| Banbury Indoor Cricket League | |||||
| Division 1 League Table – Week 2 | |||||
TEAM | Played | Won | Bonus Points | Total | |
| Bat | Bowl | ||||
| Banbury | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 52 |
| Hook Norton | 2 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 51 |
| Sandford St. Martin | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 50 |
| Cropredy | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 50 |
| Banbury Veterans | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Shipston-on-Stour | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Ruscote | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Silverstone | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Oxfordshire’s Abi Norgrove has recently been named in the England Women Under 19s Preparation Group which has been selected to prepare for an upcoming tour of Sri Lanka to take on the hosts and Australia in a Tri Series (March 2024-April 2024). A preparation group will commence a series of winter camps in Loughborough in January before a reduced tour squad is announced at a later date.
Abi is a product of the Oxfordshire Cricket pathway and started her journey within the Girls Under 11s county age group at the age of eight, later making her debut for the Oxfordshire Women’s 1st team at age thirteen. Abi earned selection on to the Southern Vipers Academy in 2021, retaining her place since and progressing to make her senior debut in 2023. Abi has been rewarded with a winter contract to train within an all- encompassing professional environment during the current winter.
Oxfordshire Cricket Performance Director, Matthew Barnes, said:
“It is fantastic to learn that Abi has been selected for the England Women Under 19 preparation group. The experience should afford Abi with further development opportunities that will help accelerate both her progression and give her the chance to earn selection for the final squad that will tour Sri Lanka in April 2024. On behalf of everyone at Oxfordshire Cricket it is my pleasure to congratulate Abi on her selection and we wish her the best of luck with both the experience and her continued progression in the game .’
Senior Regional Talent Manager at the Southern Vipers, Ian Cox, said:
“ Abi thoroughly deserves her call up, she is an outstanding young lady whose work ethic and desire to improve has shone through over the last few years. Her performances on the pitch have been outstanding, culminating in her selection for the senior 1st team last summer in our successful Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy campaign at just 17. We all wish her well over the next few months and I’m sure she will continue to excel on and off the pitch. “
Over 50 and still playing in the CCL? You could be missing out on playing County Cricket!
OK so you might not have been quite good enough to make it into the first class game in your younger days – but it might not be too late to play some county cricket even though your 50th birthday is already behind you.
Implausible? Not really – one of the game’s fastest growing sectors at present is seniors cricket, with all the Cherwell League’s constituent counties fielding sides in the Seniors County Championship at Over 50s, Over 60s and Over 70s age groups.
So if you are Over 50 and still playing for a CCL club the chances are there is a seniors county XI for which you could be playing.
Qualification for a county is by either by being born in that county, or living in that county.
So for a significant majority of CCL players Oxfordshire would be the county for which they are qualified and the man responsible to the Oxfordshire Cricket Board for seniors cricket is Darryl Woods.
“Believe it or not we’ve been playing seniors cricket in Oxfordshire since 1986!” said Darryl. “We’ve had a succession of strong sides at Over 50s and Over 60s – winning the Over 50s competition in 2008 – with numerous 50s and 60s final and semi-final appearances since and we’re just about to begin playing at Over 70s.
“However, until recently recruitment has been pretty much by word of mouth and via the personal contacts of the players currently in the various teams. But as the Cherwell League has expanded exponentially in the past few years that means we are without doubt missing out on players who could be part of our seniors teams.
“So to that end we’re really keen to hear from any Cherwell League players either born or resident in the county, who are 49 and over – you are eligible to play in the year you turn 50 – and interested in playing for the county.
“And for any former county players thinking of returning to play for Oxfordshire who might not now qualify you can also claim ‘grandfather’s rights’ within certain time and appearances criteria.
“There also doesn’t need to be any club versus county conflict. Seniors cricket is played mid-week, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays depending on which age group is involved. We currently have three sides at over 50s, four at over 60s and one at over 70s, so there’s a place for all abilities.
“And there’s a great opportunity coming up shortly to come along and get to know the guys involved and get a feel for how it all works via our seniors winter nets which are due to start running in March.
“If you have a player at your club who you think might like to get involved or you yourself want to know more drop me a line at [email protected] . Come along and see what we’ve got to offer,” he added.
