‘Fell’s got a big England future’
All-rounder Ali praises Hillingdon-born batsman
Fell was always destined for a future in professional cricket, breaking every run-scoring record at Oakham School – where England’s Stuart Broad was also educated – before signing for Worcestershire.
He has taken to the first team with consummate ease, scoring a century in Worcestershire’s first game since promotion back into the County Championship first division in April.
And according to Worcs’ Ali, he can already lay claim to being the county’s premier batsman.
“Tom Fell is probably the best batsman we have, he’s very natural and solid,” said Ali, speaking as he launched Royal London’s summer of cricket.
“He’s got the potential to play for England, he’s a really good player. Once he gets more self-con- fidence and has belief, he’ll score many, many runs for us.
“We’ve got a lot of players with the potential to go on internationally, but what we’ve all had to do as a smaller club is make sure the performances have been very consistent over a long period of time.
“Hopefully, that will be exactly what will happen and if we do that it’s great for Worcester as a team, and we’ll have more England players getting the honours.”
Fell will be going back to his roots as Worcestershire face Middlesex at Uxbridge in the County Championship between June 21 and 24.
Recent matches there have been high-scoring affairs and Middlesex have not won a four-day game there since 1991.
All-rounder Neil Dexter said: “It’s normally a good batting wicket. I did well there in my first game, scoring 146 and 118, but we lost by 10 wickets.
“We’ve got to find a way to play in the wicket as I can’t remember winning a game there for a very long time. When you bat, if you don’t get above 300 you’re in a bit of trouble.”
Moeen Ali was speaking at the launch of the Royal London Gilbert Cup, a new grassroots U11 cricket tournament.
Meanwhile, more than 200 children from 36 primary schools in the borough came together to take part in a Kwik Cricket knockout tournament at Harefield and Uxbridge cricket clubs.
Both the boys and girls eight a side teams produced thrilling finals – between Cranford Park Academy and Yeading Junior School for the boys and Lady Bankes and Breakspear Junior Schools for the girls.
Yeading emerged as the winners of the Clive Radley Perpetual Cup and for the third year running Breakspear Junior won the Rotary Club of Uxbridge Challenge Cup for girls. EASTCOTE Hockey Club fell short at the England Hockey Mixed Plate finals at the Lee Valley Hockey Centre at the Olympic Park.
The battling Eastcote players suffered a gutting defeat in the semis as Dereham grabbed a last-minute goal to knock them out of the running for the top prize.
Kevin Hague scored twice in a narrow 3-2 loss that also saw Irene Hall taken to hospital with a broken jaw. And they went down 5-3 to Formby in the third-place play-off match, despite Hague again bagging a brace.
Will Anderton ran the midfield in both games for Eastcote.
Meanwhile, the Back to Hockey initiative returns to west London this summer with Eastcote opening their doors to women across the area, all with the aim to do one thing – getting more women back playing hockey.
The programme, supported by Berlei sports bras, is available at Eastcote Hockey Club, Kings College Road, Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 7JZ, every Monday at 7.15pm to – 8.30pm, running sessions for women until July 20.