Levelling the cricket pitch
Sir: As a cricket addict and believer in state education, it pains me to agree with Michael Henderson’s assertion that the future of England’s Test side rests in the hands of private schools (‘Elite sport’, 23 January). The high-performing, 1,700-strong school where I am the head teacher has a grass area for sport that is not large enough for a rugby pitch, let alone a cricket square. As far as the coaching, equipment and pitch maintenance required to play our summer game properly, money talks. While we receive £4,000 a year from the government for each sixth-former we educate, at a local independent school parents are charged over £5,600 per term even before ‘extras’ such as exam entry fees are added in. With more than four times the resources, such schools are able to provide a rich extracurricular diet for the elite few. While we are fond of asking for a level playing field in this country, the pupils at my school would simply like a playing field.
Stephen Crabtree
Farnham, Surrey
Everyone’s game
Sir: There is still hope for the widening of interest by the young in cricket. Chance to Shine is a charity which in recent years has introduced more than two million youngsters from state schools to the great game. It deserves all the support possible.
Lord Remnant
Henley-on-Thames
What Brexit won’t do
Sir: Daniel Hannan’s article on ‘What Brexit would look like for Britain’ (23 January) is disingenuous. He cites the ‘migration and euro crises’ as risks of staying in the EU, yet Britain would continue to be deeply affected by both crises after a Brexit. Our leaving the EU would not make the French more co-operative in stemming the flow of economic migrants, and financial instability among our neighbours would continue to affect us.
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