For players from Cherwell League Clubs, who do not meet the above criteria to play for Oxfordshire, the following contacts should provide an initial point of contact for your respective counties.
Buckinghamshire Ron Hedley [email protected]
Northamptonshire Grant Timms [email protected]
Bedfordshire Graeme Presswell [email protected]
Hertfordshire Kevin Kelly [email protected]
We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone throughout Oxfordshire a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
2024 is set to be a exciting year for cricket in Oxfordshire, with a wide range of projects and programmes throughout the county.
Please note that Oxfordshire Cricket has an organisational shutdown for the Holidays between the 22nd of
December and the 2nd of January. During that period our workforce will be taking a well-earned break which will impact our response time.
If you have a safeguarding concern please contact Lesley and Stuart on [email protected]. If these are immediate concerns about the safety or well-being of any individual please contact the Emergency Services or your local Social Services, or the NSPCC child protection helpline on 0808 800 5000.
Oxfordshire Cricket have sought to enhance its Bulls (Boys) and Falcons (Girls) programmes that provide targeted levelling up opportunities for state-educated children within the pathway programme. The supplementary programmes for state-educated children are funded entirely by the Oxfordshire Cricket Board (OCB) financial reserves and our fundraising campaigns. In 2023-24, we have again invested substantially in the Bulls and Falcons programmes to provide free, and accessible coaching and match play opportunities that help to ‘level up the playing field’ between the independent and state school sectors.
In the three months prior to Christmas 2023 we delivered 54 hours of Bulls and Falcons provision to 165 state-educated children in school years 6, 7 and 8 who were participants within phase one of our pathway programme. In the knowledge that aspiring state-school girls have even less access to cricket than boys, we scaled the supplementary programmes so that it offered 6-8 hours of additional contact time per player for the girls (Falcons) and 3-4 hours of additional contact time per player for the boys (Bulls).
As we turn to the New Year, we will again be delivering a Bulls and Falcons programme to all state-educated children that have participated in the 2023-24 pathway programme, within the Under 10 to Under 13 age groups. Through the months of January, February and March 2024, the supplementary support will remain accessible to all individuals, irrespective of the selection outcomes at the conclusion of phase 1 within the pathway programme.
You can find out more about the Bulls and Falcons programmes on our website HERE.
Oxfordshire Cricket would like to invite you and other interested representatives from your club, school or association to our Cricket Development Evening (CDE) that will take place on Monday 26th February 2024 from 18.00-21:00 at St Edward’s School in Oxford.
The Cricket Development Evening is a great opportunity for clubs, schools, partners and associations to come together. This event is free to attend, to help support the development of cricket. Members of the Oxfordshire Cricket workforce, the ECB and our partners will also be in attendance. Local authority officers and executive members with responsibility for sport and playing pitch strategies have also been invited with the purpose of networking and developing better relationships with clubs.
We are delighted to announce that Richard Gould – CEO at the England and Wales Cricket Board will be making a keynote speech as part of the evening where he will discuss the health of cricket, impact of Inspiring Generations and the changing landscape of cricket. Richard has significant leadership experience from major organisations across sport, having served as CEO at first Somerset County Cricket Club and then Surrey County Cricket Club, before going on to be the CEO of Bristol City Football Club.
Workshops Available:
Attendees will have the option to select two workshops to attend out of five. The information about the workshops is as follows:
Refreshments
Refreshments will be provided in the form of drinks and light food
Timings of the Evening
Start Time | Start Time | End Time |
Arrival, Tea/Coffee/Food Reception | From 18:00 | |
Welcome and Richard Gould – ECB CEO – Keynote address | 18:30 | 19:00 |
Workshop 1 – These will run for 45 minutes | 19:05 | 19:50 |
Short Interval | Break | |
Workshop 2 – These will run for 45 minutes | 20:05 | 20:50 |
Partners
There will be pop ups from our partners in the lobby areas as you arrive which will include but not limited to:
Address: St Edward’s School, Woodstock Rd, Oxford OX2 7NN
Book Your Place – Click Here to Book
Parking: Parking takes place on ‘Field Side’ of school (Postcode for Sat Nav is OX2 7NZ). The ‘Field Side Entrance’ off the Woodstock Road has a St Edward’s School entrance sign as well as a Nuffield Health sign. The main car park is number 10 on the map and it is a gravel car park, but there is parking before there along the edge of the Netball/Tennis Courts (number 46) and in between the courts and the astro pitches. People will need to walk from the car park round the playing fields and under the pedestrian tunnel (number 55) to ‘Quad side’. There will be signage to guide attendees to the Olivier Hall. Please click here to see the attached map
We hope to see you there!
