Shropshire cricketers in the spotlight as awards are handed out

League winners and runners-up, divisional players of the year and other stand-out performers were all honoured at the Harlescott Social Club.

Also discussed was the structures and arrangements for next year’s Saturday and Sunday leagues, which treasurer Mike Hall explained will remain very similar to last year’s.

“We sorted out the structure for the 2024 season and basically we are going to be running eight Saturday divisions and three Sunday divisions, which is on a par to what we’ve done last year,” Hall said. “There are no major changes in terms of the structure really and there didn’t need to be.

“There will be 97 teams playing in our Saturday leagues, obviously 96 would have been ideal but we’ve managed to make it fit, and on a Sunday we have now got 29, three more than last year, which we have split into three divisions.

“We have had a few teams switching from Saturday to Sunday, a few teams dropping out and a few new teams coming in, but it is largely the same numbers-wise.”

Key differences on Saturday include the absence of Wellington following their promotion into the Birmingham League, while Trysull & Seisdon’s demise has left them out of the Shropshire league system.

Frankton and Allscott are in the Premier Division, replacing Wellington and relegated Newport.

Elsewhere, Chelmarsh, Ellesmere and Forton have been promoted into Division One as Bridgnorth II and Wellington II drop into Division Two.

On Sundays, the 29 teams are split into three divisions, with four teams dropping out and one new side coming in to make it a slightly bigger system.

The Harpers II squad which won the Sunday Second Division have joined St Georges, and this team will play in Division One under their new club banner as the fourths.

Division Two runners-up Wellington fifths also go up, with the pair replacing Wem thirds and Newport thirds.

In Division Three, Broseley seconds are a new entrant while Frankwell thirds (formerly Beacon thirds) have switched from the Saturday league.

Elsewhere, former Division Three side Pontesbury thirds are the team that have decided to withdraw. Team and individual performances were celebrated at the event, too, with Lesley Prior of sponsors Meadows Insurance Brokers handing out awards.

Each divisional winners and runners-up were honoured while awards were handed out to every division’s player of the year, as well as leading run scorers, leading wicket takers and several more.

And Hall also explained about a new award that the league have decided to run, with the first recipient being named this year.

“We have just started the ‘Brian Kitson lifetime achievement award’ in honour of the man who was secretary of our league for a long time and passed away last year.”

Alberbury’s Richard Jones was the first winner of the award, which was presented to him by June Kitson, the wife of the late Brian.

Chelmarsh’s Connor Glendinning won leading run scorer while Ludlow’s Joe Williams took the award for most wickets.

Ian Walker of Madeley CC won best wicketkeeper of the season, Wellington’s Hugh Morris was named young player of the season and Guilsfield’s Katie Parfitt won best female player.

Umpire of the year went to Tim Barber.

The list of players of the year was as follows:

Premier League winner, Wendall Wagner (Wellington) Division One winner, Craig Heath (Cound), Division Two winner, Connor Glendinning (Chelmarsh), Division Three winner, James Ralph (Broseley), Division Four winner, Charlie Rogers (Condover), Division Five winner, Salahuddin Malik (Church Stretton), Division Six winner, Tom Corfield (Monty), Division Seven winner, Dan Thomas (Coton Hall), Division Eight winner, Gary Griffiths (Guilsfield), Sunday One winner, Rupinder Singh (Church Aston), Sunday Two winner, Mark Downes (Wellington) and Sunday Three winner, Will Fensome (Chelmarsh).

The divisional winners and runners-up were:

Premier League winner and runner-up: Wellington firsts and Wem firsts

Division One winner and runner-up: Frankton firsts and Allscott Heath firsts

Division Two winner and runner-up: Chelmarsh firsts and Ellesmere firsts

Division Three winner and runner-up: Broseley firsts and Column firsts

Division Four winner and runner-up: Wheaton Aston firsts and Guilsfield firsts

Division Five winner and runner-up: Church Stretton firsts Newtown seconds

Division Six winner and runner-up: Allscott seconds and Lilleshall seconds

Division Seven winner and runner-up: Alberbury seconds and Forton seconds

Division Eight winner and runner-up: Guilsfield seconds and Cae Glas seconds

Sunday One winner and runner-up: Church Aston seconds and Madeley thirds

Sunday Two winner and runner-up: Harpers seconds and Wellington fifths

Sunday Three winner and runner-up: Bomere Heath thirds and Cound thirds