Oswestry Cricket Club

Oswestry Cricket Club

Full name	Oswestry Cricket Club
Founded	1855
Ground	Morda Road Oswestry Shropshire England
President	Gwilym Owen OBE
Manager	Mike Robinson
League	Birmingham and District Premier League
2009–10	3rd Division, 7th
Website	[Oswestry Cricket Club home page]

Oswestry Cricket Club (pronounced /ˈɒswɛstri/) is an amateur Cricket club based in Oswestry, Shropshire. The Club was formed in 1855 (reputedly the oldest club in continuous existence within Shropshire) and celebrated its 150th Anniversary in 2005 with a fixture against the Marylebone Cricket Club. Oswestry Cricket Club has four teams which represent them on Saturdays during the cricket season, a "friendly" team that plays on Sundays, and the "Aardvarks" team which plays midweek fixtures. The club also has a number of junior teams from which the bulk of its players are traditionally drawn. The Club is also associated with "The Bedouins CC" who also play at Morda Road.

Oswestry Cricket Club also has its own successful football team which was formed in 1993. Recent successes have included winning both the Wem Sunday League and League Cup in the 2009/10 season.

History

Until the Second World War, the club's ground was at Victoria Road, Oswestry. The ground was shared with Oswestry Town Football Club, which also called it “home”

During the first two decades following the war, many of Oswestry’s friendly matches were against Welsh opposition, and games with Welshpool, Newtown and Brymbo were particularly keenly fought.

Football took precedence at the ground after the war, and in 1947 the club moved to its present site in Morda Road. The pavilion was the former canteen at the Coventry Climax factory, which was also initially sited in Victoria Road but was transported to Morda Road. It served on that site as the clubs pavilion until a major redevelopment of facilities in 2005-6.

During the winter of 2005, a stunning new £350,000 pavilion was built at Morda Road; the club now boasts the best cricketing and social facilities of any club in Shropshire.

It was however to Shropshire that Oswestry looked when league cricket started in the County, and the club was one of the 12 founder members of the Shropshire League in 1970.

Two years later Oswestry shared the Division One title with Shifnal in what was until recent times its most successful league season, but that was the last major triumph for over 30 years. But, having won the Shropshire Premier Cricket League in 2007 the club was elevated to Division 3 of the Birmingham & District Cricket League for the 2008 season. Unfortunately, they were immediately relegated, only to regain Birmingham League status in 2009 by securing the Shropshire Premier Cricket League Title for a second time. 2010 saw a season of consolidation, though relegation back to county level was comfortably avoided. 2011 season will see Oswestry challenging for promotion upwards through the Birmingham League pyramid.

Oswestry was successively the first club in the Shropshire to form a third XI, then a fourth XI.

Notable players

This list is compiled of cricketers who have played representative cricket before, during or after their time at Oswestry, therefore making them notable to the club, county and international cricket scene.

England Andy Lloyd Canada John Davidson

Andy Lloyd went on to play for and be Captain of Warwickshire and also represented England. He holds the unenviable record for the shortest test career in history. Just 33 minutes into his only Test innings – against the West Indies in 1984 -- he was hit on the helmet by a Malcolm Marshall bouncer after scoring 10 runs and was carried from the field

John Davison, the Canadian-born “Aussie” who was the club’s overseas player in 1993. In 2003, Davison hit the fastest century in World Cup history, blasting a hundred off just 67 balls for Canada against the West Indies.

Several Oswestry players have represented Shropshire at Minor Counties level, including John Hare, Ramesh Sethi, Dave Vart, Ben Platt, Jim Phillips, Mark Robinson and most recently Alex Huxley.

First XI Honours

Shropshire Cricket League Division 1 Champions 1972

Shropshire Premier League Division One Championships: Champions 2007, 2009

Shrewsbury Chronicle Kockout Cup Champions 2004 (runners up 1989, 1990, 2005)