Belhaven Cricket – Girls' Pre-Season Camp at Shrewsbury School
Following the success of our inaugural pre-season camp at Shrewsbury with a group of Form 1-3 boys in 2025, Mr. Brown and I were keen to repeat the opportunity for the benefit of the girls. With women’s cricket now experiencing unprecedented global growth, the sport represents an extraordinary opportunity for girls. It was therefore very exciting to be able to invite all those girls that expressed an interest with us to Shrewsbury during the holidays. 21 girls met us at various stages of the journey to Shropshire and, after a few minibus-related dramas, we all arrived safely in time for supper on Easter Monday.
One of the elements of which we are most proud of developing at Belhaven over the past six years has been the accessibility to cricket for all pupils. In the summer of 2021, after two years of no cricket thanks to Covid-19, the awareness of the sport fell to what felt like a drastically low level. It was not in the memory of the children and, in the same way in which singing fell away dramatically due to the inability to exercise the vocal chords, so did the residual awareness of cricket and all of its intricacies.
It has taken six years to build back that level of confidence, interest and engagement but it now feels as if mixed cricket at Belhaven is brimming with joy and opportunity. It was in this spirit of adventure, looking forward to three days of total immersion in cricket, that we opened the doors to the incredible indoor cricket centre at Shrewsbury, to which we had unlimited access during our stay. To have all 21 girls able to bat against a spin bowling machine designed to replicate the magical Shane Warne was quite an achievement! Padded up and ready to go, the girls batted against Merlyn, against a more traditional bowling machine and against the rapidly growing cohort of fast bowling girls, including some as young as 9, as we played late into the evening.
After a comfortable night’s sleep in the boarding house and a delicious breakfast – the catering at Shrewsbury is outstanding and delivered with intense professionalism – we all made our way to the First XI ground for a tour photograph. From there, the senior girls made their way into the home dressing room – a place steeped in history and featuring recent photographs of many Salopian professional cricketers, including England Women’s fast bowling icon, Issy Wong – and to prepare for their two matches on the First XI square against a local academy side.
Mr Brown reports ...
Match Report 1 – Belhaven U13 Girls vs Shrewsbury Academy
Our U13 girls came up against a very strong Shrewsbury Academy side in the first game of the day. It was a really good challenge for them, with eight of the opposition having county cricket experience, and it gave our players the chance to see a very high standard of girls’ cricket up close. Going into the game, our aims were simple: defend the good balls, be positive on anything loose, run well between the wickets, and bowl as consistently as we could.
Shrewsbury batted first and made an impressive 175-1. Sophia was our only wicket-taker, producing a superb ball to clean bowl one of their county opening batters. Even though the score was a big one, there were still plenty of positives in the field. The girls worked hard to get into good positions, spread themselves out well, and were aggressive with their throws back in to Iris, who did a great job behind the stumps all day. One area we knew we needed to improve was extras, with 65 of Shrewsbury’s runs coming that way.
We started our reply positively, with Maggie and Iris bravely volunteering to open the batting. Maggie made 15 and Iris 16, before Rose came in at three and also made 16. After that, Shrewsbury started to take control and our next highest score was 2. We were eventually bowled out for 94, losing by 81 runs. As we had done, Shrewsbury gave away a fair few extras, with 41 added to our total, so both sides had something to work on with the ball going into the second match.
Match Report 2 – Belhaven U13 Girls vs Shrewsbury Academy
After a big lunch, which the girls were very happy with, Belhaven were back out for the second game in the baking Shropshire sunshine. Our goals stayed the same, but this time we added another focus: plenty of encouragement and lots of celebrating whenever we took a wicket. It seemed to help, as the girls looked noticeably more energetic and switched on in the field.
There was a clear improvement with the ball in the second match, with everyone contributing again across the day. Meme produced an excellent delivery to bowl their opening batter, Maggie hit the stumps with a brilliant direct-hit run out, and also picked up a wicket with the ball. There were some particularly strong bowling performances from Emily, who finished with 3 overs for 13 runs, Bee with 2 overs for 10, Beatrix with 2 overs for 13, and Chloe with 1 over for 7. Once again, the girls were excellent in the field and aggressive in everything they did. Shrewsbury finished on 140, although our hopes of cutting down the extras did not quite happen, contributing 67 runs – just under half of their total.
In reply, we made another very good start. Maggie scored 18 and Iris top-scoring with 24. Our running between the wickets was excellent for most of the innings and was a real strength. While we found it difficult to hit many boundaries, the girls worked hard to keep the scoreboard moving with sharp running. We finished on 104, meaning we lost by 36 runs.
