The Bunbury English Schools' Cricket Festival

16th-21st July, Ampleforth College, Yorkshire
For further information please contact David English at the Bunbury Cricket Club on Tel: 020 8959 0380.

The Bunbury ESCA Festival is unquestionably the most important schools' cricket week for under 15s in this country. In the ECB's Development of Excellence Programme it represents the pinnacle of a young cricketer's career and the opportunity to play for England. In fact, during the past 28 years, 95% of all our Test cricketers have been 'discoverd' at this festival, including Gooch, Gower, Gatting, Botham, Atherton, Thorpe, Crawley and even Gary Lineker, a fine cricketer! In recent festivals John Crawley (Lancs), Richard Johnson (Middx), Ben Smith (Leics), David Sales (Northants), Ben Hollioake (Surrey), Andy Flintoff (Lancs), David Nash (Middx), Liam Botham (Hants), Graeme Swann (Northants), Chris Read (Notts), Alex Tudor (Surrey) have all excelled and gone on to gain county contracts.

The Bunbury ESCA festival represents a 'cricket-for-all' opportunity. Whether a lad attends a state school or public school he will have the same chance to reach this festival. He will play for his school team, then his county and finally, after a further trial, represent his region.

The four regions, North, South, West and Midlands will then converge on to a different county each year where the 44 best lads in England will play against each other in a 'round robin' tournament.

In 1992 we brought over the South African lads to play the first schoolboy Tests between our countries and in 1996 we staged the first ever 'Junior World Cup', the Lombard World Challenge (winners of The Best New Sponsorship in Sports Award 1996).

The England team selected after 1998's festival, played at Wellington College, Berks, went to be beat India in an Under 15's 'Test' series.

This year's Bunbury Festival will be as vitally important in our search for England's future Test stars attracting enormous media attention.

The England team will be selected from this festival to represent the country in The Costcutter Under 15 World Challenge July 25- August 10 (Final at Lord's).