Two key dates in the calendar for Oxfordshire Cricket are our showcase fixtures for the county men and women’s teams. The first of two took place on Sunday 30th July 2023, where Oxfordshire Cricket welcomed Sussex County Cricket Club to the magnificent Wormsley Estate in order to contest the annual National Counties Cricket Association showcase fixture between the parterned Non-First Class and First Class Counties. Just a few weeks later, Oxfordshire Cricket will return to the Wormsley Estate to contest the Women’s showcase fixture against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on Tuesday 15th August 2023.

Alongside the cricket on each of the days, the showcase fixtures provide a platform for Oxfordshire Cricket to raise much needed income for our State School Fund via a Raffle. The State School Fund enables Oxfordshire Cricket to deliver programmes of support for state school players which play a pivotal role in helping to bridge the opportunity gap between independent and state sectors. You can find out more about the Oxfordshire Bulls and Falcons programmes that the State School Fund contributes towards on our website by clicking here. The State School Fund also helps raise funds for the development of Secondary School programmes that would see us deliver cricket sessions at state secondary schools as in both curriculum and extracurricular time. 

The raffle includes many great prizes and tickets are available to purchase at both the Men’s and Women’s showcase games at the Wormsley Estate. The opportunity to purchase raffle tickets is also accessible online HERE. A summary of the exciting prizes available to be won are shown below;

Raffle Prizes:

1. 4 x Tickets to the England Women’s International against Sri Lanka at The 1st Central County Ground, Hove on 31st August 2023
2. 1 x Framed Signed Sussex Sharks Shirt
3. 1 x Family Annual Pass to Blenheim Palace 
4. 1 x Official Sussex Sharks T20 Shirt (choice of size, S, M, L, XL) or 1 x Oxfordshire Cricket Coloured Match Shirt (choice of size)
5. 1 x Junkyard Golf Voucher for two people to enjoy a round of crazy golf and a drink
6. 1 x Sussex Sharks FlexFit Cap

The draw will take place on Monday 21st August 2023 with all winners contacted directly and published online.

Oxfordshire Cricket are pleased to announce that fifteen-year-old Arthur Hanson has been selected to represent the South & West Under 15s at the 2023 ECB David English Bunbury Festival. The ECB David English Bunbury Festival takes place at the National Cricket Performance Centre at Loughborough University next week, between the 30th July and 4th August 2023. Arthur follows in the footsteps of recent Bunbury graduate Alfie Smethurst who was the leading wicket taker at last year’s ECB David English Bunbury Festival. 

Arthur is the latest player who from Oxfordshire who has gone on to play at the prestigious Bunbury Festival over the past twelve years, with the rich history including, Alfie Smethurst (2022), Dylan Driscoll and Kalan Niyarepola (2021), James Coles (2018, 2019) and Zach Lion-Cachet (2019), Luke Charlesworth and Gus Miller (2017), Ben Charlesworth (2016), Rory Hipwell, Tom Price, Harrison Ward (2015), Jordan Garrett and James Palmer (2014), Tom Costley (2012), Miles Hammond and Joe Barrett (2011). 

Performance Director – Matthew Barnes said:

“We are delighted to announce that Arthur has been selected to represent the South & West U15 at the ECB David English Bunbury Festival. Selection for Regional Cricket is an honour that only a small group of players across the country experience and both Arthur and his family should be very proud of such an achievement.

On behalf of everyone at Oxfordshire Cricket, I take the opportunity to wish Arthur the best of luck representing the South & West at the ECB David English Bunbury Festival this week.

Oxfordshire Cricket is pleased to announce the squad selected to play against Sussex on Sunday 30th of July in the NCCA Showcase match at Wormsley starting at 11 am:

• Olly Clarke (c)
  Prav Chahal
  Dylan Driscoll
  Jamie Harrison
  Luke Hayes
  Tom Hinley
  Zach Lion-Cachet
  Max Mannering
  Tom Powell
  Callum Russell (wk)
  George Tait
  Henry Welch

You can follow the match by visiting our match centre at https://www.oxfordshire.cricket/match-centre/ 

Entry to the match will be free to all, however, there will be a parking charge. A £6 ticket enables you to park one car at Wormsley, entry is free to all. 

