Pidgeon named as club’s head of senior cricket
MARK Pidgeon has been announced as Stratford’s new head of senior cricket and there will be a new skipper with the firsts ahead of their Warwickshire League campaign.
Pidgeon, whose father Tom played for the Swans Nest Lane side for 30 years, takes over from Josh Hickman.
Other changes have seen Sean Hopwood taking charge of the club’s junior section and a new development team introduced to create a pathway for the youngsters.
Pidgeon said: “I retired from playing this year so it will be purely coaching and admin for me, trying to get training sorted beginning with indoor nets which start on Sunday at Moreton Morrell College. There is a good bond all the way through the teams so I won’t be looking to change much, just pick up where Josh left off.
“We have a new captain this year in James Urquart with Dexter Purser moving to play at Cheltenham. We also have Chris Calcott coming in from Frocester who has also played a lot of Birmingham League cricket.
“The club has finished mid-division for the last couple of years and we would like to challenge this time but it isn’t easy with a lot of the clubs bringing in players from all over. We are certainly looking up rather than down though and the long-term aim is to get Birmingham League cricket back to Stratford.”
Stratford 1sts and 2nds will start their Warwickshire League campaigns at the end of April with the Cotswold Hills League sides starting in May.