It’s finally time to throw off the shackles of The Cooper School and move our practice sessions outside to our Akeman Street ground.

From 6pm on Tuesday April 2nd we’ll be preparing some practice facilities and going through a light training session, before adjourning to the bar to hear from our Club captains as they outline their hopes and expectations for the 2019 season.

Pre-ordered kit will be available for collection, there’ll be a sale of existing kit (an ideal opportunity to pick up some ‘vintage’ B&NOCC attire…), and we’ll also bring along a load of membership forms for those of you who haven’t signed up yet. 

Our Spring/Summer practice routine of 6pm to 8pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings will start on Thursday 4th. To make sure you’re up to date with any last minute changes to these sessions (due to weather, for example) make sure you’re following our Facebook page and on Twitter.

Then, on Saturday April 13th we’ll meet for bacon sandwiches (other breakfasts are available), tea & coffee at 9.15am before finishing off our pre-season ground prep by getting things ‘match ready’; moving the rest of the sight-screens into place, ahead of the first round of pre-season friendlies on April 27th. As with everything of this nature, the more people we have helping out the less time it takes so please do make an effort to attend on both days.

Much as we pride ourselves on our on-field exploits, B&NOCC is about much, much more than that.

Key to our togetherness on the pitch is our togetherness off it, which is fostered by an ever-improving Social Calendar.

This year looks set to eclipse anything we’ve done in the recent past, and the confirmed key dates for this year are:

Tuesday 2nd April: Player’s Evening, The Pavillion (see ‘Ground Force Day’, below, for details)

Saturday April 27th – Quiz Night, The Pavillion

June* – Race Night, The Pavillion

Sunday July 28th – Golf Day, Bicester Hotel, Golf & Spa

August*  – Outdoor Cinema, The Pavillion

*Dates TBC depending on updated League fixtures.

We’ve also got a number of inter-club, ‘social cricket’ events planned throughout the year, with the following confirmed:

Sunday 9th June – Cricket World Cup Action Day

Sunday 7th July – Presidents’ Day

Sunday 14th July – Ladies Soft Ball event

Sunday 21st July – Inter-club 6-a-side competition Exact details for these are still to be ironed out, but get the dates in your diary so you don’t miss out.

It’s back – The B&NOCC Tour

Isle of Wight 2018

3 fixtures.

1 Towel.

Book your place NOW for just a £50 deposit. Contact Oliver Ward or Dan Murphy for more details. 

The 1st & 2nd XIs both face relegated Great & Little Tew teams, while the 3rd XI go up against Division 10 new boys Westbury 3s when the season gets under way on May 5th.

You can view full fixtures here:

1st XI

2nd XI

3rd XI

The availability spreadsheet for 2018 is also now live.

Paul Jeacock has followed in the footsteps of former team-mate Gary Sansome, returning to the Club to take up a coaching role. 

Paul (pictured, left, with 1st XI Captain Ryan Moore, centre, and Gary ‘Sam’ Sansome) is one of the League’s leading all-time wicket-takers, his off-spin claiming more than 500 Cherwell and Home Counties Premier League wickets between 1996 and 2013. He also played for Oxfordshire between 1998 and 2004.

Together, Paul and Gary bring a wealth of invaluable experience to the club.

Bicester & North Oxford Cricket Club were crowned Wilf Bennett Cup champions on Saturday, upsetting the odds again to beat Home Counties Premier League Division 1 new-boys Thame Town by 6 wickets. A good turn out at the AGM saw all proposed officials elected, vacant Committee positions filled, and one or two changes throughout the club.

Matt Collins was installed as the Club’s new President, temporary Chairman Phil Mist was re-elected to the role full-time, and Ryan Moore was returned as 1st XI captain.

Dan Murphy was elected 2nd XI captain, and Martin Randall will continue in the 3rd XI role. 

Ann Cummings was elected Welfare Officer, and Danny Clark was voted in as Social Secretary to fill the two vacant positions on the Committee.

Life Memberships were also bestowed upon Wes Kernaghan, Mark Townsend, Martin Moore and Graham Savin.

Off the pitch, members of the Committee are due to meet with Bicester Sports Association (BSA) representatives next week to discuss plans for the future development of the Akeman Street ground, including improvements to the cricket facilities. Bicester & North Oxford Cricket Club were crowned Wilf Bennett Cup champions on Saturday, upsetting the odds again to beat Home Counties Premier League Division 1 new-boys Thame Town by 6 wickets.

Hot on the heels of their victory in the Wilf Bennett Cup Final, Bicester and North Oxford Cricket Club continued their celebrations at their 2017 Presentation Evening.

Close to 50 players and club members past and present filled the room at Trinity Cabbages and Condoms to celebrate the successes of the season.

Winners of the main Player of the Season awards were Alister Gibbins, for his 473 1^st XI runs, including 2 50s and 2 100s, at an average of 52.

Liam Randall scooped the 2^nd XI Player of the Year gong for his 31 wickets, and Michael Ilbery won the 3^rd XI award for his 269 runs.

Oliver Ward won the Clubman of the Year award for the second year running for his work off the field, including the rejuvenation of the club’s social scene and the organisation of this year’s six-a-side competition.

