Developing Dreams

“I can think of international cricketers who were in tears at the age of 16, thinking that they weren’t good enough.”

 

LWC’s Head of Cricket, Greg Kennis knows a thing or two about the brutal reality of professional sport. The former England U19, Surrey and Somerset player made the transition into full-time coaching when his playing career ended at the age of 26.

 

“It was tough not being in the first team,” he explains. “I think my time had come. I could have tried to go to another county, but I’d always coached and then the coaching took over. I don’t miss playing, but I miss coaching when I’m not doing it.”

 

Mr Kennis joined LWC earlier this year, with the prospect of developing 1200 acres of cricketing talent, proving too good to turn down. “For me to work well, I need to be somewhere that I believe in,” he continues. “From the moment that I walked through the gates, I had a really warm feeling about the school and the environment. I heard about the plans in place, the vision that the Headmaster had for the future of cricket here and everything aligned.”

 

LWC has a strong cricketing heritage. It was named for the ninth year running, in the top 100 senior schools for cricket by The Cricketer’s Schools Guide 2025. It also boasts a host of male and female students who have received call-ups to county cricket sides.

 

“I was aware of the school and where it’s at with its cricket,” Greg admits. “Once I came in and saw the opportunity, that was it.”

 

Greg’s vision is to build a year-round cricket offering at LWC. Ambitions to build a cricket bubble at the College sit alongside the sector-leading fitness, health and wellbeing centre – on course to open in September 2026. The foundations are clearly in place.

   

“I turned 51 this year and I don’t feel as though I’ve ever had a job…I’ve been fortunate to do something that I love doing. There are so many experiences that I can draw on to help young people and seeing someone develop is what it’s all about for me. ”

— Greg Kennis, Head of Cricket

 

“I want cricket to be the sport of choice,” he states. “I want to enthuse people to play it. Whatever level someone is playing at, my aspiration is to try and help them to play at the next level. This is where my background comes in.”

 

Greg’s background certainly stands him in good stead when it comes to developing young cricketers, both physically and mentally. In fact, many fellow members of the LWC Sport Department have enjoyed careers at the top of their chosen disciplines.

 

“My playing career definitely helped shape how I now coach,” he reveals. “Things can change very quickly and I know very well how injuries can affect careers. These are good experiences to share with young people. I’ve always been interested in development. I have good friends who are head coaches and they often get wrapped up in the admin side of things. The reason I love coaching is that you get to see the journey of a player over a period of time. I’ve been really fortunate to do that in the roles that I’ve had; seeing some of them go from an under-12’s player to getting a professional contract or coaching someone at 16 and watching them go on to play international cricket.”

 

Greg’s own cricketing journey began close to home. “There was an indoor cricket centre built near our house,” Greg explains. “It was run by the dad and brother of Alec Stewart,” (former England cricket captain). “Alec’s brother took me under his wing at the age of around 11 and became a bit of a mentor to me. I guess that’s where it all started. I realised that it was something I was half-good at and by the time I was 15 or 16, I knew this was what I wanted to do. I was fortunate enough to be able to perform at the right time, get the breaks and go on to play professional cricket for seven years. It never felt like a job.”

   

Some of Greg’s career highlights include scoring 250 runs for Surrey against Leicestershire and several years later, notching up 175 for Somerset against New Zealand. “As it transpired, that ended up being my last game for the first team,” he explains. “But it proved to me that I was good enough and I could do it. Then I got injured, things happened and I didn’t play again. It highlighted to me how things can change very, very quickly and you’ve got to make that change yourself.”

 

Greg’s change to developing other players, brought with it success of a different kind. He went on to spend 18 years professionally coaching at Somerset, where he led the talent pathway and high-performance programmes. He then became Assistant and Second XI Coach. Most notably, he helped Somerset to their One-Day Cup victory in 2019, the Twenty20 Cup success of 2023 and to lift last summer’s 2^nd XI T20 Trophy.

 

“I turned 51 this year and I don’t feel as though I’ve ever had a job,” he smiles. “I’ve been fortunate to do something that I love doing. There are so many experiences that I can draw on to help young people and seeing someone develop is what it’s all about for me. I can often see that someone can do something. Finding a way for them to see it for themselves is the best bit. When that happens, they feel excitement and I love that I get to share that excitement with them.”