For the last three years, over the May half term, the Oxfordshire Cricket Board has hosted the Ellandun Trophy – a festival of cricket for youth players from U10 to U14 who have been involved in the winter-long district set-up. Their two district sides – loosely based on the East (Mercia) / West (Wessex) Oxfordshire divide (Banbury, in the middle, can fill either side) – battle it out over three days with points allocated for their results, which all contribute to the Trophy. The players are tested at all forms of the game, which typically involves a day of half a dozen 5-a-side games, followed by a day of two 20 over games, and the third and final day is a 40 over game. The festival helps define the players the districts will use for games in the summer and the best players for each age group are combined into a ‘best of district’ squad to tour as the ‘Oxfordshire Saxons’ in late summer.
This year, the trophy was played at Bloxham on day one and then under very blue skies at Radley College for two days, and there have been a number of Banbury players involved.
For the U14s, Josh Taylor and Seb Finch were each chosen as a captain for one of the four 5-a-side teams on day one, and then went on to play major roles in the other days too – with Josh hitting a rare six on the way to a quick-fire 17 and opening the bowling and picking up key wickets at key moments. Seb opening the batting in each of the three longer games, and contributed to three 50 partnerships with scores of 28 and 36. These performances were sufficient to impress and have earned both players a place on the summer tour to Malvern.
For the U13s, Kieran Churchill and Jamie Rawal featured and played prominent roles for their teams. Kieran was involved with some crucial match-winning runs in the lower order, while Jamie took five important wickets over the last two days. They are waiting for news of their tour squad. For the U12s, Ally Saunders bowled well throughout the tournament too.
This is a great tournament, and has become an integral part of the Oxfordshire player pathway development scheme – and is a fitting highlight of the district seasons, and it was good to see Banbury well represented.
Chris Clements, Chair of Oxfordshire Cricket stated:
“The Ellandun Trophy is one of our more recent innovations and is a key component of our Development programme which has fundamentally moved us forward from the old district system. There is now a much tighter bond between our Development and County squads which enables young players to progress at their own pace. The Ellandun Trophy has contributed to that by enabling more cricket to be played locally. That opportunity embraces both state school and public school children who all benefit from our coaching system which runs throughout the winter. Of course young players will be competitive but the results at U10-14 level come second to the development of their individual skills and developing a real passion for the game. I think the Ellandun Trophy will be a component of our programme for many years to come, and we are in discussions as to how we might grow the experience for both players and parents.”