The Cherwell Cricket League

posted by John Winn

In an item posted  last September I described a visit to the ground of Great and Little Tew CC in
North Oxfordshire where cricket in the Cherwell** League was being played with a match between the home team's fourth XI and visitors Cropredy III. The match was a Division 9 cup match won by the Tews. Earlier today I logged on to the Oxfordshire Cricket Board website which has a link to the Cherwell site and whilst just as one shouldn't judge a book by its cover and it is perhaps equally unwise to judge a league by its website, first impressions are of a well organised and progressive outfit.

The league describes itself as 'exciting' and 'forward thinking' and has 37 member clubs across five counties, Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Northants. They are organised into nine* divisions and last year Great and Little Tew IV were champions of the last of these. As a result they will start this year's campaign in Division 8 on 7th May with a visit from Kimble II, who will travel from near Aylesbury, a journey of about 40 miles. The Tews also have teams in Divisions 2 and 6 and their first XI, having topped Division 2 of The Home Counties League, will begin the new season also on the first Saturday in May when they will entertain Henley, traditionally one of the strongest teams in the league and who finished third last year.

No need for me to list all the clubs in the Cherwell, just go to the excellent website and click on clubs. The archive section shows the league as having begun in 1994 and records the steady growth in membership since, even though it lists 18 clubs under former members. Last year's champions were Thame Town, a club that was formed in 1884, and they have taken the step up to the Home Counties. They start with a home fixture against Gerrards Cross in Div 2 and there is a picture of Thame's attractive ground on their new league's website.

Finally today is February 29th and just five weeks tomorrow the first class season begins. Where will you be? And just in case you can't wait quite that long Durham II are taking on their Worcestershire counterparts at Richmondshire CC the day before, April 4th.

** the league takes its name from the River Cherwell which rises in North Oxfordshire and flows south for 40 miles before joining the Thames at Oxford
*For the 2016 season Div 9 has been divided into north and south sections thus increasing the number of divisions to ten.

Threlkekd CC

Threlkeld suffered extreme damage from flooding in June 2012 when an overflowing culvert deposited tons of rocks and silt across their ground, the George Hutton Oval, which lies by the A66 just east of Keswick. They play in the Eden Valley Cricket League and will begin their Div 1 campaign at home  against Longtown CC on Saturday April 30th.