Aryaman Varma missed the 2024 honors but looks well on course to clinch the 2025 Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year Award, awarded to the best schoolboy cricketer in the United Kingdom.
England’s T20 stars Jonny Bairstow (St Peter’s School, York, 2008) and Jos Buttler (King’s College, Taunton, 2010) were a recipient of the prestigious honor that marked a major start to their respective careers.
The Eton College captain, leading the bowling attack, scripted history last week by scalping 51 wickets in a record-breaking season — the most in several decades.
His match-winning performances in the opening Cowdrey Cup fixture — a tournament between a few of the best cricketing schools in the country — where Varma picked up five wickets before leading his team to three T20 victories, his favourite format, proved among his most notable runs this season.
Stepping out to bat as an opening batter, he stirred havoc, hitting three balls into the local river, and the balls never came back in the first 10 minutes. However, that was not his standout performance, as he took a hat-trick in the final week against the Free Foresters, leading the XI to win the Silk Trophy (a tournament between Stowe School, Shrewsbury School, and South Africa’s St Andrew’s College) for the second year in a row.
The pathbreaking allrounder will further head to Brisbane, Australia, to compete in the Grade 1 Premier competition. He might also become second-lucky at the Wisden Award in April, next year.
