2025 SCCL Premier Division Review 6th to 1st
By Jamie Dowley
Quatt 6th - 2025 won’t be a season that will live long in the memory for Quatt, it was their lowest placing in the top division since 2004, but that shows the measure of consistency they have been accustomed to over a long period. Last winter they took the decision to dispense with Kuldeep Diwan as the pro, which raised a few eyebrows, and his replacement Joshua Greef, although showing glimpses of quality, was not in the same class. Diwan’s 65 wickets are a lot to replace although Scott Furber had a good season with 39 victims but he was rather carrying the spin bowling department. All that meant the seam attack had more overs to get through, and James Lunn, an early season pick up from Himley impressed on several occasions while Dan Handley, in from Broseley, also showed great promise although his season was ended by injury. On the batting front Tom Whitney had his usual solid season averaging over 40, but only Ryan Wheldon among the rest got past 400 runs, and whether the captaincy affected Alex Biddle’s output it’s hard to say, but he wasn’t as outstanding as he was in 2024 with bat or ball. They did improve in the 2nd half, winning 5 of their last 8 games and you certainly wouldn’t rule them out of coming again next season, with rumours of a marquee Sri Lankan overseas in for 2026.
Ludlow 5th - It was deja vu for Jason Oakes side as they matched their placing in 2024 , although at one stage they really threatened a challenge for the title, after racing to 7 straight wins from the off and completely putting to bed any thoughts they could be embroiled in a relegation scrap. The turning point of their season was the narrow one wicket loss in week 8 to champions Wellington, when they rather threw the game away and from that point they reverted to type as a solid mid table side. Oakes was outstanding again, ending 16 runs short of 1000, after a last game washout, and in his last year as a Cat 3 overseas player he also took 34 wickets. Luke Miles had another fine season getting past 500 runs and chipping in with 32 wickets while star bowler Joe Williams did it again, his 53 victims topped the divisional tally jointly with Simon Jones of Shelton. They made two interesting signings during the season in Salahuddin Malik and Syed Tanzeel from Church Stretton, both had been largely responsible for their sides rise up the divisions and though they didn’t quite have the same impact here, Tanzeel struck four half centuries and settled in well. All in all a very good season, and it will be interesting to see if they get the additional overseas player next year, if so they could really be contenders at the top.
St Georges 4th - It was all change for the Dragons in 2025, with new club captain Faisal Khan making sweeping changes to personnel, but while the pre-season talk of a title challenge failed to materialize they were still a very strong team throughout the season. Sunny Singh always looked a marque signing and he led the attack brilliantly with 48 wickets and top the averages (min 20 wickets), at 13 apiece, while fellow spinner Faisal supported him with 27 wickets. Overseas player Faizan Khan impressed again with 788 runs at 46, Ibrahim Java was very steady with 520 runs, while a complete contrast was Zab Safi who is like nothing else we have ever seen in the league before, scoring 618 runs at a strike rate over 200 with grounds like Wem and Whitchurch just not big enough for him. Brilliant to watch. At one stage they did threaten to mount a challenge at the top, they won all 4 games in June and were looking good but then proceeded to lose the first 3 in July and that was that, but overall a 4th place finish has to count as progress. The jury is out on whether that can be maintained in 2026.
Allscott Heath 3rd - Not everyone was buying the pre season talk from Callum Starling that survival was the aim, but whether or not it was a clever tactic to ease any pressure, it worked, as a 3rd place finish (2nd on points gained on the field) has to count as an outstanding season for the side. Overseas pro Kuldeep Devatwal led the way again with 1181 runs including 6 centuries, with none of the tons wasted as they won all those matches including home and away against Wellington. Jason Summers also got in on the action again with 593 runs and 39 wickets while returning players the Thornton brothers both did well. Luke especially bowled with real pace at times and scored decent runs with 442 at 31, while Bradley was a great option to turn to control the scoring, he took 28 wickets at lowly 15 apiece. The captain himself always bowled with heart he took 32 wickets. If one had to be negative it would be that they relied heavily on those 5 players mentioned, no one else averaged over 20 with the bat or got in double figures in the wickets column, so they may require further outside recruitment to move forward. But with their 2nd team moving up a division it’s a season that has pretty much ticked all the boxes.
Wem 2nd - Jim Astley’s side can be very pleased with their season's work and a runner up position was safely secured after a final day washout at Shelton. Having recruited well in the winter with Alex Ollerenshaw and Tyler Ibbotson incoming from Shrewsbury, replacing Mohammed Irfan as overseas looked a tough task for Karabo Mogotsi but the happy South African impressed in the first half of the season albeit his form well away rather, to end with 665 runs. Openers Harry Chandler and Sam Peate had great seasons, the former with 627 runs is surely the best keeper-bat in the county, while Peate knows his game well and was excellent throughout with 616 runs. Ibbotson played a number of crucial knocks none more so than his 79 at Wellington, while Matt Cohen had a decent season after a few lean years. Of course the real breakout star was Ralph Davies, the 14 year old was gradually introduced to first team cricket, but in August produced two outstanding performances, firstly by bowling his side to victory at Wellington with 6-20, and following it up a fortnight later with 6-18 against Whitchurch. Ollerenshaw led the seam attack expertly with 41 wickets at 15 in his usual demonstrative style, taking much of the burden from Tom Astley who missed several weeks with injury. Perhaps they could have got closer to Wellington, as they will be annoyed to have been beaten twice by Newtown while also failing to defend 14 off the final over against the champions at home in June must still sting. But with a talented pool of youngsters starting to emerge in addition to Ralph Davies, it’s a club and team in a very healthy place.
Wellington - Champions! - Tipped up pre-season as champions, it was never really in doubt was it? This seasons renewal won’t go down as a classic simply for the fact that winning 10 games straight from the off meant the title race was good as over in June, and when star man Dan Lloyd departed for Australia he could safely be sure of a winners medal by airmail *. Lloyd was in imperious form with 563 runs at 93 including 3 tons, the same could not be said of overseas Test player Brian Mudzinganyama who failed to make a single half century all season although he did chip in with 30 wickets. Matt Simmonds was Mr Consistency throughout, picking up runs and wickets every week, ending with over 800 runs and 45 wickets and really taking on the mantle of star player in the 2nd half, with Will Lewin another who can be pleased with his haul of over 500 runs. That they tasted defeat a few times in the run in was understandable and expected for the youngest side in the league, but in Dan Vaughan they had an outstanding captain who not only led from the front with over 700 runs but managed to galvanise his players to get over the line in some very close games, ones against Wem, Ludlow , Shelton and Newtown stand out as examples. The new ball pair of Oliver Smith and Hugh Morris must be one of the youngest around and didn’t miss a Saturday game all season, as they invariably struck early before the spinners took control in any number of games, especially at home where free scoring was difficult. Onto the play offs and they will be desperate to return to where they feel they belong, the Birmingham League and good luck to them as worthy champions.
*just to be clear the league don’t supply individual medals it would be far too expensive across 12 divisions
