Published on: Wednesday, August 14, 2024
The King’s College Cricket Festivals in Taunton is now well underway and since it began over 30 years ago, has grown into one of the biggest and best known tournaments attracting teams from all over England and around the world, writes Richard Walsh.
Over a six-week period there will be age group festivals for boys from Under 10s through to Under 14s and for the girls there is a festival for the Under 13s, during which time over 900 young cricketers are involved.
Former Somerset CCC all rounder Keith Parsons who has been running the festival for the last three summers said: “ We started with a bang this year with the Under 14s and Under 10s after which it just keeps going for six weeks.The teams arrive on a Sunday afternoon and depart on Friday afternoon and during their time here they play five matches -if the weather allows!
“This year we have teams from California and North Atlanta Academies and with America hosting the World Cup they are really getting into their cricket now, so there could be some of the youngsters here who will go onto be part of their national team in the future.
“Once again we have got Switzerland heavily involved and cricket there is really developing, plus we have also got a team from Barbados and St Stithians in South Africa, so there’s a real international flavour to the festival.
In addition to those from overseas King’s College Cricket Festivals attract a number of county teams from Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Durham and Cambridgeshire at various age groups.
“The King’s College Cricket Festivals are still thriving and teams come here from a long way to enjoy the atmosphere and play against like minded youngsters. We are looking to make it an enjoyable experience for the young cricketers to come to and in the evening they socialise together and meet people from all over the world and make friends for life.”
“It’s a big project but when the sun is shining there is no better place to be than here at the King’s College Cricket Festivals and judging by the number of teams who return lots of others think the same as well.
“It is a bit of a challenge when its raining, but we are lucky and have got quite a lot of facilities here - the cricket centre, the sports hall and the tennis dome so we have got areas that can be used indoors, so even though they didn’t get any cricket they all had a great day.”
Parsons went on: “ The logistics of organising the event throws some challenges at us but the domestic team at King’s are amazing and they are used to having big numbers staying and catering for them . Everything is here on site and to have five or six boarding houses literally in a stones throw of the pitches means that there is no travelling - the young cricketers arrive and everything is on the doorstep.”
He concluded: “The cricketers who have gone on and made it at a higher level always have fond memories of the King’s College Cricket Festivals when they were juniors so it will be interesting to see which of the players who have been here this year go on to make it into the first class game.”
Megan Quantick the Commercial Events and Lettings Manager said: “Being part of the team that delivers the King's College Cricket Festivals is an incredibly rewarding experience. Together, we have solidified a lasting legacy that showcases our collective commitment to sporting excellence, and the participation of both national and international teams highlights the festival's growing prestige. As we strategise for the future, we are excited about the potential to elevate our festivals even further, ensuring the continued success and global recognition of this remarkable event."