Rather like the ever popular Cornbury Music Festival which takes place just up the road, Bourton Vale Cricket Club will mix the old with the new when its festival of cricket gets under way on Sunday 2nd July.

While the three-day music fiesta, which takes place from Friday 7th July at Great Tew Park just over the county border in Oxfordshire, will see heavyweight names of yesteryear like the Pretenders and Jools Holland playing alongside up-and-coming performers such as the Pierce Brothers and Ward Thomas, Bourton’s festival of cricket will showcase six-a-side games and T20 with the more traditional forms of the game.

“We’ve got a real mixture of matches,” said Bourton chairman Kevin Langley. “We’re very proud of our festival. There aren’t many that are still going in the country. A lot of clubs have dropped their festival week but ours is still going strong.”

While the Cornbury Festival, sadly, is in its last year, the organisers of Bourton’s cricket week – which ends on Friday 7th July - are constantly looking at new ideas to make it sustainable in the future.

“We’re really pushing the six-a-side competition on the Sunday,” Langley said. “It’s a fun competition with eight teams. I think we’ve got two men’s teams and a women’s team from the club taking part.

“There’s music, a barbecue and the players are encouraged to play in fancy dress! It’s not compulsory but if they’re prepared to dress up then it only adds to the fun.”

Depending on how brave – or maybe reckless – some of the players are, you could find Captain Marvel becomes the big cheese if he persuades Mickey Mouse to nibble at something outside off-stump, or you could find a player dressed as Scooby Doo trying to get the tail to wag in the face of Wonder Woman’s bouncers!

Sunday’s fun and frivolity – which includes group games, semi-finals and a final – will make way for three days of traditional cricket on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with matches against Worcestershire Gents, Gloucestershire Gipsies and Warwickshire Imps respectively.

All three matches are scheduled to start around noon and, depending on the state of the game, there will be 20 overs to bowl from 6pm. In these days of league cricket and limited overs matches, it means a draw could once again be considered a good result!

“We’re trying to get a balance between the traditional and the modern quickfire game,” said Langley.

Thursday is a rest day – the club play an MCC XI every other year on this day – before the festival ends with two T20 games on the Friday.

The second match is against a team of tourists from Zimbabwe, while the first is a charity game in support of the Epilepsy Society.

That first T20 will have the support of everyone at the club and many people beyond because the two teams will be captained by Jack Galpin, 21, and 14-year-old Max Shepherd, the sons of Sarah Davies.

“They lost their mum in tragic circumstances in 2015,” said Langley. “Jack has just walked from his home in Cheltenham to St Ives in Cornwall to raise money for the society.”

Both are members of the club’s first team which play in the Gloucestershire Division of the West of England League with left-arm spinner Max making his debut earlier in the season.

“He took four wickets,” said Langley. “He’s going to be a special player. He spins it both ways and batsmen don’t know what to do with him. He’s going through the county age group set-up and we’re very proud of him.”

Festival Dates:

Sunday 2nd July: Six-a-side tournament

Monday 3rd July: Bourton Vale v Worcestershire Gents

Tuesday 4th July: Bourton Vale v Gloucestershire Gipsies

Wednesday 5th July: Bourton Vale v Warwickshire Imps

Friday 7th July: Two T20 matches