Refreshments will be available to spectators which include but are not limited to tea, coffee, soft drinks, bar, food, bbq and ice cream. A VIP dining option is also available. The VIP lunch which is served at 2.30pm and is a two course buffet style.

We are pleased to confirm that we will have the following providers on the day for food and refreshments:

You can purchase tickets by clicking here

Wolvercote beat Abingdon Vale and Goring to win their second piece of silverware for the season – beating Vale in the semi and Goring in the final to win the U13s League competition at Great and Little Tew. 

The first semi-final of the day saw Wolvercote beat Abingdon Vale by 72 runs. Batting first, Wolvercote set 182-5 from their 20 overs, with Cowley and Beard retiring for 31 and 35 respectively. Lovell and Smith scored helpful 20’s to put one foot in the final. However, Abingdon Vale came out all guns blazing and at 83-3 after 8 overs looked set on to reach their target, thanks mainly to Pulimi’s 38* and Goyal’s 25. Unfortunately a collapse which included 5 run outs saw them fall to 110 all out, 72 runs short of their target. 

Semi-final 2 was between Cropredy and Goring, with the former batting first. Losing early wickets, Cropredy fell to 39-5 and looked to be out of it. However, runs from Thomas (23) and Sirimanne (26) saw them recover to a defendable 83 all out. Logan, Burch and Lord took 3 wickets each with Dineen rounding out the bowlers. In reply, Goring started steadily, losing their openers early, Walsh was required to steady the ship and along with contributions from Galbraith, Logan and Bennett saw his side over the line with 2 overs to spare, giving them a spot in the final with Wolvercote. 

After a short break, the final got underway, with Wolvercote batting first. Contributions from Ricks, Cowley and du Plessis put their side in a good position but the pick of the batters were Lovell and Bratby – both looking to accelerate and set as high a target as possible. After 20 overs, Goring needed 140 runs to win the trophy. However, Wolvercote shone in the field, reducing Goring to 36-6. Unfortunately that did not come and they slumped to 63 all out, handing victory to Wolvercote by 76 runs. Pick of the bowlers was Lovell, who finished with figures of 3-7 from his 3 overs. 

The presentation of the trophy and medals was conducted by Joe Clapton (Finals Day Manager for the day) who thanked Great and Little Tew for hosting, the umpires, coaches, scorers and all the teams for a great day of cricket. Thank you to all clubs who competed in this year’s Competition, and we look forward to seeing more great cricket over the summer.

Oxfordshire Cricket is pleased to announce the squad selected to play against Berkshire on Sunday 23rd of July in the second NCCA Three Day Championship match of the season at Thame Town CC starting at 11 am:

Olly Clarke (c)
Prav Chahal
Tom Condon
Ollie Ebsworth-Burland
Jamie Harrison
Tom Hinley
Max Mannering
Callum Russell (wk)
Robbie Shurmer
George Tait
Jared Warner

You can follow the match by visiting our match centre at https://www.oxfordshire.cricket/match-centre/ 

Moreton Mavericks amazingly reached their 3rd consecutive Vitality regional club T20 plate final last weekend and made the trip to picturesque Winsley CC near Bradford on Avon, with a place in a national semi final at stake.

Peppard Stoke Row saw off competition from Oxford and Oxford Downs to become U15s League champions at Didcot on Sunday, beating Oxford in the semi-final and Downs in the final for the trophy. 

The first semi-final of the day saw Oxford Downs beat Banbury by just 8 runs to secure their spot in the final. Batting first, Downs put on 125-6 from their 20 overs, with Sutton’s 51 from 41 balls the pick of the batters – Kumar’s 34 helped his team reach a defendable target. Holmes took the lion’s share of the wickets, finishing with figures of 3-15 from his allotted overs. Banbury lost early wickets, falling to 14-2 and never recovered – with Miller top scoring with 30 it couldn’t prevent defeat and fall 8 runs short of their target. 

