New Road to Host Williamson Trophy Final
Author: John Curtis
Date: 07/03/2023
Worcestershire are to stage the final of the prestigious Birmingham and District Premier League’s Graham Williamson Trophy at New Road for a second successive season.
The County stepped in at short notice last summer to host the final between Worcestershire Academy and eventual winners Smethwick, who were captained by Worcestershire Assistant Head Coach, Kadeer Ali.
Now the Birmingham & District Premier League are delighted to again take up Worcestershire’s offer to host the final of the 40 over competition, which this year will take place at New Road on Sunday, April 30.
League General Manager, Nick Archer, says it will further strengthen the already positive link between Worcestershire and the league.
It will also provide players with what may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to play on a first class ground.
Archer said: “It was great that Worcestershire offered us New Road at very short notice last year, just six days beforehand, and we were able to put in it place and it was a really good day, even though the weather was not great.
“Worcestershire have very kindly offered to also stage the final in 2023 and this will allow us to publicise it more than we were able to do in the six day period last year.
“It helps us as well in the sense that it is a neutral ground and we don’t have to have the toss of a coin to decide which of the finalists will stage the game.
“But there are a lot of good players out there who will never have played on a first class county ground and it is a great opportunity for them.
“Smethwick got to the final last year, and eventually won it, with Kadeer Ali the captain, but they had quite a few players who had played in the league for a number of years but never had a chance to play on a ground like that.
“The other thing is that it strengthens the relationship between the league and Worcestershire which is already good because of the people in place at the club.
“Kadeer Ali, we have a strong relationship with, and Elliot Wilson, I’ve known over a lot of years since he was with Lincolnshire.
“From our point of view as league, we have two First Class counties and three National Counties in the area.
“It helps us to have a strong relationship with all five of those counties.
“We play Birmingham Bears in a T20 game as part of their warm-up schedule so it is all good for cricket in the West Midlands.”
The County stepped in at short notice last summer to host the final between Worcestershire Academy and eventual winners Smethwick, who were captained by Worcestershire Assistant Head Coach, Kadeer Ali.
Now the Birmingham & District Premier League are delighted to again take up Worcestershire’s offer to host the final of the 40 over competition, which this year will take place at New Road on Sunday, April 30.
League General Manager, Nick Archer, says it will further strengthen the already positive link between Worcestershire and the league.
It will also provide players with what may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to play on a first class ground.
Archer said: “It was great that Worcestershire offered us New Road at very short notice last year, just six days beforehand, and we were able to put in it place and it was a really good day, even though the weather was not great.
“Worcestershire have very kindly offered to also stage the final in 2023 and this will allow us to publicise it more than we were able to do in the six day period last year.
“It helps us as well in the sense that it is a neutral ground and we don’t have to have the toss of a coin to decide which of the finalists will stage the game.
“But there are a lot of good players out there who will never have played on a first class county ground and it is a great opportunity for them.
“Smethwick got to the final last year, and eventually won it, with Kadeer Ali the captain, but they had quite a few players who had played in the league for a number of years but never had a chance to play on a ground like that.
“The other thing is that it strengthens the relationship between the league and Worcestershire which is already good because of the people in place at the club.
“Kadeer Ali, we have a strong relationship with, and Elliot Wilson, I’ve known over a lot of years since he was with Lincolnshire.
“From our point of view as league, we have two First Class counties and three National Counties in the area.
“It helps us to have a strong relationship with all five of those counties.
“We play Birmingham Bears in a T20 game as part of their warm-up schedule so it is all good for cricket in the West Midlands.”