Cricket, perhaps with school batting first (6)
I believe the answer is:
insect
'cricket perhaps' is the definition.
(cricket is a kind of insect)
'school batting first' is the wordplay.
'school' becomes 'sect' (I've seen this before**).
'batting' becomes 'in'.
'first' says to put letters next to each other.
'sect' after 'in' is 'INSECT'.
'with' is the link.
(Other definitions for insect that I've seen before include "E.g. cricket" , "Eg, beetle or fly" , "Contemptible person" , "cricket, say" , "Imago" .)