Oxfordshire Cricket is pleased to launch this year’s 2022 Grassroots Cricket Awards, which seeks to reward and recognise volunteers across Oxfordshire who have made a difference to their club or community group. After last year’s success at holding the awards at Wormsley, this year we will again hold a large portion of the awards at the Finals Day and Pathway Awards. There will also be a range of additional events that we will look to reward and recognise volunteers. 

There are eleven award categories that will allow us to recognise and reward those in Oxfordshire that have made an outstanding contribution to cricket this year, be it a young volunteer who has gone over and above or a club that has excelled in opening up the game to a brand new audience this summer. The deadline for all nominations is Friday the 12th of August 2022. Last year after rewarding and recognising over 65 volunteers across Oxfordshire, this year we would like to go beyond that to reward and recognise those that help make a difference. 

The categories are as follows:

• Connecting Communities – A Club or community organisation that has gone above and beyond the call of cricket to support communities/groups coming back to the game we love.

• Inspired to play – An Individual or group within your club or community organisation going above and beyond to open the game up to new audiences.

• Rising Star Award – Young volunteer making a difference – 11 – 16-year-olds

• Game changer – Young volunteer 17 – 25-year-olds making a difference in the game.

• Unsung hero – Those heroes who impact our game and help us make cricket happen.  This could be ground staff, coaches, officials, umpires, or other volunteers.

• Growing the game – A league volunteer, committee member, or administrator going above and beyond to support clubs and help increase the number of games played.

• Lifetime achiever – That one individual who has given many years of service to your club or community group you could not do without.

• Cricket innovators – Someone who has brought new ideas and/or implemented new systems to improve your club or community group.

• Safe Hands – Those key volunteers helping clubs get Safe Hands Management Accreditation. –An individual that has gone above and beyond to create a positive environment for young people to enjoy the game.

• Inclusivity champion award –  Reward and recognise clubs that create an inclusive environment and go well beyond the norm to make cricket a game for all 

• Tackling Climate Change – A Club or community organisation that is addressing the

threat climate change poses to cricket, by making sustainable changes to operations, adapting their facilities and/or engaging their local community.

How Can You Nominate Someone?

You can nominate someone by clicking here to complete an online form to nominate someone. The deadline for all nominations is Friday the 12th of August 2022, with the county winners being put forward for the national awards.

Oxfordshire added the National Counties T20 title to the three-day National Counties Championship they won last September with a thrilling two wickets win over Cambridgeshire in a tense final at Tring Park. 

A superb 84 from Harrison Ward, got them most of the way to a target of 170 – the highest score of Finals Day. 

But the departure of Ward and Tom Price off successive balls from the experienced Wayne White brought Cambridgeshire right back into the match. 

White then had Ollie Currill, whose remarkable bowling figures of seven for 12 had clinched the semi-final win over Cheshire, caught in the deep after he had clobbered 19 from ten balls. 

Oxfordshire needed eight from the final over but George Tait settled any nerves with two boundaries off the first balls from Tim Moses to start the celebrations. 

“We had set our sights on trying to win a white ball competition because, if we are honest with ourselves, in the past we haven’t done ourselves justice in our white ball campaigns,” said Oxfordshire captain Jonny Cater. 

“To execute our skills when it matters and chase down that score on a third game pitch was unbelievable and I’m over-joyed. 

“The lads who are now with first-class counties deserve it as much as anyone else. These guys have committed themselves to our pathway from the age of eight and nine years of age. 

“This is all about them as well but the guys who have played all the way through the campaign have been unbelievable.” 

Although Oxfordshire’s success was very much a team effort Cater highlighted Currill’s bowling in the semi-final and Ward’s innings in the final as key to winning the first silverware of the season. 

“It takes special performances in T20 cricket and it takes one person to turn a game round. Ollie’s seven wickets in a T20 match is unheard of and remarkable,” Cater said. 

“Then Harrison Ward with another great innings in the final. I think that he was gutted that he couldn’t finish the job but he gave us the platform for George Tait to get those two boundaries at the end. 

“Wining trophies is what it’s all about but we are also seeing our players develop and we are giving opportunities for them to perform. 

“When we are together we are a tight-knit group and it’s a pleasure to play every weekend with these guys. 

“We have had some difficult matches this year and even then we were close and tight-knit. This is a very special group of lads.” 

Cambridgeshire’s total owed much to Jack Potticary’s half century which appeared to have laid the foundations for an even bigger one. 

But Oxfordshire managed to apply some control in the second half of the innings with James Coles, who is on Sussex’s staff alongside Ward, taking three key wickets with his left-arm spin. 

Semi-finals  

Ollie Currill propelled Oxfordshire into the final with a remarkable bowling performance against Cheshire in the opening semi-final. 

Currill took seven for 12 in his four overs with his last five wickets being claimed in just eight balls. 

Cheshire, who appeared to be cruising to a target of 157 when they 92 for two in the twelfth over imploded spectacularly, losing their last seven wickets for 21 and were beaten by 20 runs. 

Currill, who plays his club cricket for Leamington, varied his pace intelligently and was well-supported by excellent catching, three taken by Ollie Price including a brilliant one-handed effort at mid-on to dismiss Andrew Jackson. 

Price also had the dangerous Will Evans LBW for 26 and contributed 30 at the top of the order in an excellent all round effort. 

Price’s brother Tom also made 30 which provided late impetus to a competitive total against tight Cheshire bowling. 

