Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup Launches

Marylebone Cricket Club Foundation (MCCF) and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) are delighted to be launching the Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup, a new hardball cricket competition exclusively for state secondary schools in the UK.

The competition is proudly supported by Barclays and The Black Heart Foundation.

The Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup represents a groundbreaking step in expanding cricket’s reach and impact, ensuring that every child, regardless of background, has the chance to play the game they love at the highest level in the state secondary school environment.

The competition is a brand-new and exciting opportunity for state secondary school hardball cricket to be championed on a national stage, showcasing the immense cricketing talent of state-educated boys and girls.

The Knight-Stokes Cup begins with local county competitions run in partnership between MCC Foundation and Local Cricket Organisations. Local competitions will commence in the early part of the summer term. Each county will run a finals day to produce representatives to progress to the national rounds of competition. The boys’ and girls’ finals are to take place on the Main Ground at the Lord’s, the iconic Home of Cricket on Thursday 10^th September 2026.

We are delighted to confirm in Wales we have had 22 schools entering with 21 entering the boys competition and 12 entering the girls competition.

Our regionalised matches will be hosted at local club grounds.

Competition Overview: 

• Boys and Girls T20 hardball competitions for U15’s (school year 10 and below in England/Wales and equivalent in Scotland/Ireland).
• The Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup begins with local competitions run in partnership between MCC Foundation and Local Cricket Organisations.
• Matches will commence from the end of April until 26th June 2026.
• Each Local Cricket Organisation will run a finals day to produce a county representative(s) to progress to the national rounds of the boys’ and girls’ competitions.

The national rounds are split into regions: North, Midlands, South East and South West. Each region is split into 4 sub-regions:

• w/c 29th June – National Round 1 – Last 64 and Last 32 (Sub-Regional Finals )
• w/c 6th July – National Round 2 – Last 16 and Quarter-Final (Regional Finals)
• w/c 13th July – National Round 3 – Semi-Finals
• Thursday 10^th September – National Round 4 – The Finals at Lord’s.

Fingers crossed we see a Welsh school at Lords in September!