The 1st XI from King’s College, Taunton, was named last week in the 2010 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack as the most successful school cricket team in 2009. According to the latest edition of Wisden, King’s “proved the most successful school in the country in 2009. They finished on the same win percentage as Winchester, 88.24%, but lost only one match to Winchester’s two.”
Three King’s pupils, Craig Meschede, Miles Lenygon and Jos Buttler, were included in the list of 37 school batsmen whose averages exceeded 60.00.
Jos Buttler was named as the Young Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year. Jos “first represented Somerset seconds, as a wicketkeeper-batsman, in September 2006, three days after his 16th birthday. He played again in 2007, and was a regular in 2008, when he made 145 against Hampshire; he also hit a double hundred for King’s. In 2009 he scored at more than a run a ball in every innings for King’s and hit another century against Hampshire seconds, as well as being one of only two schoolboys to play first-class cricket.”
The Headmaster of King’s College, Richard Biggs, expressed his delight at the school’s mention in Wisden. “It is wonderful to have the excellent standard of cricket at King’s recognised so publicly. We are not a large school, but we manage to compete at a high level and, just as importantly, to include a large number of boys and girls in the sport. Pupils enjoy their cricket here and this sense of fun and involvement is reflected in strong results across the board. I congratulate the team on their achievement and, of course, coaches Andy Jones, Phil Lewis and Dennis Breakwell for leading the first team to this success. I am also delighted that Jos Buttler’s enormous potential as a cricketer has been properly recognised. He is certainly one to watch for the future – a prodigious talent; we were extremely fortunate to have him with us for five years and I wish him every success in his future career.”
The King’s team look set for another good season: In a two-day warm-up match against Shrewsbury School at King’s over the weekend, Craig Meschede scored an unbeaten 200, his first double century. The match ended in a draw.
Photograph: Jos Buttler, King’s pupil named Young Wisden School Cricketer of the Year; and part of the King’s cricket side in the Summer of 2009
Wed 12th May 2010