Further information will be released closer to the date. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us
Oxfordshire’s Ollie Price and James Coles have been named in the England Lions 15 player squad that will travel to India in early January 2024 for a month-long red-ball tour that coincides with the start of England Men’s five-match Test series. The Lions will be based in Ahmedabad for the whole tour and are scheduled to play India A in three four-day matches at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The tour begins with a two-day warm-up match against India A.
The news follows Price and Coles recently attending a training camp in UAE that took place across November and December which looked to develop their red-ball skills predominantly. The England Lions Camp aimed to understand the depth of England’s pathway whilst providing developmental experiences for high-potential players closely aligned to England’s future needs.
Ollie and James are products of the Oxfordshire Cricket pathway, starting their journey within the Boys Under 10s county age group before making their transition into programmes with Gloucestershire (Ollie) and James (Sussex). WIth Oxfordshire, both progressed into the Men’s 2nd XI and 1st Xi teams, notably being in the same squad that lifted the National Counties Cricket Association T20 winning trophy back in 2022.
Oxfordshire Cricket Performance Director, Matthew Barnes, said:
“It is fantastic to learn that Ollie and James have been selected for the England Lions tour to India in early January 2024. Their inclusion in the squad will provide further learning experiences in conditions that are representative of the international game and help to accelerate both their progression and readiness to transition from the first class game in the future.
We are incredibly proud of Ollie and James, and it is my pleasure to again wish them the best of luck with the England Lions tour to India on behalf of everyone at Oxfordshire Cricket.”
Oxfordshire and Sussex Coach and Magdalen College School Cricket Professional, Alan Duncan said:
“The news of Ollie and James being selected for the England Lions Tour to India is fantastic. In my time working with them they have demonstrated a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication to their game. They have sacrificed to be the best that they can be, which has shown this year as their work and effort has been rewarded with successful seasons at Gloucestershire and Sussex. It is an exciting time for them in their careers and we wish them the best of luck. We will be watching with great interest.”
Oxfordshire Cricket will again host open sessions for its Women and Men’s teams that will take place during the preparation phase between January and March 2024. We are now welcoming expressions of interest from eligible, high-performing, or high-potential adult players who have the ambition to represent Oxfordshire.
Our aim is for our Women and Men’s teams to deliver competitive and repeated, long-term performance achievements and to be populated by players developed via our pathway, from Clubs, Schools and Universities within the County, along with other eligible adult players who may play the game outside of Oxfordshire. The open sessions assist the identification, development and recruitment of eligible adult players and help us to capture talent that may have emerged at a later developmental stage.
We remain committed to ensuring that adult players’ continue to strive for representative selection and the open sessions will provide an accessible opportunity for individuals to demonstrate their capability to represent Oxfordshire. The open sessions are being hosted for eligible adult players (eighteen years of age or above who are not within a pathway programme) and we are now welcoming expressions of interest from eligible individuals who fulfil one or more of the talent identification criteria below;
The Open Sessions for the County Women and Men’s will take place independently and have been scheduled on the following dates between January and March 2024.
Adult players who would like to attend the upcoming open sessions should complete the Expression of Interest Form. Applicants will then be contacted directly with further information and joining instructions ahead of the open sessions.
More detailed information about our County Women and County Men’s team can be found on our website HERE.
| Banbury Indoor Cricket League | |||||
| Division 1 League Table – Week 1 | |||||
TEAM | Played | Won | Bonus Points | Total | |
| Bat | Bowl | ||||
| Banbury | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 26 |
| Hook Norton | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 25 |
| Sandford St. Martin | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 25 |
| Cropredy | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 24 |
| Banbury Veterans | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Shipston-on-Stour | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Silverstone | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Ruscote | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |