Shrewsbury Saracens Cricket Club celebrate centenary

The Shrewsbury Saracens, the Old Salopian Cricket Club, celebrated their centenary with a magnificent evening at The Kia Oval.

Almost 100 Club members gathered for dinner at the iconic venue.

The Saracens were formed in the summer of 1925, following the Old Salopian match against the Schools. A group of OS including two masters and one future Headmaster (Peterson) decided to form a club to be known as the Old Salopian Cricket Club. It was renamed the Saracens in 1926, although to this day no one knows why!

The original rules and list of members alongside a fixture card from 1926 can be found in the School archives.

The first North Devon tour also took place in 1926. The Saracens travel to the picturesque Instow Cricket Club every year to take on local sides and enjoy the local hostelries. The club thrived greatly during the 20’s and 30’s, but during WWII no meetings were held. The 50’s, 60’s and 70’s saw a golden age of cricket with the ‘Saracens Week’ held every year in the last week of July.

In 1966 the Cricketer Cup, a public schools alumni competition along the lines of the Halford Hewitt in golf or the Arthur Dunn for football, was set up.  The Saracens have enjoyed three notable victories in 1977, 1987 and 2012. A long side these regular outings there have been tours to locations as diverse as Epernay and Barbados.

(Barbados 2001)

Cricket has always been strong at Shrewsbury School. Thirty Salopians have gone on to play first class county cricket with James Taylor and Issy Wong earning full international status. In 2024, 3 of our pupils attained U19 International status.

At the Oval many tales of the Saracens adventures were shared led by President and Saracens legend Nicko Williams (SH 1954-58). The Headmaster spoke of his love of cricket and Robin Pocock (Db 1964-69) --who captained Hampshire CC - reminisced about the Saracens escapades in the Cricketer Cup.

(Nicko Williams and Angus Pollock)

(The Headmaster is presented with a Saracens tie by Henry Lewis- Cricketer Cup Captain)

It was a fantastic evening celebrating decades of friendship and looking to the future with a strong showing from the younger Sarries.

Here’s to the next 100 years !

Under 19 International Jack Home, Head of Girls' Cricket Lara Jones, Head of Boys' Cricket Adam Shantry