There were plenty of positives to take from the two matches, but probably the biggest was the chance for the girls to watch and learn more about the game itself. They saw the tactics, the pressure, and, most importantly, the fun that comes with playing cricket as part of a team. The girls certainly kept Mr Brown busy on the sidelines, firing questions about cricket at him throughout the day, which he was more than happy to answer.
Belhaven Under 11 Girls v Prestfelde School
Meanwhile, Miss Dyer and I took the Under 11 girls to play a fixture at Prestfelde Prep School. Also located in the town, Prestfelde is part of the Shrewsbury Group and run by an old friend of mine, and fellow cricket enthusiast, Matty Thavenot. Matty had arranged for an Under 11 team to provide some opposition and we agreed on a 20 over match on a beautiful afternoon and an artificial wicket.
Belhaven won the toss and chose to bat. Before the game, we had spent the morning in the cricket centre, working on running between the wickets and making quick decisions. The consistent message throughout the camp was that we wanted to see improvement in the things on which we were working, rather than ‘complete performance’ - and so it was incredibly heartening to watch the girls that batted take the bull by the horns and put the fielders under real pressure from the start. Coco and Flora G opened the batting, putting on 35 in 5 overs. Flora was run out – to be expected occasionally when you are essentially playing ‘tip and run’ - and Dulcie continued the good work, but sadly only briefly before she was bowled. She was replaced by Annie F.
What followed was incredible. Coco and Annie, both Under 10, batted with incredible focus and determination and became increasingly confident and dominant. Both hit boundaries, Coco mainly through the off side with a couple of beautiful straight drives and Annie mainly through the leg side, and both ran well between the wickets, taking on fielders as they threw the ball back to the keeper.
Most impressively, they did not make a mistake – for 13 overs, the pair just kept on batting, until, at the start of the final over, Coco found herself on 45* and facing Sahota, a Shropshire Under 11 bowler of real pace and skill. Coco took a single from the first ball, which was a no ball, and Annie a single from the second. The next ball was a dot (a rarity) before the fourth saw Coco take another single and therefore get herself off strike with just three balls to go (don’t forget the no ball...). The next ball was a beauty, and Annie missed it – but she scrambled a single off the next, leaving Coco to face the final ball of the innings, needing 2 for the first ever 50 by an Under 11 girl at Belhaven. It was another excellent ball, and Coco could only squeeze it out to cover point, the girls crossing for a quick single as the throw came in. However, the keeper fumbled it and Coco, alert to the opportunity, sprinted back for the second, finishing the innings with a well-deserved 50* from 64 balls. Annie was 41* from just 44 balls and the two of them, with 9 4s between them, had put on 110 for the fourth wicket from just 89 balls. We had scored 150-2 from our 20 overs, a phenomenal effort.
After a delicious doughnut and a second coat of suncream – it really is hot down south – the girls took the field and made a brilliant start, Cleo bowling the dangerous Sahota at the end of her first over and conceding just 3 runs from 2 very good overs of left arm seam. All 10 of the girls bowled two overs as Grace D kept wicket with increasing confidence, with Annie, Flora F (2), Eliza, Coco and Cleo taking the wickets and Coco securing a direct hit run out as well. The Prestfelde girls did not manage to put the Belhaven fielders under the same pressure and only scored 19 runs off the bat in their 20 overs, such was the accuracy of the bowling and the focus of the fielding. This was a really impressive performance in which the basics of the morning session had been executed brilliantly in the afternoon.
To view the entire Score Card for this game please click here.
We headed back to Shrewsbury to watch the Under 13s but just missed the end of their second game. We had an early tea and then were fortunate enough to be allowed to use the pool that evening, before the eagerly-anticipated ‘tour fines’ session in the boarding house. Everyone was given their share of sweets but were then held to account for a wide range of non-cricketing misdemeanours spotted by the staff – being late to team meetings, sneaking out of bed to go into someone else’s room right in front of Miss Dyer, breaking down in the minibus (me), and many, many more. The girls loved it: and it was particularly good to see the Form 1 girls able to laugh at themselves and accept fines exacted upon them by the Form 4s... - it was brilliant team bonding and encouraging of the self-deprecation that is essential if one is to deal with the vagaries of cricket.
The next morning, we were back into the indoor centre to make use of the facilities for the final time, with the last session ending in a game before we went to have an ice cream and watch the start of the Under 18 festival that was taking place on the main pitches. It was brilliant to see the girls watching and soaking it all in, asking great questions and relishing their new-found match awareness. After lunch, we hopped back into the (repaired) minibuses and made an event-free journey back to Belhaven. I am enormously grateful to the brilliant Mr. Brown and Miss Dyer for accompanying me on the trip and making it possible, and to the girls for giving up 3 days of holiday to take part in the camp. I hope that it sets them up for a successful season, but more than anything else, that it gives them a glimpse of what a love of cricket can bring.
