Cricket Partnerships
The core of our business is supplying our products and services to Clubs, Schools and Professional Clubs. We have partnered up with 2 strategic organisations to develop our brand and work together to provide better facilities for the Clubs and Schools involved.
The Cricketer - Top 100 Schools Guide
State and private schools are both well represented in the top 100, with the best all-girls and prep/junior schools also picked out by The Cricketer’s judging panel for a place in the coveted 2023 Schools Guide.
This year’s guide features the top 100 senior, top 50 prep/junior and top 20 all-girls schools for cricket in a bumper 156-page supplement. 2023’s successful roll call of schools – which features both state-funded and private establishments – was finalised after an exhaustive selection process that saw a huge number submit entries for inclusion in the guide.
All entries were then judged against an extensive set of criteria, which included a compelling commitment to cricket in the curriculum, facilities, fixture programmes and coaching. The Cricketer gathered entries and compiled the leading lists, consulting former England star Lydia Greenway and her coaching initiative Cricket For Girls to select the top 20 all-girls schools.
The Cricketer magazine editor Huw Turbervill said: “I’ve read some inspirational stories working on this year’s guide.
“Take Mim Aldred, an allrounder playing in the boys’ 1st XI at Dragon School in Oxford. On tour she hit an unbeaten 50, then came back to bowl a triple-wicket maiden in the last over with the opposition requiring two to win. These really are tomorrow’s heroes today.”
The Cricketer researches and produces the Schools Guide annually, with the 2023 edition being supported by Durant Cricket – one of the country’s leading suppliers of cricket ground equipment.
Cristian Durant, managing director of Durant Cricket, commented:
“We have supported The Cricketer’s sterling coverage of school’s cricket, which showcases the fantastic job coaches and staff are doing for grassroots cricket, for many years. Long may it continue. Enjoy the winter, and best of luck for the 2023 season.”
The Cricketer would like to thank Durant Cricket for their ongoing support of our school’s cricket coverage. For more on Durant Cricket, including booking a site visit, click here. The 2023 Schools Guide is bumper 156-page supplement that’s included alongside the December issue of The Cricketer magazine, as well as available to purchase separately here. Alternatively, you can read the guide in its entirety below.
NCCA - National Counties Cricket Association
The National Counties Championship will benefit from the generous sponsorship of Durant Cricket for the next two seasons. The three-day competition, which is contested by 20 counties from the length and breadth of England and Wales will now be known as the Durant Cricket National Counties Championship in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. It will be the first time that the competition, which was first played in 1895 and formerly known as the Minor Counties Championship, has had a title sponsor.
“Durant Cricket are a very well-established brand within in the UK and we are delighted to have partnered with them for the next two years,”
said Richard Logan, NCCA’s Operations Director. Richard Logan continued saying:
“We look forward to working together to enhance what both businesses can offer the National Counties, their host clubs and our competitions.”
Matches in the Durant Cricket National Counties Championship are staged at club grounds in the host counties. It is a link with the grassroots game that appeals to Cristian Durant, Managing Director of Durant Cricket, who played in the competition for Cambridgeshire as a wicketkeeper between 1996 and 2001.
“Durant Cricket are looking forward to supporting the NCCA and the clubs involved in hosting the games in what is a very interesting time for the National Counties,”
he said. Cristian continued further, acknowledging the benefits of the newly formed partnership, stating:
“Our wide product range and links with grassroots cricket allows us to service clubs up and down the country and our association with the NCCA will enhance our profile across the 20 National Counties.”
Durant Cricket are based in Empingham in Rutland and provide an extensive range of products and services for clubs and schools at all levels. Durant Cricket’s products include indoor and outdoor netting systems and surfaces, artificial pitches, pitch covers, sightscreens, mobile practice cages, electronic and manual scoreboards, boundary ropes, fences, clocks and bowling machines.
