Monthly Newsletter - January

NEWSLETTER – JANUARY 2026

SAD NEWS

It is with much sadness we need to mark the passing of Alan Stratford former player, secretary and life member of the club.

A ‘true gentleman’ of the club, Alan made a huge contribution to the game on and off the field. He will be much missed by everyone who knew him at Morda Road, but also by his former pupils at Oswestry School where he taught for many years.

It won’t be the same without him, our thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends and we will share the funeral details once we have them.

PRESEASON

The season will soon be upon us so please find details below for our preseason preparation:

Warm up

Winter indoor nets – Friday 30^th January 7.30pm – 9.00pm at Oswestry School

Winter indoor nets – Friday 6^th February 7.30pm – 9.00pm at Oswestry School

Winter indoor nets – Friday 13^th February 7.30pm – 9.00pm at Oswestry School

Longer sessions, space for full run ups and fielding drills

Winter indoor nets – Sunday 1^st March 11.00am – 1.00pm at Moreton Hall

Winter indoor nets – Sunday 8^th March 11.00am – 1.00pm at Moreton Hall

Winter indoor nets – Sunday 15^th March 11.00am – 1.00pm at Moreton Hall

Winter indoor nets – Sunday 22^nd March time tbc at Moreton Hall

Winter indoor nets – Sunday 29^th March 4.00pm – 6.00pm at Moreton Hall

Outdoor preparation

Outdoor nets and coach assisted preparation sessions in early/mid-April on Wednesday evenings

Friendlies

(H) v Gwersylt CC 1^st XI on Sunday 12^th April

(A) v Whitchurch CC 1^st XI on Saturday 18^th April

(H) Interclub practice game on Sunday 19^th April

The 1^st and 2^nd team fixtures have now been announced for 2026 and full details can be found here:

Division 1 - 2026 | Shropshire Cricket League

Division 5 - 2026 | Shropshire Cricket League

Our 1^st team start with an away game at Frankton on Saturday 25^th April and our 2^nd team kick off at home against Lilleshall on the same day.

We have already been in contact with the league regarding the 2^nd XI fixtures v Wroxeter this season and requested neutral umpires to be made available given the incidents in the away game in 2025.

Player safety is a key consideration for us so please find a link below to the new ECB guidance relating to the wearing of helmets during participation in cricket:

ECB updates Safety Regulations and Guidelines – Cricket Shropshire

To help support any extra costs attached to protective equipment we have arranged 10% discount with:

Cricket – Sports248.com

You can use discount code: OSWESTRY10

To buy any OCC playing, training or casualwear you can visit the Macron store:

Oswestry Cricket Club Macron Store Wrexham

CRICKET DEVELOPMENT

We have an exciting partnership with Cricket Shropshire planned this year to help reach out into the schools and the community to make sure more children have an opportunity to try cricket and hopefully come to OCC in the future.

Cricket Shropshire Coaches will be undertaking outreach work within local secondary and primary schools to raise awareness about cricket and in particular highlighting the opportunities and facilities at Oswestry Cricket Club. This will also include an open day at Morda Road in April where schools are invited down to see and use the facilities. This links into recruiting new juniors for All Stars, Junior age group sides and WaGs for the coming season.

We also have 5 coaching sessions available with a level 3 coach as part of our partnership with them and planning is underway now as to how they are best utilised.

We are sending 2 new people on the level 2 core coaching course running in January and February to bolster our coaching resources and we have new scorers attending the courses being run before the season starts.

Anyone who would like to go on a coaching, scoring or umpiring course please let the club know and we will fully support your development.

Please find links below to upcoming courses:

Limited spaces still available on ECB Core Coach course – Cricket Shropshire

ECB online Scoring Course now available – Cricket Shropshire

Umpiring courses arranged for new year – Cricket Shropshire

AGM / MEMBERS SURVEY

We held our Annual General Meeting back in November which feels along time ago now! But frankly another disappointing attendance, thank you to those who did come but we really would like to see more engagement with it in the future. We are very open to ideas as to what we can do to encourage improved attendance.

