The National Curriculum mops up a range of games under the generic title "Striking and Fielding". In its search for simplification, it omits the other crucial component of these games - bowling. Once that is included within the definition, then one game separates itself from the others in the category. That game is Cricket.

Other games have in common a single factor: the batsman attempts to hit every ball delivered as far as possible. Every shot is an attacking shot and the aim of each batting attempt is to despatch the ball as far...

It's the end of the match day. It might be Wednesday afternoon or Saturday morning. Or any other time. The teams leave the field with contrasting body language which clearly divides the winners from the losers. Exchanging handshakes of varying levels of sincerity, they head towards the inevitable post mortem, to be conducted first by coaches, then by parents.

Nothing betrays the culture of sport in a school more clearly than the answers to the question, "How did you get on?" Where the answer is confined to numbers, it is clear what is valued;...

"If exercise came in pill form, it would be plastered across the front page, hailed as the blockbuster drug of the century". Ratey and Hagerman

Schools have often implied a link between academic performance and physical activity. Every summer term, the debate rages as to whether playing summer sports enhances or impedes exam performance. Missing lessons for sports fixtures is one of the all-time leaders of intra colleague friction.

Given this, it is perhaps surprising that the abundant science is not leveraged to clarify the facts regarding the undisputed benefits of exercise to learning. Schools devote a significant...