Belhaven’s Pre-Season Cricket Camp at Shrewsbury
Monday 14th – Wednesday 16th April 2025
During an excellent tour of Shrewsbury School in 2024, I was fortunate to meet Adam Shantry, former Glamorgan fast bowler and now the School’s Cricket Professional. The obligatory cup of tea in the cricket pavilion and half an hour’s conversation about the transformational potential of learning to play cricket led to an invitation to use the renowned Shrewsbury cricket facilities prior to a Belhaven cricket season. Following several months of planning, it was exciting to set off in our brand-new minibus (699 miles on the clock) at 7.15am on Monday 14th April with 14 enthusiastic young cricketers from Forms 1 to 3.
Ahead of us lay three days of full cricketing immersion. We had been granted exclusive use of Shrewsbury’s dedicated Cricket Centre, an indoor facility that was the first of its kind in the UK when it was opened a decade ago. Boasting four indoor lanes, with a bowling machine for each, as well as a Merlin (invented to combat England’s Shane Warne-induced woes in the 1990s), this has set the standard for similar centres since, and represented a gilt-edged opportunity for Belhaven’s cricketers to anticipate a weather-proof cricket experience: not something that we can often guarantee, despite Sunny Dunny’s reputation!
It was therefore ironic that much of the conversation over the three-day trip revolved around the weather. With a yellow weather warning anticipated for ‘match day’ on Tuesday, it was agreed that we would advance the scheduled match against Packwood, a Prep School that has recently become part of the Shrewsbury group, to the Monday afternoon. Arriving at 2pm, we therefore took the boys straight to the 1st XI pavilion and prepared to start what proved to be the first of four short limited over matches against Packwood.
Match 1: Packwood won by 9 wickets
A combination of some excellent pink ball bowling, some early season batting and a 6 hour bus journey contributed to Belhaven setting a less-than-challenging target of 66 at the end of our 12 overs. Had we not been gifted a generous 37 extras, we really would have been struggling...! This was a real wake-up call, and a reminder that a solid forward defensive shot really has to be the first weapon in the batsman’s armoury. 7 of our batters had their stumps rearranged by some accurate bowling, so this at least provided a focus for improvement! A Form 3 trio of Fred, who top-scored with 7*, Patrick and Xander combined to ensure that we at least used our allocation of 12 overs, facing 45 balls between them.
The boys were then shown how to construct an innings, with the Packwood openers putting on 47 before both retiring. Hector bowled their promising left handed number 3 but the Packwood middle order rebuilt and completed the run chase without further alarm. Wilbur bowled economically and there were some very encouraging performances in the field upon which to build.
Match 2: Packwood won by 6 runs
This second game saw a significant improvement. Fielding first, Belhaven’s fielders continued their strong start and executed four run outs as Packwood’s batters tried to assert themselves against some more accurate bowling. Wicket keeping duties were shared between Harry and Geordie throughout the four matches and both continued to make big strides forward on a pitch that offered consistent bounce and pace. Chasing a target of 85, Rollo opened up with some positive shot-making before being retired for 24 from 18 balls, and Charlie and Wilbur made what looked for a time like being match-winning contributions before both were dismissed in the mid-teens. Our challenge then rather subsided, but good progress had been made in the team’s self-belief in what was a significantly closer game.
Match 3: Packwood won by 15 runs
After a great evening of relaxing in front of a film, Tuesday morning dawned overcast but free of rain. We got out onto the 1st XI square once again and played another 16 over context, with Packwood batting first and scoring 101-8. Charlie, Hector and Xander bowled well in the middle overs to take wickets and restrict them to a target that was within reach if our batsmen could lay a good platform. Rollo and Charlie batted with great intent and when Charlie retired on 30*, the lower order had a chance to take us to victory, but some good bowling from their experienced opening pair made life difficult as more of the boys gained invaluable experience in the middle – we ended up a few short but once again, confidence had grown as we prepared for the final game.
Match 4: Packwood won by 4 wickets
This was a great game and a fitting end to the competitive side of the camp. Batting first, Rollo and Wilbur put the Packwood opening bowlers to the sword, racking up 74 in 7 overs and showing just how much progress had been made in terms of intent and confidence over 24 short hours. We didn’t quite capitalise on this brilliant start, but 118 from our 16 overs was a really good score and, with our fielding and bowling arguably our stronger suit, we had the chance to put Packwood under significant pressure. After 6 overs, Packwood were 21-2 with wickets for Wilbur and Hector, both now really bowling beautifully in tandem. Their two best players then batted brilliantly and got Packwood into a good position before both were retired, leaving the game in the balance. Despite some good fielding, including an outstanding catch from Rollo at square leg to dismiss the dangerous Pembleton, the Packwood batsmen found the boundary at crucial times and sneaked over the line with 6 balls to spare. The Belhaven boys were rather shaken by a nasty-looking injury to Hector, who was hit on the head and was taken to hospital, but maintained their composure and conducted themselves brilliantly throughout.
As the rain started to fall at 4pm, the team moved inside and got to use the incredible facilities, with those that had been working in the nets with a Shrewsbury coach during the final game showing what they had been working on. After that, went for a swim before the final tour meeting. It was great to see everyone getting into the spirit of being away as a group, supporting each other when playing some really challenging cricket and enjoying their relaxation time with the Packwood boys and one another.
On the Wednesday morning we enjoyed another indoor session, but it was clear that tiredness was beginning to creep in, so a giant game of ‘Crash Mat Cricket’, involving both sides, ensured that everyone ended the camp with smiles on their faces and a great new game to take back to Belhaven. We hopped back on the minibus and headed back to Belhaven, listening to an enthralling IPL game all the way back – it went to a Super Over and had everyone hooked! It was a brilliant couple of days that will, I am sure, make an enormous difference to the start of the season at Belhaven. I am hugely grateful to our hosts and keen to make this a regular feature of the Easter holidays – hopefully we will be able to take the girls next year!
Olly Langton, Headmaster.
