Moseley Ashfield Cricket Club are once again looking forward to an exciting and busy season in junior and youth cricket, with opportunities at all levels for boys and girls aged 5 to 18. This year is particularly significant to the club, as for the first time we will be fielding a Girl’s Under 11 Softball team.

Whether your son or daughter is keen to get started in the game, or has played before and is looking to develop their skills in the hard ball game, we have something for players of all ages and levels.

Become an All Star

For younger members, Moseley Ashfield CC will once again be running AllStars Cricket on a Friday evening at the Yardley Wood Road ground. It provides a fantastic first experience for all children aged 5-8 years, where they are guaranteed eight weeks of jam-packed fun, activity and skills development and commences on Friday 13th May at 5.30pm.

There is also to be a dedicated girls only AllStars session held on a Saturday morning at the Centenary Ground, Britannic Park.

The programme is designed to introduce children to the sport, teaching them new skills, helping them make new friends and have a great time doing so; plus, every child that registers will receive a backpack full of goodies.

For more information about All Stars Cricket, click here

 Dynamos Cricket – New!

In addition to All Stars Cricket, we will also be running a Dynamos Cricket programme on the same evening, though with a later start time of 6.30 pm. It provides a fantastic next step for all those graduating from All Stars Cricket and the perfect introduction for all 8-11 year-olds new to the sport!

Find out more about Dynamos Cricket here, click here

To register in advance for All Stars Cricket and Dynamos Cricket at Moseley Ashfield CC, click here

League cricket

In 2022 Moseley Ashfield will also be fielding soft ball teams at Under 9 and 10, and hard ball teams in the Under 10, Under 11, Under 13, Under 14, Under 15 and Under 17 age groups. In a new and exciting development, for the first time in the club’s history, there will be a Girls team, taking part in the Under 11 age group league.

All teams will be playing their league cricket in the Warwickshire Cricket Board Leagues.

Following a highly successful 2021 season and with members of the squad included in the Warwickshire county age group squad, the Under 11s will play their league cricket in the Warwickshire Premier League as will the Under 15s. The Under 13s will take part in the Warwickshire Championship League. The Under 17 representative team will play their fixtures in June and July, timetabled to coincide with the end of GCSE and A-Level examinations.

In addition to this, each age group will have weekly training, predominantly on Friday evenings, but with additional net sessions available (see Training for details) and a series of friendly matches also arranged during the season.

As always, Moseley Ashfield CC welcomes players of all abilities to join them, so if your son or daughter is interested in joining either the All Stars or Dynamos programmes,  the older age group teams, or you would like any further information about junior cricket at Moseley Ashfield, please feel free to contact us using the details on this website.

The 2019 Season saw the 1st XI retain their Division 1 title. It was quite a journey, as captain Oliver Thomas recalls…

Another successful season came to an end with the first eleven being crowned Warwickshire League Division 1 champions, bizarrely, for the second season running. Due to league re-structuring the team were placed in the same division, and were given the unusual task of competing for the trophy that already sat in the bar at The Graveyard. As always, the lads set about that task with great commitment and enthusiasm.

The season began with a short trip to our closest neighbours Kings Heath. As is customary for most opening batsman, there were moans and groans about the green tinge to the playing surface. This is usually just a coping mechanism to soften the blow, as you miss a straight one early on, get hit plum centre of the pad and get given your marching orders. However, it must be said that for once there may have been some merit to the grumbles of discontent. The pitch we arrived to play on was without exaggeration, the worst surface I have ever played cricket on, including the years of backyard cricket at Chez Thomas. Although I would say that, as a pea-roller was good enough to see me off, as well as three other top-order batsman! We scrambled our way to 164 all out thanks largely to efforts from Shah and Jefferies and we knew we had something competitive to defend. After tea the usually irresistible duo of Carey and Jefferies were getting extravagant movement off the pitch but not their usual flurry of wickets. Thankfully Paull and Akeel picked up six wickets between them to help us squeeze home. Very importantly, twenty-four points claimed for our first win of the year.

