For the first time in the club’s history, our U12s have reached the final of the Brian Taylor Trophy. Never before, either in its current format or under its previous guise as the Peter Coe Cup, have an Upminster side played in the final of this event. It is in fact only the fourth time that an Upminster side has reached the final of any of the major junior county wide competitions, with the U12s “Class of 25” following the Matchplay sides of 1996 and 2007 (who both lost out on their big days) and the U13 Girls who beat Hutton in their County Final in 2022 (nearly three years ago to the day, a good omen maybe??). Of course, that number could increase further on Sunday when the U19s take part in Finals Day of the Ravi Bopara Trophy for the first time, and a semi-final win there would see them progress to the final later in the day.

For the U12s it has already been a fantastic season, and they have been in fine form in the Brian Taylor competition. They opened up their group campaign with a seven wicket over Brentwood and followed that up a couple of weeks later with a comprehensive success over Hutton. They then sealed top spot in the group with a win over Orsett and Thurrock and a victory against Bentley. In the last 16 Upminster saw off Woodford Wells at Upminster Park before overcoming South Woodford by seven wickets in an excellent quarter final tie. That set up a semi-final encounter with a very talented Coggeshall Town side, which Upminster won by six wickets, meaning they moved through to Friday’s showpiece final.

Friday’s opponents Loughton have been in equally sparkling form during this year’s competition. They opened up the group stages with a big win over Goresbrook before claiming an impressive victory at Buckhurst Hill. They then made sure they finished top of their group with a win against Oakfield Parkonians and a victory at Redbridge. In the knockout stages they have so far beaten Brentwood, who came second in Upminster’s group, and Aztecs before winning an absolute thriller in the last four as they squeezed past Woodford Green by six runs.

With the bat Upminster’s leading run scorers in the competition so far have been William Peck (286) and Billy Sheridan (239) while for Loughton Faaiz Bilal has led the way with 245 runs. Stefan Stander has led the way for Upminster with the ball with 12 wickets so far, while Basil Aldis has picked up nine for Loughton to this point.

Upminster have named a 13 player squad for the final which is made up as below:

William Peck (* +)
Kayhan Suneel
Billy Sheridan
Johhny Johal
Harrison Simpson
Jack Butler
Max Barber
Ano Chifamba
Stefan Stander
Carter Everingham
Elliot Russell
Harry Jeeves
George Middlemiss

The game (which is 30 overs per side) will begin at 12.00pm and takes place at Felsted School (Felsted, Dunmow, CM6, 3LL). Car parking will be in the Old Folly Field Car Park, which is behind the pavilion, but across the road from the Prep School site. Access to the car park is directly off the road and will be signposted as “Brian Taylor Cricket Parking”. While there will be no refreshments for spectators at the ground itself, those in attendance are welcome to take their own food and drink along and the pub on the corner near the cricket ground will also be open (and the game can be watched from outside the pub). Toilets for spectators will be available at the ground itself.

Everyone associated with the club wishes all of the squad the very best of luck for the game. Whatever happens the team have enjoyed a brilliant season and will go on to enjoy many more successful years with the club in the future.