Shropshire County Cricket League gets July 25 green light

The club game was finally given the green light by the government last week and now grassroots players around the county have their eyes peeled for fixture details, which are expected imminently.

Shropshire County Cricket League action will get under way on July 25, with a new-look format to what onlookers have come to expect.

The 12-team Premier Division will be regionalised into two groups of six, to make travelling safer and easier for players and officials.

The two groups have been named in honour of Mike Robinson and Clive Smith.

Former Oswestry chairman Robinson, a stalwart of the Morda Road club, passed away in 2017.

Smith, who was a joint-president of the league and a former umpire, died in April.

Each team will play each other home and away, meaning 10 matches will be completed and the plan is for a play-off match between the two top-placed teams to determine the champion.

In the Mike Robinson group are Frankton, Sentinel, Shelton, Shrewsbury 2XIs, Wellington and Whitchurch.

Making up the Clive Smith group are Allscott, Madeley, Ludlow, Newport, Quatt and Worfield.

Matches will be played up to the end of September, with one round of fixtures taking place on the Bank Holiday at the end of August to ensure the end-of-season play-off clash can take place on September 26.

Games are likely to be 40 overs, down from the 50-over action in the Premier Division, as officials look at ways of cutting games down. There will be no teas and limited access to changing facilities.

And SCCL officials expect action to remain 11-a-side despite some suggestion that could be lowered to eight.

League officials are awaiting the completed list of clubs that wish to enter a side before finalising the full run through of divisions where competitive cricket will take place in 2020.

It has already been confirmed there will be no promotions and relegations from any of the county’s nine Saturday divisions and the SCCL committee expects most, if not all clubs in the higher tiers to participate.

All divisions will be regionalised in the same mould as the Premier Division. The league have also received positive feedback from most of the clubs in its two Sunday divisions, meaning there is likely to be competitive Sunday action this year.

“We’re very pleased,” said SCCL vice-chairman Jamie Dowley. “There was talk it was going to be eight-a-side, no slips and keepers had to stand back, but I understand it won’t be that. We’re giving clubs notice this week to enter and then will organise into regional groups.

“We want to cut down travel, we don’t want Whitchurch travelling to Ludlow because travel could still be a problem.

“I’m confident that higher up most teams will enter. I think in Division One they all will. We’re looking to organise them all more regionally.

“They’ll be in groups of six where possible, there might be some smaller groups lower down. We’re trying to get the standard similar but regionality possibly trumps the standards.”

Dowley is chairing a delivery group, set up within the SCCL, where he and fellow committee members are working tirelessly to ensure a smooth schedule for 2020.

The return of the recreational game comes as a huge boost to the sport locally. Prime minister Boris Johnson had previously said it was not yet safe to play the game at grassroots level because of issues with ‘teas and dressing rooms’.

But he later said the government would publish guidelines to allow cricket’s return. Chief medical officer Chris Whitty said it is ‘very safe’ to resume playing.