Ottery Cricket Club building for the 2021 season

Ottery St Mary Cricket Club are building for the new season and there are opportunities for new players to join a fabulous family club.
With the latest roadmap set out, there is cautious optimism for a full Devon Cricket League campaign this summer and the Otters are preparing themselves for what will hopefully be an exhilarating season on all fronts.
As the pandemic ended the cricket season before it began last summer, all players were grateful to get some cricket played in the form of small, regionalised leagues which were hastily organised by the county board.
As fantastic as it was to play, it just didn’t feel right to some and most will be excited to have competitive cricket back.
On the men’s front, Alex Clements and Dan Flower will hopefully have the chance to captain the first and second elevens. However, they’ll have to do it without batters Lawrence Walker and Joe Henkus.
The lure of Premier Cricket proved too much for Walker as he departs for Sandford, whereas Henkus will be on placement in Gloucester as part of his Masters degree. Both will be sorely missed, but other youth section graduates such as Eddie Rudolph, George Mutter and Jonathan Triner will look to step up in their absence.
The bowling attack will be fronted by experienced pairing Will Harrison and Jody Clements, with youngsters Matt Jeacock and Freddie Eul-Barker looking to continue their strong performances last year over the longer summer campaign ahead for this season.
The sides will feature a high number of junior players, which highlights the repeated success of the club’s junior section and demonstrates the progressive pathway that has worked so well for Ottery.
After a fantastic two seasons, the ladies team will look to keep building on both performances and numbers in the newly formed Ladies Softball League.
Starting from scratch, the Ottery ladies have built themselves into a solid squad which capped the 2020 season by winning the Devon Softball tournament down at Ivybridge CC.
With 20 signed up members, things are looking bright as they will take part in the softball league with home and away fixtures against Budleigh Salterton and Cullompton, along with numerous friendly fixtures against various teams throughout the county.
The junior section continues to go from strength to strength, with seven teams participating in the East Devon Youth League. With 100 colts on board, players will continue to thrive and develop as the season finally expands into the summer holidays to allow more fixtures to be played.
Girls cricket will resume on Monday evenings after a year’s hiatus due to the pandemic. One exciting development is the pairing with Whimple CC to create a girl’s cricket team which will hopefully play 8-a-side fixtures throughout the summer months. The team is still in its infancy, but initial signs are promising as both clubs are working hard to ensure its success.
Ottery St Mary CC are always on the lookout for new members, both playing and social, male and female, young and old. If you’re interested, please look for us on social media for more information. Guidelines and Covid permitting, senior training will commence on Tuesday, March 30 from 6pm to 8pm and run throughout the summer months on a weekly basis.
Monday Nights are dedicated to girls and ladies training, the former between 6-7pm starting from Monday, May 10 and the latter from 7pm to 8:30pm from Monday, April 19.
Youth training will start on Friday, April 16, the timings are 6-7:10pm for U9s to U12s and 7:15-8:30pm for the older age groups.
After the huge disruption to local sport over the past year, with local football, rugby and hockey leagues all cancelled, it is hugely encouraging to be able to look forward to a proper cricket season.