re all just there and looking out for each other. They speak to each other around the school now as well, they’ve made a nice relationship.

"This is something we thought we would never be able to go to, especially with this group of kids. They haven’t had the opportunity to represent the school anywhere else and now they’ve got this. They’re the only team from Scotland going down as well, so it’s a big thing they’ve got to do that they wouldn’t have otherwise.”

The Lord’s Taverners impacts the lives of young people facing the challenges of inequality. The charity works across the UK and beyond to provide inclusive and impactful cricket programmes, empowering young people with disabilities and from disadvantaged communities – visit www.lordstaverners.org