David – Cricket Shropshire

Final call for Knight-Stokes Cup entries

David on December 12, 2025

Schools in Shropshire have until early January to enter the Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup – the exciting new competition for state schools for Under 15 sides with the chance of playing a final at Lord’s.

Schools enjoy day out at cricket festival

David on December 10, 2025

Youngsters from across the Shrewsbury area enjoyed a day of fun and competition in a mixed Year 3 & 4 cricket festival at the Sports Village.

The festival, organised by Cricket Shropshire, aimed to give the youngsters a chance to play, laugh and learn through cricket – and the atmosphere couldn’t have been better

Pupils from Column, Mereside, Long Mountain, Belvedere, Greenfields, Trinity, St Georges, Meole Brace and Oak Meadow took part, with mixed teams of boys and girls enjoying plenty of fast-paced Gate Cricket games throughout the day.

Cricket Shropshire Development Administrator Vanessa Russell said: “A huge thank you to our coaches, Darrell Corfield, Ryan Lockley and Ben Smith who brought great energy and encouragement to every session.

“The children responded so well, showing brilliant teamwork, enthusiasm and sportsmanship from start to finish.

“After plenty of exciting matches and lots of smiles, Column came out on top as the overall winners.

“A massive well done to them, and to every school that took part. It was one of those days that reminds us why these festivals matter, bringing young people together, helping them grow in confidence, and creating memories they’ll carry with them.”

Young Ambassadors Programme fully booked

David on December 9, 2025

Cricket Shropshire’s popular Young Ambassadors Programme has once again proved to be a big draw.

Our planned course starting in the February half-term in 2026 is now fully booked.

The first Young Ambassadors programme took place in 2021 with the aim of helping youngsters develop their leadership skills and then put them into practice by volunteering at their clubs.

Dozens of youngsters have graduated from the programme since then and returned to their clubs and put their new skills to good use.

Cricket Shropshire Lead Officer Steve Reese said: “It’s great to see the popularity on our Young Ambassadors Programme – it shows the benefit of getting young people involved in all aspects of the game at an early stage.

“We will review our options early in the New Year and see if it is possible to run another course starting in February to meet the obvious demand there is out there for this offering.”

For more information on the Young Ambassadors Programme, contact Shannon Aston via shannon.aston@cricketshropshire.co.uk

Scoring workshops arranged ahead of 2026 season

David on December 9, 2025

Cricket Shropshire has joined forces with the Shropshire Association of Cricket Officials (SACO) to create a series of scoring workshops ahead of the 2026 season.

The sessions have been arranged as a result of feedback we have received after the 2025 season.

Cricket Shropshire’s Shannon Aston said: “We’ve been listening to clubs across all formats of the game in the county, whether Juniors, Women & Girls or Senior leagues and there is an appetite for more education and support in scoring.

“With everything now moving towards electronic scoring and everyone wanting to be kept informed of how matches are going in real time, it is important that we are able to provide that support to the network.

“We will be launching a Facebook page for scorers in the New Year which will help us keep connected.

“We are offering up the following courses prior to the commencement of the season and you are encouraged to register via the link below.”

We’ll be hosting the workshops across three venues on the following dates:

Tuesday 14th April – Bridgnorth CC (6-9pm)
Thursday 16th April – Wem CC (6.9pm)
Wednesday 22nd April – Wellington CC (6-9pm)

You can register for any of these workshops via the link HERE.

Expanded Furrows East Shropshire Mid-Week League for 2026

David on December 8, 2025

Next season’s Furrows East Shropshire Mid-Week League has seen a surge in interest with 12 teams involved.

That’s up from nine who took part in the inaugural season in 2025.

Champions St Georges will be once again joined by teams from Forton, Newport, Priorslee, Albrighton, Church Eaton, and Lilleshall for 2026.

New to the competition will be Wheaton Aston, Allscott Heath, Codsall, Broseley and Telford Posties.

The plan is to have two divisions of six teams so each side will play ten fixtures, with games against the other five sides home and away.

Cricket Shropshire Lead Officer Steve Reese said: “It’s great to see an increased level of interest in the league for next season – it’s what we were aiming for when we set up the competition to fill a gap we saw in mid-week cricket for the east of the county.

“For those new teams, we will be arranging an introductory on-line meeting with one of the questions – what do you want to achieve by entering the League? Last year we had a number of reasons, from ‘to win it’ to ‘try to give those players who now don’t play the longer format at weekends get back to playing at the club’ to allow ‘lads and dads’ opportunities.

“As a fledgling League moving to two divisions, it is important to us that each team is placed in a Division that will maximise your aims and ensure enjoyment for all.

“We said at the outset of this competition we want to be the “friendly” competitive competition, and I am pleased to report that we had zero disciplinaries last season and long may that continue.

“Life brings enough stress without us bringing it into our leisure time, so be warned this message will be loud and clear from us.”

All clubs have been sent a copy of the 2025 league rules together with their confirmation of involvement in the league for 2026. Following the post season meeting in October, we will be introducing a couple of enhancements for 2026 which were constructed in collaboration with the member clubs.

“We have non-negotiables like DBS for captains, clubs having a Safeguarding officer in place, players needing to be registered with the League etc…”

One change from last season is that Vanessa Russell who was the league Administrator is moving to a new role as Cricket Shropshire’s County Safeguarding Officer.

Steve said: “The administration of the League will be overseen by Tim Bellett, one of our Cricket Development Coaches, who will continue the excellent work Vanessa did in our inaugural season.”

Ahead of the 2026 season, the Board will arrange a sponsors’ promotion photo shoot and combined league meeting at Wrekin College. A date is yet to be fixed but it will be in the New Year.

If anyone has any questions, they can contact Tim via tim.bellett@cricketshropshire.co.uk