Cricket captain pays tribute

Montgomery Cricket Club’s second team captain has paid tribute to his squad after clinching promotion to the Shropshire’s top flight for reserve outfits.

Lifting the trophy presented to the club for finishing runners-up in Reserve Division Two, George Corfield praised his players for their performances in 2017.

And having been elected to lead the team again next season he stated his intention is to cement Montgomery’s place amongst the region’s elite reserve teams.

He said: “Going into the season the aim was to make sure we remained in Division Two, however as the season progressed we found ourselves in a title race and in the end we were perhaps disappointed not to win the league.

“That said it was a marvellous campaign, with some outstanding team and individual performances, and when you look over the course of 20-matches we definitely deserved to go up.

“Next season is going to be tough, there are some excellent teams in Reserve Division One, but we will embrace the challenge and look forward to playing local rivals Alberbury and Knockin, while testing ourselves against big clubs like Worfield, Wem and Whitchurch.” 

Tom Corfield, who was the leading run scorer for Montgomery Seconds last season with 578 runs, added: “I am really looking forward to the 2018 campaign and seeing how we fare at a higher standard of cricket. We know it is going to be a huge challenge but we have got a really strong squad and a good mixture of youth and experience.”

The club’s strength in squad played a key part in last season’s success with two batsmen making centuries – Tom Corfield (103 not out) and Charlie Clinton (108 not out) - while Jonathan Williams (88 not out), Richard Jones (61), Lennon Bryan (60 not out), George Corfield (55 not out) and Patrick Wilding (51) all made half centuries.

The team’s bowling attack also proved to be among the most potent in the league with the wickets being shared out amongst the team. David Jones and Keith Griffiths claimed 31 each, Rob Yewdall took 24 and Charlie Kinsey got 20 wickets. Youngsters Tom Hughes (8) and Ross Wilkinson (4) also chipped in with vital contributions.

George concluded: “I would like to thank everyone for their support and commitment during the season.”

* Anyone interested in joining Montgomery Cricket Club should get in touch via the club’s Facebook page - @MontgomeryCricketClub

Caption: Montgomery’s second team batsman of the season Tom Corfield (left) and captain George Corfield (right) with the trophy for winning promotion to Shropshire Reserve Division One.