The next couple of weeks saw a combination of Carey and Jefferies and Carey and Shears run through Nuneaton and Aston Manor teams. The latter being the arrival of the latest Shears off the cricketing production line. Young Felix opened the bowling and gave a great display of away swing bowling and claimed his first league 4fer. This was shortly followed by a thumping home win against Water Orton as the visitors were dismissed for 60 and Ashfield duly chased down the total inside twelve overs, thanks to some hefty blows from Brown and Paull. So a great start with four wins from four games.

However June proved to be a far trickier affair with defeats to Hampton and Solihull and Bablake Old Boys coming in quick succession. On reflection, we got we deserved! This was to be indicative of the topsy-turvy season that was to follow. The season, more than any other I’ve been involved in, was a true collective effort. Not a single batsman went onto dominate like previous years and the bowling unit led by the experienced Carey, Rehman and Jefferies combo shared wickets at regular intervals. This Championship season was certainly no cake walk! There were many fine individual performances along the way but it was the team-spirit and togetherness that got us to a point in the year where we were as per usual, vying for top-spot with our main rivals Solihull Blossomfield.  Effectively the summer’s cricket culminated in a one-game shootout for the league title. A winner takes all affair, with the added spice of other teams still mathematically able to gain promotion too. What was to follow will hopefully be spoken about for many years to come during post game refreshments.

We arrived at Widney Lane and as of yet hadn’t decided what we’d do if we won the all important toss. After thoughtful discussion with the vice-skip we decided to go against our favoured plan of attack and inserted the hosts. The mind games had begun, as we were certain the oppo’s preparation would revolve around chasing totals. Having had them 101 for 7 we were pretty disappointed to have allowed them to finish with a respectable 176 from 50 overs. Despite this, we were quietly confident we had what it takes to get over the line. Paull and Shah opened the innings with the latter receiving a lifeline having smashed one into his pad (sorry Kais) and duly caught only to be given not out to the dismay of the fielding side. With both players scoring quickly, Ashfield counter-attacked their way to 50 for 2. However a comedy run-out (or not run-out if you listen to Brown) put us in a tricky spot, with 125 runs still left to chase. That brought Baker and Thomas to the crease with the pair adding 90 together for the fourth wicket. Luker won’t play many more important innings in his life. Whilst I was at the other end struggling to find the middle of the bat, Bakes took the lead and manipulated the field to his advantage and slowly clawed the target into sight. A great knock from a young man who before this season regularly batted in the lower order. So, 141 for 3 and we’re only 37 runs short of a memorable victory. Things have proved never to be that simple in an Ashfield shirt with Baker miss-timing an off-drive straight to short extra cover. Two quick wickets fell shortly after and the opposition were really applying the pressure. Strolling to the crease, young Raqeeb Khan. Despite attempts to rattle him, Raqi played with complete calmness and assurance, a great sign for the future that these youngsters can play such significant roles in the most important of games. Raqi guided us to 168 for 7 and I can assure you that the nine runs required for victory still felt miles away!  A sacrificial run out of Iltaf meant we had reached 175 for 8 and fittingly joining me at the crease, one of my oldest friends Phill Jefferies. A very tense affair finished with a clip through mid-wicket for the runs required. Ashfield win the league again!!!!!! We ran off towards the rest of the lads after shaking hands and the sense of relief was palpable. We’d done it!  

The hard work and attention to detail required to consistently be successful should not be underestimated. To win leagues in sport at any level requires a group of people to consistently work their behinds off in order to achieve their common goal. For that, I would personally like to thank all of those who played under me during my time as skipper. It has truly been a great honour to captain this fantastic cricket club and lead a great bunch of blokes. Here’s to many more trophies and promotions for the Ashfield.

Signing out,

OT

Season dedicated to the memory of Alan Thomas and Haroon Haider, both sadly no longer with us.

Moseley Ashfield Cricket Club have been playing cricket in Moseley since 1900. But, due to the financial impact of COVID-19, our future is under serious threat. Please give generously so we can get back to providing cricket for the Moseley community.

With cricket activity suspended this season, our usual income streams have disappeared overnight. Whilst we are reducing our expenditure where we can, most of our costs are fixed, which leaves us facing a very significant cash shortfall. Unless we raise enough money to cover our costs, this historic club, that has been integral to the lives of generations of Moseley families, will not survive.