Semi-final 2 was between Peppard and Oxford, with the former batting first. Losing early wickets, Peppard fell to 19-2 and Oxford looking to capitalise. However, Day and Derbyshire steadied the ship, scoring 51 and 35 respectively to get their team back in the game, Cameos from Waller as Hucker saw them reach 162-5 from their 20 overs. Oxford got their run chase underway, needing to score big if they were going to reach the final. Again early wickets seemed to be their downfall, collapsing to 9-3. A combination of good bowling and attempting to now assail this impossible target saw Oxford lose more wickets, finishing their 20 overs on 70-6. Pick of the Peppard bowlers was Mennie, with figures of 2-7 from 3 overs helping his side to a 92 run victory. 

After a short break, the final got underway, with Peppard batting first. Peppard started strongly with an opening stand of close to 100 – Robinson retired with 51 and Hector out for 41 put their team in good stead to set a large target for Downs to chase. Useful runs from Hucker who fell 4 short of his own half century saw Peppard reach 184-7 from their 20 overs. Oxford Downs began their chase poorly, losing Sutton in the first over. Niyarepola scored a useful 40 to steady the ship and provide the platform his side needed to win. However, none of his team mates could muster a score, and Downs fell 63 runs short. Hector helped his side over the the with figures of 2-7 from his 4 overs. 

The presentation of the trophy and medals was conducted by Joe Clapton (Finals Day Manager for the day) who thanked Didcot for hosting, the umpires, coaches, scorers and all the teams for a great day of cricket. Thank you to all clubs who competed in this year’s Competition, and we look forward to seeing more great cricket over the summer. 

Congratulations again to Peppard who now progress onto the national round of this competition and represent Oxfordshire as group winners.

Oxfordshire Cricket is pleased to announce the squad selected to play against Herefordshire on Sunday 9th of July in the first NCCA Three Day Championship match of the season at Eastnor CC starting at 11 am:

• Olly Clarke
• Tom Hinley
• George Tait
• Tom Powell
• Prav Chahal
• Jared Warner
• Jamie Harrison
• Robbie Shurmer
• Max Mannering
• Callum Russell
• Luke Hayes

You can follow the match by visiting our match centre at https://www.oxfordshire.cricket/match-centre/ 

We are delighted to invite outstanding candidates to apply for an exciting opportunity at Oxfordshire Cricket.

Community Cricket Officer c.£26,000-£28,000 depending on experience 

Oxfordshire Cricket is a thriving organisation and we are proud of our achievements in delivering our recreational cricket and community programmes across the county. 

We are seeking to appoint an ambitious, inclusive and proactive individual, who will work closely with our workforce and key stakeholders, to lead Oxfordshire Cricket’s School and Community programmes aimed at growing the game and improving access to cricket in our local communities.

The aim of this role is to manage and support the delivery of a wide range of programmes and initiatives across schools and communities in Oxfordshire with the purpose of increasing participation and improving access to cricket. 

Successful candidates will be responsible for delivering safe, engaging and inspiring cricket sessions to children and young people, as well as engaging and inspiring teachers and parents. Additionally, they will need to have strong communication, organisational and reporting skills and the drive to achieve set outcomes. Due to the nature of the sport, this role will require working unsociable hours from time to time. 

Closing date: 5 PM Friday 4th August 2023

If you would like to discuss either of these roles further, then please contact Nick Pinhol at [email protected]. We would gratefully receive all Cover Letters and Safer Recruitment Application forms submitted to [email protected] by 5PM on Friday 4th of August. 

To view the School and Community Programmes Manager Role Pack – Click Here

To complete a Safe Recruitment Application Form – Click Here

Oxfordshire Cricket is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment. All appointments are subject to a satisfactory enhanced DBS check and references

Oxfordshire Cricket is committed to providing equitable opportunities. While we will always appoint on merit, we would particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups and communities in cricket – especially female or ethnically diverse people or those who identify as having a disability.