News
Sophia Dunkley is a former Belmont and Mill Hill School pupil, who became a professional cricketer. She was selected by the Middlesex County Cricket Club ‘Emerging Player Programme’, in 2011 when she was still a pupil at Mill Hill and plays for the England Women’s Cricket team, Surrey, South East Stars, and Southern Brave cricket teams.
Sophia returned to Belmont earlier this week, to help coach and train some of our pupils. During the session, she gave us some insight into what it is like playing for the England team.
Later in the day, Sophia held a Q&A session with some of the Belmont Sports Scholars. The Scholars listened as she reflected on life at Belmont as a pupil, her journey to becoming a professional athlete and what it means to have true mental toughness, and the importance of being part of a team.
All of us here at Belmont wish Sophia the very best of luck as she heads to South Africa for the T20 World Cup. We will of course be eagerly following her progress.
Write-up by Mirella G and Ben C Year 8:
As you may know, Sophia Dunkley is a successful cricketer who plays at international level. She was the first ever black woman to play Test Cricket for England. She has been in multiple newspapers and even secured a win against India. She got to the finals of Women’s World 2020.
As a former Belmont pupil, she came back to give a Cricket Masterclass on Wednesday with some cricketers in Years 7 and 8! All heads turned as she entered the Sports Hall.
We started with fun physical warm-ups, moved on to practising bowling and then added batting. We even got to bowl against her – how exciting!
Sophia Dunkley was gifted in Cricket and excelled during her time at Belmont. She is now one of the stars of England Cricket and it was a privilege to have her visit. The pupils said that she was “informative, inspiring and interesting.” Ruben said, “She used my bat which was very cool.” Humza said “It was a tough battle but we managed to beat her in our mini game.” We hope she can come again.