However, the comprehensive members survey sent out was positive both in numbers of people who completed it but also the general feedback within it and ideas and suggestions in the responses. They have already been matched up against our planning for 2026 to make sure we align our plans with our members wishes.

Thank you again to those volunteers who have stepped up again for 2026, the club literally would not function without them.

Committee

President - Paul Shevlin Chairman - James Bradbury

Deputy Chair – Rob Tulloch Cricket Secretary - Paul Baker

Executive Secretary - Louise Murray Treasurer / Junior co-ordinator – Andrew Leggatt

Sponsorship – Howard Ellett Safeguarding - Jaine Kular-Hanratty

WaGs co-ordinator - Jools Payne Grounds and facilities – Richard Jones

Groundsman – Dave Hill Club Captain – Steve Humphreys

Captains

1^st XI Captain - Josh Darley Vice Captain – Brandon Diplock

2^nd XI Captain – Naomi Payne Vice Captain – Steve Humphreys

3^rd XI Captain – Mike O’Reilly Vice Captain – Rob Pengelly

4^th XI Captain – Andy Hall Vice Captain – Andrew Barkley

Women’s and Girls – Naomi Payne

Midweek Aardvarks – Dylan Keighley

Midweek Rough and Tumblers – Adam Lloyd

MEMBERSHIP, FEES AND FUNDRAISING

We are in the process of reviewing all the costs attached to cricket so that the membership and playing fees structure for 2026 can be announced soon. As ever affordability will be top of the agenda, closely followed by making it transparent and easy for people to pay.

There is still a small piece of reconciliation work underway to highlight any outstanding fees from last season and individual messaging will go out via SPOND over the next month.

The increased cost of new cricket balls, entrance fees to the leagues, affiliation to Shropshire Cricket etc. mean we all have to try to share the burden of the costs in a fair way.

We will also be tasking each team or section within the club to organise a social or fundraising event in 2026, this will have the joint benefit of creating some fun new events but also sharing the burden of fundraising across the club fairly. We all benefit from the facilities so lets all share the effort to keep improving them!

SPONSORSHIP

There will be 2 new exciting opportunities for sponsorship in 2026, firstly Frogbox will mean that we can now have business sponsors on the live streaming / highlights of games.

Secondly, we will be introducing individual player sponsorship. For the relatively low cost of £50 for the season a business will be able to sponsor a Men’s (including Juniors playing adult cricket) or Women’s player in 2026. This will get the business an introduction post on social media announcing the sponsorship and a player profile of who they are sponsoring. The business then gets tagged in any personal milestones for that player during the year including selection in the team of the week, 50s, 100s etc. Full details will be announced soon but we feel that the most successful way of getting sponsors will be players tapping up where they work, friends and families businesses and persuading them to give it a go!

SOCIAL NEWS

A very full and exciting diary already in place for 2026, with lots of announcements to follow but for now

don’t forget that the small bar is open every Friday throughout the year from 5.00pm, and during January there is a special offer on Kronenbourg which is 2 pints for 5!

We’ve got our regular Friday club drinkers and our darts team down there already but please feel free to join them for a drink and catch up, cricket clubs are for all year round not just for summer!

Date for the Diary

Saturday 7^th February England v Wales Rugby Six Nations with Andy Powell former Wales/British Lion

Enjoy a unique opportunity to watch this crunch ‘local’ derby with a former

Wales and British Lion Andy Powell

He will be in attendance to watch the game that kicks off at 4.45pm, there

will then be dinner included in the price, after dinner speech and Q&A

Tickets only £45

(Purchase from Bradders)

Friday 13^th March OCC Comedy Night #5

Our brilliant and successful comedy night will be back with a brilliant new line up

Details to follow soon

Saturday 28^th March Get Set Weekend