The Mary Erskine School, Edinburgh, has been named one of the top-20 all-girls schools for cricket in the UK for the third successive year.
The nomination, from The Cricketer magazine, reflects one of the largest cricket programmes for girls in Scotland with over 140 students playing the sport during the season.
Also, staff at Mary Erskine took time out to host a cricket programme for nearby Flora Stevenson Primary in 2023 and plan to repeat the exercise next year.
The Mary Erskine initiative features strong imput from Stewart’s Melville cricketer David Gibson who offers weekly coaching sessions and upskills teachers to deliver how quality sessions.
The school’s cricket programme is led by Tasmanian cricketer and coach, Hannah Short, who has previously represented Australia before moving to Edinburgh.
Assisting are teachers Tom McBratney and Caroline Heron who also played internationally prior to working at MES.
Kirsty Nicholson, Head of The Mary Erskine School, said: “The programme is a fantastic partnership between our PE staff and former pupils who give up their time to share their love of cricket. We’re really pleased that Flora Stevenson will be welcoming us back again this summer.
“There is such a lot of passion and skill among our dedicated coaches and it is exciting to watch them inspiring so many girls to become cricketers.”
Caroline Heron, Mary Erskine School PE teacher, said: “MES are in a fantastic position to offer the pupils a cricket programme led by excellent coaches. I am particularly proud of the current pupils helping to deliver cricket to the younger age groups, including current cricket captain and sixth form pupil, Lucy Forrester-Smith. Lucy’s passion for the game has been infectious, encouraging young people across the school to pick up a bat and have a go.”
The hope is that some of the current pupils will go on to emulate Katherine Fraser who, aged 14 and still at Mary Erskine, became the second youngest female to represent Scotland.
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