We know that these are difficult times for everybody. But if you can, please make a donation and help ensure that cricket is played in Moseley for many more summers to come. You can do this by following the link to our JustGiving appeal here https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/macc-covid19

Although the official league season is now over, many of you have been away on holiday and training has been scaled back, there’s been so many things going on at Ashfield and still more to come before the season ends with our Awards Evening on Friday 13^th September

On Tuesday 6^th August we welcomed our guests from Hanover Park CC in Cape Town and though the weather intervened with two downpours of biblical proportions to prevent the match being played, a memorable day was had by all, as has been reported many times already on the social media pages.

Fortunately, owing to a cancellation by another club, the fixture was able to be rearranged for Thursday 8^th August. A closely fought match resulted in a win for Ashfield by 21 runs, but the match was noted for outstanding sportsmanship from both teams. The Hanover Park club gave their tour the hashtag #BreakingBoundaries and the two days certainly demonstrated that the spirit of cricket knows no boundaries.

In between these events, Wednesday 7^th August saw our Under 10’s – though in reality Under 9’s – play against Harborne in a post-season friendly. We all know what a strong club Harborne are at every level, so a comprehensive victory by our boys and girls was particularly pleasing to report.

Before all this happened, on Sunday 4^th August, our Ladies took part in their first competitive softball festival and finished as runners-up to Kings Heath, a much longer established and experienced outfit. Next year, we’re looking to secure coaching and new equipment for our ladies to make their experience all the more rewarding. Well done to Pippa Beard for getting all of this off the ground.

At the end of what seemed to be a ridiculously short and intense league season, great progress was seen by all of our representative teams. The Under 10’s finished 2^nd and the two Under 11’s teams finished 3^rd (Lions) and 4^th (Tigers) in their respective leagues. The Under 13’s and 15’s fared less well in terms of results, but the standard in their leagues was far higher than in 2018 and this led to a much higher standard of play and consistency by the time of the final fixtures. Playing at this high level has also made the transition to senior cricket much easier for those boys that have played for the 2nds, 3rds and 4ths.

On a slightly less positive note, we need to inform you that there have been a couple of instances of poor behaviour at Friday night training (YWR) where what might be seen as horseplay has sadly resulted in one of the children being too distressed and intimidated to return to the club. Naturally we are rather concerned about this and we would value your assistance in impressing upon your children the need for good and courteous behaviour towards other children and their coaches/managers/helpers at all times, so that we maintain our reputation as a friendly and welcoming club.

As to the upcoming events, we have already mentioned the Awards Evening on Friday 13^th September, which will run from 6.00 pm, but before then

Friday 23^rd August

Birmingham Bears vs Worcestershire Rapids 20/20 Fixture at Edgbaston.

We are using this as a Youth Section evening out. Under 16’s go free and adults can use a discount code that has been circulated by our managers to gain entrance for £10. It would be great if we can all sit together for this derby fixture.

Sunday 1^st September (we know it’s a clash with Moseley Jazz Festival)

4^th Annual Moseley Ashfield Under 9’s Softball Festival (Supported by Warwickshire Cricket Board). This will start at 10.00 am and be run on the same lines as in previous years. Please let Rob Green know of your child’s availability. We are looking to put out two teams, maybe 3 if enough are available. Any help in managing the teams, scoring, umpiring and assisting with catering will be much appreciated.

This will be followed by Moseley Ashfield Youth Section Fun Day from 2pm to 6pm-ish. The idea is that there will be age-group Single Wicket Competitions and (time-dependent) a Lads vs Dads match and a BBQ. Again, please contact Rob to confirm your attendance so that he can get on with organising the fixtures.

And looking ahead to 2020…

There is little doubt that the winter nets at Forward Drive had a positive effect on the progress of many of our youngsters and we will operate something similar in the New Year. More details to follow in due course.

We are also going to start registration for 2020 on 1^st January, now that we have our online registration process working well. This will help our managers to plan more effectively for the 2020 season, so that we enter teams into the most appropriate competitions, coordinate ground usage and not have the potential wasted “registration evenings” so that we can get the training started more promptly and effectively.

Finally, in addition to our own winter nets, Complete Cricket have just announced their winter programme, which we have appended for your further information.

Here’s to a successful close to the 2019 season and an even better 2020 season.