In 2021 we were lucky to run a near ‘normal’ season of youth cricket with English weather and availability of opposition being the only barrier to all the games being played. With 146 youth members signed up, new members and old, there was a clear appetite for training, games and competition across the various age groups after the disappointment of the previous season.
The season was preceded by the ever popular Easter Summer Camp run by Lloyd and the team of coaches at WPR which gave us an indication of the demand for youth cricket at the Club.
The season started in late April with the Under 11s running two teams-one hardball and one softball, both with Sunday fixtures. Under 13s were able to run two teams-one League 20 over side and one Super 8’s side. The Under 13s league side were unlucky in that two of the teams they were due to face pulled out of the competition leaving them short on competitive fixtures. They did however make their way to the quarter finals in the Ron Maudsley Cup where they lost out to a strong Cumnor side. The Super 8’s team won all their matches to go on and win the Super 8 Gauntlet Goblet against Charlbury. The Under 15s played 5 fixtures in total, with two wins, two losses, a rain affected abandoned game and their last scheduled match against Chipping Norton falling foul to the weather. The Under 19’s succeeded in getting through to Finals Day losing out to Horspath in the semi-finals.
As ever, a special thanks to all those who stepped up to help with coaching and supervising the youth training and teams and to those parents who helped with team management, scoring and umpiring on game days.
A number of youth players made their debut into senior cricket this year. 10 players in total from U13s-U15s made the leap into senior cricket which bodes well for the future of the Club. The season ended with a well-attended youth presentation evening in September and with everybody focused and looking forward to next season to build on the successes of 2021.
Cat Miller & Richard Badger