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Yorkshire Tea Community Cricket Awards 2026: Meet the Winners

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The Yorkshire Tea Community Cricket Awards for 2026 have now been selected. We’re delighted to reveal the winning entries and those who have been Highly Commended here.

The awards, backed by Yorkshire Tea and organised by Cricket Yorkshire, are in their second year. They recognise the remarkable efforts of volunteers across recreational cricket in the region.

🫖 The prizes

The prizes for these community awards are provided by Yorkshire Tea. Each of the five winners will receive a trophy, 1,500 Yorkshire Gold teabags and I’ll interview them here on the website.

For those who are Highly Commended, the nominees win 1,200 Yorkshire Gold teabags to keep them in brews for many months to come.

As this is a long article, here is the shortlist of eight to navigate to:

🎉 Winners

👏 Highly Commended

🏏 Highly Commended

Eric Ball (Groundskeeper, Old Sharlston)

Eric is Old Sharlston’s President and groundsman for the Pontefract League club. Described as a ‘one-club man,’ Eric has been at this village club since he was 11.

Now in his eighties, Eric still prepares the pitches for the range of sides that compete in senior and junior leagues.

🏏 Highly Commended

Beckie Wootton (Coach, Ripon)

Beckie Wootton is a club coach for Ripon Cricket Club, as well as serving on the committee and helping with funding, projects and events.

She has been instrumental in the drive for the club’s new nets, as well as coaching girls cricket with the move to hardball by Under-11s.

Catch the Spirit Week’s ‘Picnic on the Pitch’ (above) as well as summer camps and captaining the women’s softball side are further signs of Beckie’s impact.

🏏 Highly Commended

Alex Briggs (Treasurer, Thorpe Audlin)

The nomination suggests Alex is the ‘Jack of all trades’ which is invaluable – some would say inevitable – for volunteers at any cricket club.

That willingness to turn his hand to anything is borne out by the upgrades from sightscreens to live streaming that Alex has led as Treasurer.

The pocket dynamo for Thorpe Audlin Cricket Club also hand built their first-ever electronic scoreboard, as well as installing the new bar area.

🏆 WINNER

Andy Tipple (Scorer, Wakefield Thornes)

Andy Tipple’s journey in South Yorkshire cricket spans many years at Shiregreen, Sheffield United, Whitley Hall and now at Wakefield Thornes.

He has filled most roles, but is primarily an excellent scorer and fundraiser.

One nomination read: “What makes Andy’s achievements more remarkable is that he was diagnosed with MND a few years ago, and the cruel disease restricts his mobility and sometimes his speech.”

The nomination continues:

“Andy’s enthusiasm, work rate and personality endears him to everyone who knows him in the Club, the YCSPL and the wider game. Still scoring, he loves that skill the most, and he is as good as it gets.”

Andy’s popularity is obvious – while we’ve never met, I see his weekly reports about Wakefield Thornes 1st XI in the Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League and cup competitions. They are meticulous, well-written and always celebrate players, umpires and volunteers by name.

His fundraising efforts run to thousands of pounds for clubs over the years. He was inducted into the YCSPL Hall of Fame in 2024 as a measure of how highly regarded Andy Tipple is in cricket.

🏆 WINNER

Sophie McCoy (Umpire, Yorkshire CAG)

Sophie McCoy’s path to being a Yorkshire County Age Groups Umpire came from a curiosity of the rules as a young cricketer last season.

At the age of 13, she did the ECB Umpires training course as well as the Yorkshire ACO accreditation, before being appointed for Yorkshire Age Group matches (U11 & U13).

The nomination reads: “Sophie is an inspiration to other young girls. She is quick to take instruction but she makes her own mind up about the advice she is given. All in all, a highly competent young umpire who, I think, we shall see fly in later years.”

🏆 WINNER

Andy Fortis (Chair, Moorlands Cricket Club)

Andy Fortis is Chair of Moorlands Cricket Club in Mirfield’s Memorial Park. While that’s doubtless plenty enough to crack on with, he is also the Groundsman, Junior Cricket Manager and plays for the second team in the Huddersfield Premier Cricket League.

The nomination highlights that Andy is leading the project to extend and renovate their clubhouse while “he continues to produce top quality wickets for our mens, ladies, boys and girls teams – with matches taking place most evenings of the week during the summer.”

🏆 WINNER

David Wright (Coach, Colton)

David’s association with Colton Cricket Club goes back more than 25 years. Having played at Colton as a junior, he now devotes his time to coaching three age groups himself.

In addition, he supports other sessions and coaches:

“Our junior section has grown rapidly and we are incredibly proud of that growth, but having more children wanting to play cricket creates another challenge: you need volunteers prepared to give them their time.

People like David are the reason that growth is possible.”

🏆 WINNER

Peter Wilson (Groundskeeper, Olive Grove – Sheffield)

Olive Grove in the Southern reaches of Sheffield is a busy place for cricket. This particular site hosts five different cricket clubs. Peter Wilson (above, right) is the groundskeeper balancing that workload and keeping those pitches in shape across the season.

Another volunteer looking after a cricket ground, still serving his community into his eighties, we were struck by the dedication and the volume of games across the summer.

It reads: “Nicknamed ‘Old Pete’ – he is very humble and wishes no recognition. Pete is loved by the clubs who use the ground and wants nothing for all the help he gives.”

So… that’s it on the Winners and those also Highly Commended for the 2026 Yorkshire Tea Community Cricket Awards. Well done to everyone mentioned above – it’s been a pleasure to read and highlight a few of the many worthy recipients.

In due course, I will make contact with our five winners to arrange prizes and also timings for an interview on Cricket Yorkshire.

👋 Didn’t get shortlisted this time?

Not everyone knows they’ve even been nominated but we’ve had lots of entries from clubs and the stories of how they support their communities is so impressive.

The nature of awards is that we can’t choose everyone but suffice it to say that the breadth of roles and the difference made across recreational cricket is truly amazing each year.

Congratulations to all those who volunteer across recreational cricket in Yorkshire for your contributions – the reason the Cricket Yorkshire website began 15 years ago to tell your stories.

Thanks to Yorkshire Tea for continued support of our cricket journalism and their generosity across these community awards and the teas competition we collaborate on.

This is Partner Content for Yorkshire Tea – if the mood takes you, click to read Cricket Yorkshire’s policy on Partner Content.

John Fuller
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