The Price brothers were joined in Oxfordshire’s side by their Gloucestershire team-mate Luke Charlesworth and the Sussex pair of Harrison Ward and James Coles, all products of their home county’s youth system. 

Cambridgeshire’s six wickets win over Dorset in the second semi-final was more straightforward and less dramatic. 

Tight bowling, led by captain Callum Guest’s two for 12 in four overs of miserly off-spin, restricted Dorset to 133 for five. 

There were useful contributions from former Somerset opener Sam Young, Hampshire all-rounder Tom Prest and David Scott but Alex Eckland’s 30 was the top score. 

Cambridgeshire had no need to hurry and the pace their chase to perfection with opener Jack Potticary laying the foundations with 39 from 26 balls. 

Wayne White, the former Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lancashire all-rounder, weighed in with a breezy 24 but it was Noah Cain who caught the eye. 

The 17-year-old from The Leys School played a composed match-clinching innings of 39 not out which saw Cambridgeshire home with nine balls  to spare 

National  Counties T20 Finals Day 

Tring Park 

Semi-finals 

Oxfordshire 156 (Andrew Jackson 3-37), Cheshire 136 (Ollie Currill 7-12). Oxfordshire won by 20 runs. 

Dorset 133-5, Cambridgeshire 134-4 (Noah Thain 39 not out). Cambridgeshire won by six wickets. 

Final 

Cambridgeshire 169-9 (Jack Potticary 58, James Coles 3-14), Oxfordshire 170-8 (Harrison Ward 84, Wayne White 3-36). Oxfordshire won by two wickets. 

Written by Paul Bolton

The Inspired to Play Grant Scheme 2022  aims to increase the number of children (boys and girls aged under 18 years) participating in the game by supporting the delivery of recreational cricket activity for these groups during the months of June – September 2022.

To support the ambition, today we are thrilled to relaunch the “Inspired to Play” Grant. The scheme aims to increase the number of children (boys and girls) and/or women participating in the game by supporting the delivery of new/enhanced recreational cricket activity.

Your Club can apply for a grant of £1,000 to help your Club open up for new and current players this summer. To apply, please follow the below steps:

• Please check your eligibility and requirements by reading the guidance notes 
• Register your Club on ECB’s Investment Management System (or log in if already registered) and select “Inspired to Play” from the list of funding programmes
• Complete the application form and sign and return the contract offer letter to release funding
• Closing date for applications 30th June 2022 

Guidance Notes – Inspired to Play Grant

Oxfordshire Cricket has reached the end of the current kit cycle that has been in place since late 2017 and will soon transition into a new Training and On Field match range supplied by Serious Cricket. The introduction of the new kit cycle was originally scheduled for 2021, but we opted to defer the transition into a new range for a further 12 months due to the impacting Covid-19 pandemic. The new Training and On Field match range will be launched in 2022 and in place for three playing seasons with the partnership between Oxfordshire Cricket and Serious Cricket extended until the end of 2024. 

The new Training and On Field range is a bespoke design made in the Pro Sublimated Teamwear range that features a return of the original county colours to establish a greater connection to the history of Oxfordshire Cricket. The first known origins of the county colours date back nearly one hundred years to the 1920s, where in 1927, it was concluded at the AGM that all subscribing members be allowed to wear the original Club Colours being Blue, Magenta, and Gold. A quarter of a century on from the inception of the original county colours, the then known Oxfordshire County Cricket Club rules booklet of 1953, and later dated issue of 1985 both stated that the club colours were to be dark blue, magenta, and gold stripes with a white Ox badge on the dark blue County Cricket cap and blazer. Over thirty years later the Oxfordshire County Cricket Club (OCCC) and the Oxfordshire County Cricket Association (OCCA) would amalgamate in 1996 to form what is now known as Oxfordshire Cricket Board (OCB).

With a history steeped in the colours of Blue, Magenta, and Gold we wanted to embrace the three original county colours within the new kit cycle, whilst also enabling current players, parents’ and guardians and workforce the chance to influence the forming of the new range. Our Pathway squad players from the 2021 season were afforded the opportunity to share their design ideas for the training and playing shirts and our parents and guardians, coaches and adult players had the chance to feedback on what they would like improved in the playing or training kit. The most significant feedback received was the need to provide both a men’s and women’s fit in the coloured playing range which we are now delighted to offer as part of the new kit cycle.

We are pleased to be transitioning into a new training and on field match range that incorporates both past traditions and present views, but we are acutely aware of the difficulties a new kit cycle may place upon our pathway families. To help bridge the transition into the new kit cycle we shall be introducing several interventions in 2022 to reduce the costs associated with the training and on-field match range. Further information will be communicated once final pathway squad selections have been made.

“Our aspiration for the new training and on field match range was to embrace the three original county colours of Blue, Magenta, and Gold and for the design of the clothing range to be shaped by our current players, parents’ and guardians and workforce. We hope that the new kit range will foster a greater belonging and connection to Oxfordshire Cricket and that everyone will take great pride in wearing the new range they helped shape.”

Matthew Barnes, Performance Director

‘’The Board recognises the hard work that Matt and the team have put into managing the transition to the new kit range, this is a contractual commitment which we cannot defer a second time. However, we are fully aware that these are tough financial times for many, and the timing is not ideal. Matt will be sharing our thoughts on how we make this transition affordable for all selected within pathway squads. This is one of many important components of our EDI plan as we strive to make cricket accessible to everyone’’ 

Chris Clements, Chairman