There never was an equivalent of Cricket for girls. A game that occupied almost everyone at different levels of ability and formed the bulk of the competitive programme. Cricket occupied that role for over a hundred years in boys’ schools, and part of the legacy of its current declining popularity is the question of what replaces it.

For girls, the summer term offers an often inadequate combination of Tennis, Athletics and Rounders. None is entirely satisfactory. Tennis has a high entry level of skill requirement, and uses facilities inefficiently: Athletics captures the imagination of few teenage girls, and the...

It’s that time of year again. Across the country, in conditions that are a bit too cool and on fields that are a bit too damp, Athletics lessons are in full swing.

There will be few schools who do not provide comprehensive coverage of throws and jumps, not least because they are encouraged to do so by the National Curriculum. And equally few schools who have found engaging ways to deliver Field events. The red faces that were smiling and laughing in previous terms’ games are significantly more rare as they form their dutiful queues waiting for the chance...

Cricket in schools has faced a cocktail of problems as far back as most people can remember. Since the inception of league tables there has been a tension between the game and exam preparation; the summer term is ever shorter and the English climate is unreliable. But none of these is especially new. There are fewer boys (though actually more girls) playing cricket in schools than ever before. But the main reason is not the weather. Or even the exams. It is because of the character of the game.

The world that teenagers inhabit...