The Spin | Knight-Stokes Cup sets up much-needed platform for state school cricket

New tournament aims to counter-balance the elitist fixture at Lord’s between Eton and Harrow

As a state school-educated international cricketer, the former England bowler Sajid Mahmood has always been in the minority. A report from the Sutton Trust charity last year found 59% of professional male cricketers in England went to independent schools, ranking the sport behind only the armed forces (63%) and senior judges (62%) as the country’s most privately educated profession. Yet Mahmood has become even more of an outlier since his playing retirement.

While it is common for former professional cricketers to take up positions as private school coaches once they hang up their playing boots, Mahmood has spent the past eight years teaching the sport to state school students in west London. It is a path so uncommon that he is yet to encounter another England cricketer in the state system.