Crowds flock to Woolpit Cricket Club to see PCA England Masters XI

Crowds turned out on Bank Holiday Monday to see a PCA England Masters XI take on a Woolpit XV at the Woolpit Cricket Club’s ground.

Although the star team won a charity T20 match by 28 runs the real winners were the club and aspiring young cricketers who were given tips by some of the star players including John Emburey, Alex Tudor and Owais Shah who took party in a junior coaching sessions.

They signed bats and t-shirts, answered the children’s questions and passed on some great advice.

There was also a question and answer session with Jonathon Trott and Matthew Hoggard for spectators ahead of the start of the game.\

The PCA England Masters, sponsored by Greene King, batted first and George Heldreich opened the bowling, with the first two balls being wide and lulling Ravi Bopara into a false sense of security, with George’s brother Freddie taking a catch at cover to dismiss Bopara for a duck.

Jonathon Trott’s wicket fell quickly after and the Woolpit team were in good spirits. Owais Shah not giving up his wicket easily glided to 57, with support from Mark Ramprakash (48) at the other end.

Woolpit’s most successful bowler was Stuart Lilley, who took 3 wickets for 17 in his spell and the PCA England Masters team ended their 20 overs on 168 for 8.

Woolpit batsmen started well with Ryan Newcombe scoring 35 before being caught by Jonathan Trott.

Ollie Melville-Ross played some great shots before being caught out in the deep by Matthew Hoggard.

John Emburey was the PCA England Masters best bowler, taking 3 for 22. Woolpit ended on 140 for 7 off their 20 overs.

David Bicknell, one of the spectators at the game, said: “It was glorious, idyllic village cricket setting, very well attended by families who all appeared to have a wonderful time. The ice cream stall and BBQ did sterling work as did the bar staff and although Woolpit narrowly lost out in the 20/20 match, cricket in general was a big winner … great to see kids and parents leaving with big smiles. The organisation is worth a mention, first class, like a Stokes’ century.”