Particularly pleasing was the number of awards that went to young players who have made their way up through the club’s junior system, and are now having a significant impact in senior cricket.

These included Dan Savin (1^st XI bowler, 28 wickets), Randall, Ryan McLaughlin (3^rd XI Bowler of the Year and Most Improved Junior), Ben Clark (2^nd XI Batsman of the Year), Joseph Conway (Friendly XI Player of the Year), and Lewis Moore (Junior of the Year).

As well as the formal awards, there were also awards for some of the Club’s social activities, with Chris de Kock winning Tourist of the Year, and Dan Simpson, Dan Savin, Joe Moorman, Matt Collins and Martin Randall earning recognition for their golfing exploits.

The club would like to offer its sincere thanks to Bicester Village and HMG Law for their continued sponsorship of the club, and also to Bicester Leisure Centre, Bicester Hotel, Golf and Spa, U Drive Cars, Pizza Express and TrySports for donating raffle prizes.

The 2018 season promises to be an exciting one for the club at all levels and, as always, new players of all abilities are welcome to come along and enjoy both the cricket on the field and the social activities off of it, with nets due to start early in the new year. If you can’t wait until then, you can contact any of the club’s officials through the Contact page at www.bnocc.com.

Bicester & North Oxford Cricket Club Bicester and North Oxfordshire Cricket Club is a family-friendly, inclusive club where cricket can be played and watched within both the spirit and laws of the game.

Full list of award winners:

Bicester & North Oxford Cricket Club were crowned Wilf Bennett Cup champions on Saturday, upsetting the odds again to beat Home Counties Premier League Division 1 new-boys Thame Town by 6 wickets.

Bicester’s clinical, professional performance could easily have fooled any casual observers in to thinking it was they, rather than their opponents, who will be playing their cricket in the region’s top division next summer.

Having been asked to field first, Bicester’s bowlers put in an inspired performance to restrict Thame to just 107-6 from their 20 overs.

Dan Savin (1-20) and Danny Clarke (1-14) made early inroads with the wickets of Will Sutcliffe (1) and Michael Higgs (8) respectively, and were well backed up by their switched-on teammates in the field.

Callum Russell (37 not out) and Michael Beard (30) slowly but surely rebuilt the Thame innings, but were unable to take the game to Bicester as they would have liked, with Chris de Kock (0-21) and the excellent Liam Randall (0-15) continuing in the miserly footsteps of Savin and Clark.

With Bicester’s tight bowling and excellent fielding increasing the pressure on Thame’s top-order, the fielding side benefited from some questionable running, with Russel selling both Beard and Olly Sutcliffe (0) down the river in the space of two overs as Thame were reduced to 68-4 with just 6 overs to bat.

The Moore brothers, Ryan and Lewis, shared the final four overs of the innings, each finishing with 1-16 as Thame continued to find boundaries extremely hard to come by, eventually closing on 107-6.

At the half-way stage Bicester were clear favourites, but in 20 over cricket a lot can change quickly, particularly given the supposed gulf between the two sides.

Bicester’s reply got off to a mixed start, with Stafford Sansome driving the first ball of the innings back past Higgs for a boundary. In contrast, in had taken Thame 6 overs to find the rope for the first time.

Olly Ward, whose 199 runs in the competition had gone a long way to seeing Bicester reach the final, was then bowled for a first ball duck, giving Thame a much-needed boost.

Sansome and Alister Gibbins did well to make sure Theme’s success was short-lived, however, and were helped by Thame’s bowling and fielding, which was a direct contrast to Bicester’s.

Where the sum total of Bicester’s extras was 5 leg byes, the Home Counties side’s profligate bowlers gifted Bicester 37 runs in wides, as well as bowling 2 no balls.

Gibbins was also given a life when a gentle lob to mid-off was somehow dropped, and he went on to make the most of his reprieve with 35 invaluable runs in a partnership of 88 with Sansome.

His dismissal, caught by Will Rooney off Hassan Mushtaq’s leg-spin with the score on 95, prompted a brief wobble as Ryan Moore (1) and Sansome (25) fell to Beard and Rooney respectively, but Dan Murphy (3 not out) and Dan Savin (0 not out) kept their cool, and it was fitting, if slightly anti-climactic, that the winning runs came courtesy of 5 leg side wides.

While Bicester’s league form has been inconsistent this year, their sensational run in this T20 competition – during which they’ve beaten 3 Home Counties sides, and won a competition in which all but two of the 16 sides are in higher division – should give them great cause for optimism ahead of the 2018 season.

BNOCC will launch All Stars Cricket sessions this Summer to inspire five to eight-year-olds to take up cricket.

All Stars Cricket is a nationwide programme that is designed to inspire five- to eight-year-olds to take up cricket and provide a great first experience of the game. 

Putting fun right at the centre of this experience, All Stars Cricket aims to instil children with a lifelong love of the game. 

We want today’s kids to remain in cricket for the long-term – whether that’s as players, volunteers, officials or spectators.For more information, contact Mark Townsend or Richard Plumbe through the Contact page.

Players and parents are encouraged to read the latest guidance from the ECB (the England & Wales Cricket Board) regarding the use of helmets in senior and junior cricket. This includes the latest standards to look out for when purchasing new helmets.

If you have any queries please speak with one of the club coaches.