Youth Cricket: League Cricket

Wiltshire Youth Cricket League

Obviously a key area for development in Wiltshire is that of junior cricket and through the Wiltshire Youth Cricket League, we have an excellently run and growing junior programme that offers regular competitive cricket for Under 11s, 13s and 15s.

The League has been in existence for a number of years but it has really been the last couple of seasons that have seen the biggest rise in the number of sides wanting to participate in the competitions.

Wiltshire Youth League Presentation Evening 2007

Around 200 children and parents attended The Wiltshire Youth Cricket League Presentation Evening at Chippenham Sports Club last Friday 5th October.

League administrator Paul Rowson explained that the league continues to grow. Marlborough, Marshfield, and Warminster joined the league last season so that there are now 18 clubs in the league and 47 teams across the three age groups. The introduction of the League website was also a major step forward last season.

Local cricketer Liam Dawson, who recently made his first class debut for Hampshire, presented the awards. Liam was playing in the Wiltshire Youth League only two years ago and holds the record individual score: 209 as an Under 13.

Despite the dreadful weather there were many excellent matches and some outstanding individual performances.

League winners were:

Under 11 South and Under 11 Play Off Runners Up : South Wilts
Under 11 North and Under 11 Play Off Winners: Marshfield
Under 13 Div 1 Winners: South Wilts
Under 13 Div 2 Winners: Purton
Under 15 Div 2 Winners: Trowbridge
Under 15 Div 1 Winners: Chippenham

Leading Batsmen and Bowlers in each division were:

U11 South
Batsman - Luke Hansford, South Wilts, 197 runs at 98.5
Bowler - Dan Holewell, South Wilts, 11 wickets at 2.9
U11 North
Batsman - Tim Rouse, Marshfield, 463 runs at 154.3
Bowler - Arun Leyhal, Swindon, 15 wickets at 3.7
U13 Div 1
Batsman - James Haggaty, South Wilts, 404 runs at 134.7
Bowler - Oliver Meyer, Trowbridge, 16 wickets at 6.6
U13 Div 2
Batsman - Craig Miles, Purton, 503 runs at 251.5
Bowler - Brad Dawson, Goatacre/Spye Park, 16 wickets at 7.5
U15 Div 1
Batsman - Steve Bullen, Chippenham, 306 runs at 102.0
Bowler - Uzi Qureshi, Chippenham, 8 wickets at 7.7
U15 Div 2
Batsman - Luke Edwards, Calne, 286 runs at 95.3
Bowler - Lawrence Giles, Trowbridge, 12 wickets at 6.8

Results for 2007

Under 11
Congratulations to Marshfield who won the U11 Play Off Final at Chippenham on Sunday 2nd September beating South Wilts by 80 runs.

To qualify for the final Marshfield had won the U11 North Division (10 points ahead of runners up Swindon) and South Wilts were winners of U11 South Division (9 points ahead of second place Marlborough).

The match was dominated by two players who in the previous week had scored the first centuries in the U11 League: Tim Rouse of Marshfield and Luke Hansford of South Wilts.Rouse very nearly repeated the feat in a sparkling innings that contained 18 boundaries before he was bowled on 99.With support from Henry Day (18), Marshfield posted a daunting 192-4 in their 20 overs.Dan Holewell took 2-23 for South Wilts.

South Wilts made a solid reply built around opener Hansford who finished unbeaten on 59. However, the enormous Marshfield total was beyond them and South Wilts had to settle for a creditable 112-6. Jeremy Bond (2-14 off 3 overs), Kyle George (1-11 off 3 overs) and Rouse (1-11 off 4 overs) all bowled accurately for Marshfield.

Under 11 North Final Table
Position Team Name Points
1 Marshfield 141
2 Swindon 131
3 Malmesbury 115
4 Wootton Bassett 88
5 Purton 84
6 Shrivenham 83
7 Biddestone 79
8 Goatacre/Spye Park 49
Under 11 South Final Table
Position Team Name Points
1 South Wilts 141
2 Marlborough 130
3 Cannings 107
4 Chippenham 106
5 Corsham 105
6 Trowbridge 79
7 Calne 74
8 Devizes 37

Under 13 Division 1
Unbeaten South Wilts comfortably won the U13 Division 1 finishing 70 points ahead of second place Trowbridge.

Under 13 Division 1 Final Table
Position Team Name Points
1 South Wilts 194
2 Trowbridge 124
3 Swindon 120
4 Marshfield 117
5 Cannings 103
6 Chippenham 98
7 Wootton Bassett 79
8 Biddestone 68

Under 13 Division 2
The U13 Division 2 title was won by Purton who just pipped Malmesbury following their defeat to Shrivenham on the last game of the season. Purton finished the season 15 points ahead of Malmesbury.

Under 13 Division 2 Final Table
Position Team Name Points
1 Purton 152
2 Malmesbury 137
3 Shrivenham 125
4 Calne 116
5 Goatacre/Spye Park 108
6 Westbury 78
7 Devizes 78
8    

Under 15 Division 1
Chippenham won the U15 Division 1 title following their 7 wicket victory over Swindon with captain Steven Bullen (69*) seeing Chippenham home. 

Swindon (5) 153-8 (Chris Aubury 55, Dean Williamson 23; Nick Harrison 9-1-29-2, Will Giles 6-1-20-3, Uzi Qureshi 9-2-13-1)
Chippenham Arrows (21) 157-3 (Steven Bullen 69*, Uzi Qureshi 37, Rob Gillespie 25; Dean Williamson 9-5-15-1)
Chippenham Arrows won by 7 wickets.

South Wilts were runners up, 18 points behind Chippenham.

Under 15 Division 1 Final Table
Position Team Name Points
1 Chippenham A 129
2 South Wilts 111
3 Swindon 100
4 Biddestone 99
5 Malmesbury 23

Under 15 Division 2
Trowbridge won an exciting Under 15 Division 2 league finishing 6 points ahead of runners up Wootton Bassett.

Under 15 Division 2 Final Table
Position Team Name Points
1 Trowbridge 133
2 Wootton Bassett 127
3 Westbury 118
4 Cannings 114
5 Calne 107
6 Devizes 98
7 Warminster 86
8 Chippenham B 82
9 Purton 75
10 Goatacre/Spye Park 60

The growth and success of the Wiltshire Youth Cricket League is testament to the hard work of the league’s committee and the high standard and competitiveness of the games that are played.