Fresh sports coup for Liphook school

The latest glowing endorsement comes from The Cricketer Schools Guide 2024, which has named Highfield and Brookham in Liphook among its Top 50 Prep Schools in the UK for the fifth successive year.

It follows a thorough process which saw a “huge” number of schools – both state-funded and private – submit entries for inclusion in the prestigious guide. All entries were judged against an extensive set of criteria, including a compelling commitment to cricket in the curriculum, facilities, fixture programmes and coaching.

Highfield and Brookham has a healthy cricketing tradition and regularly fulfils as many as 230 fixtures in the summer term against rival prep schools from across Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Berkshire.

The school currently fields 34 teams – featuring boys and girls of all abilities from Year 2 to Year 8 – and has 12 pitches, three artificial outdoor nets, three indoor nets, four grass nets and two mobile cages. There are also three bowling machines and two Flicx pitches on the astro to help cricket development.

As well as representing Highfield and Brookham in external fixtures, many young school cricketers also play for local club sides, including Liphook & Ripsley, Haslemere, Fernhurst and Grayshott, while making full use of the indoor and outdoor nets at Highfield and Brookham.

And the school welcomed the return of two significant events this year which had been curtailed by the Covid pandemic – the annual Year 7 and Year 8 cricket tour to Barbados in April and the visit of the touring Trinity House School side from South Africa in July.

Suzannah Cryer, Head of Highfield and Brookham, said she was thrilled that the school had again made it into the prestigious magazine.

“We pride ourselves on playing a healthy range of sports each year, but there’s no question that there is an extra sense of expectation and excitement when cricket returns to the curriculum after the Easter holiday.

"But while we play our competitive fixtures in the warmer summer months, cricket continues all-year round thanks to our indoor nets and dedicated coaching staff, and we're delighted that our love of cricket has once again earned us a place among the top 50 prep schools in the country according to The Cricketer magazine."