The state school Test cricketer factory

About this episode

Niall McDonnell discusses the success of Strabane Academy in producing international cricketers and their participation in the Knight-Stokes Cup.

Strabane Academy have produced four international cricketers for two different nations in recent times… but don't quite know why. They're also the first side through to the national rounds of the new Knight-Stokes Cup for state schools. Former first-class player Niall McDonnell, Strabane's head of PE, joins us to discuss their success and why cricket is "in the blood" in their part of Northern Ireland. The Cricketer's schools coverage is brought to you in association with our friends at Durant Sports. To find out more about Durant's design, production, and installation of cricket ground equipment and cricket netting systems for both indoor and outdoor use, visit DurantSports.co.uk Sign up here for just £1 to read the latest school cricket news and much, much more besides: https://shop.thecricketer.com/subscribe/the-cricketer-magazine/digital Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCricketerMag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecricketer/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecricketermag TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thecricketermag Threads: https://www.threads.net/@thecricketer Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thecricketer.com Music by https://www.bensound.com…

People in this episode

Guest: Niall McDonnell

Topics covered

• cricket
• education
• youth sports
• international players
• Northern Ireland

Keywords

• Strabane Academy
• Niall McDonnell
• international cricketers
• Knight-Stokes Cup
• cricket in Northern Ireland

Sponsors

Durant Sports

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Strabane Academy

Places: Northern Ireland

More episodes of The Cricketer | Podcasts and Interviews

• Should there be an alcohol ban during a Test Series? | Ask George · June 11, 2026 · 20 min
• Women's T20 World Cup preview · June 11, 2026 · 27 min
• What lessons have been learned from the Lord's Test? · June 7, 2026 · 12 min
• "Cricket is a huge way behind other sports" · June 6, 2026 · 15 min
• "As bad a pitch as I've seen in England for a very long time" · June 5, 2026 · 12 min
• Will this pitch be investigated? · June 4, 2026 · 12 min