Knocking it out of the ground: the MCS alumni playing first-class cricket

J Coles             c Hill                b Scriven         70        104 balls, 9 fours, 1 six

You’ll find the above on any cricket scoreboard website if you look up the County Championship game between Leicestershire and Sussex in May 2023. It tells a bit of a tale on its own – a good score, briskly made, ended by a nick behind off the fast-medium bowler who took two wickets that day, including that of the great Cheteshwar Pujara, one of the finest batsmen of the 21^st century.

Tom Scriven celebrates his dismissal of Cheteshwar Pujara
Leicestershire vs Sussex, County Championship, Division Two, Grace Road, 12 May 2023

The scoresheet cannot tell us what was said between batsman and bowler – throughout the innings or indeed at the end of it – but it is easy to imagine them discussing their memories of school. Tom Scriven and James Coles are two of four MCS alumni who are first-class cricketers. They are just a little too far apart in age to have played together. Both Tom and James, however, played in the First XI with the Price brothers – both of whom now represent Gloucestershire.

Magdalen College School v MCC (H), 3 July 2018
Tom Price (front row; centre), Ollie Price (back; second from right) and James Coles (front; far right)

All four OWs played multiple sports during their time at MCS, turning out on School Field to represent the school in rugby as well as cricket. They also played hockey, with James scoring a memorable goal in the National Cup Final in 2022 as MCS defeated Bradfield 4-3. Tom and Ollie Price went on to Durham University where they once again played together; and all four boys were active on School Field through their exam summers. As is always the case, they found that their sport complemented their revision and academic preparation.

Tom Price bowling for MCS against Malvern College, 21 April 2018

The match between Leicestershire and Sussex ended in a draw, with Tom Scriven coming in at number 8 to end unbeaten on 51. This added to his two half-centuries last season, demonstrating the batting ability that was so evident at school and in the record 288 he scored for Hampshire U17s. After debuting with Hampshire in 2020, Tom moved to Leicestershire in 2022 and has already taken 11 wickets this season, further confirming his all-round abilities.

Sussex have also played Gloucestershire this season, and once again James Coles scored in the 70s. Ollie Price helped see Gloucestershire safely to a draw with a stubborn 22 not out after his side had followed on. Ollie, the younger of the Price brothers, scored five half-centuries last season as he established himself in the middle order and as an exceptional fielder. Indeed, he took no fewer than 11 catches in just eight games.

James, the youngest ever player to represent Sussex at 16 years and 157 days, has had a good April and May. The highlight was his maiden first-class century, 138 vs Glamorgan in an innings in which he outscored Steve Smith, arguably the greatest batsman of his generation. A middle order of Pujara, Smith, Coles has a certain ring to it! For good measure, James went on to dismiss the number one ranked test batsman, Smith’s fellow Australian Marcus Labuschagne, with his left-arm spin. James is averaging 74.00 with the bat after his first four games of the season.

James Coles signed for Sussex in 2021 and is the youngest player to represent the county

The most memorable performance of the season so far has come from Tom Price, a former Head of School, on 20 April. At the beautiful New Road ground, Tom became the very first player in first-class cricket history (and there have been over 60,000 matches!) to score a century (109 out of a total of 231ao) and take a hat-trick on the same day. Tom is only the 17^th player to manage the feat in a single match; he is heady company: the list includes Sir Learie Constantine and Mike Proctor, who also played for Gloucestershire. It was the second hat-trick of Tom’s career, having taken his first against Kent in 2022; this season his batting (241 runs at 80.33) has been as much a feature of his game as his bowling (15 wickets at 23.26).

Chris Boyle and David Bebbington, Heads of Cricket during the time that the four were at school, are naturally proud of their former pupils’ success. Cricket Professional Alan Duncan, who also works with Oxfordshire Cricket, which has links to Sussex County Cricket Club, echoed both when remarking that “above all, it was a privilege to work alongside these players at MCS”.

All the boys remained grounded despite their success at school, helping to coach younger players and benefitting from their commitment to sports other than cricket. Nor do they forget the other members of many excellent teams over the years who have regularly secured county cup success and ensured that MCS cricket is a genuine force to be reckoned with – and long may that continue!

Toby Beaumont, Usher