Julian Cup organisers schedule open meeting in bid to revive competition

The organisers of the Julian Cup are to hold an open meeting at Marlow Cricket Club to discuss the best way to revive interest in the competition.

Last season, the format returned to a knock-out competition in the main draw, with Champions League style pool matches having been trialled the previous summer.

Neither was a major success, however, just five matches out of the nine scheduled ended up being played in the main competition.

Boyne Hill managed to make it through to the final despite playing only one game – against a predominantly reserve Wargrave side.

They were then beaten by Stoke Green in the final, with the winners obliterating Hill’s bowling attack with an incredible display of power hitting.

The plate competition, in contrast, was much more successful with most scheduled matches taking place.

In a letter sent out to all clubs – and forwarded on to the Advertiser – Julian Cup chairman, Tom Mellor, said: “There will be an open meeting at Marlow CC at 8pm on Tuesday, February 27 to discuss the future of the competition before the AGM on March 28. For some background, last season just five games out of nine were played in the main competition, and just six clubs played a game. Boyne Hill got to the final having played just one game against a predominantly Wargrave reserve side. It sounds like potentially more clubs may not play in 2024.

“This is simply not viable moving forward.

“Unfortunately, having spoken to a lot of people at a variety of clubs over the last year, opinion is very much split on whether the group system with more games is better, or a straight knockout.

“To put it bluntly, we were in a nowin situation last year where some clubs said they would only play if it was a knockout and others said they would enter other competitions unless we had a group stage as they wanted more guaranteed games.

“There continues to be issues with mismatches and teams getting sides out for away games at clubs outside of the official six-mile radius.”

He added: “On the other hand, the plate competition continues to thrive with 36 games out of a scheduled 37 completed and feedback across the board generally very positive.

“My feeling is there are some pragmatic decisions to be made regarding the future of the competition, but I want to throw it open to everyone to put their views forward.

“If you don't attend you are not going to have the opportunity to put views forward before official voting at the AGM. If you cannot make the meeting next week then please just reply with your thoughts.”