Having celebrated their most successful season to date, Oswestry Cricket Club’s Women & Girls’ (WaGs) section go confidently into the next three seasons with Shropshire Chamber Patrons, Welshpool Printing Group (WPG) as prime sponsors.


“This is our first foray into sports sponsorship and having seen the Oswestry WaGs develop into such a highly successful side over recent years, it was an easy decision to make,” said WPG’s Joint Managing Director, Paul Jones.


“Quite apart from the visibility aligning our brand with a multiple award-winning team brings us, we have long admired the side’s ethos and the way in which the Oswestry WaGs play their cricket. They are always competitive but have a strong sense of fair play and a proven passion for developing their talented youngsters by bringing them through the ranks into senior cricket early on.


One of the most successful women’s teams in Shropshire, Oswestry WaGs topped the 2024 Strategic Leisure Super 8s Hardball League Group C, going unbeaten, and won the Shropshire County Softball League, losing just one fixture along the way. The team were also awarded the 2024 Women’s Club of the Year by Cricket Shropshire at its prestigious annual awards dinner last month.


Commenting on the sponsorship deal, Oswestry WaGs captain & coach, Naomi Payne, herself a recent ECB National Coach of the Year award winner, said: “We were thrilled to have won both leagues so comprehensively this year and to mark that success by welcoming not only WPG, but another Chamber member, Approved Care & Support, as sponsors. Both organisations are genuinely enthusiastic about supporting the growth of women and girls’ cricket and have fully embraced their association with the Club by sponsoring our end of season awards.


“With WPG splashed across our shirt fronts, Oswestry Approved Care & Support having our backs, and with the Turner Group and The Jools Payne Partnership up our sleeves, you could say we are well and truly covered through to the 2027 season. Their financial support goes far beyond kit provision alone. It means we can fund meaningful development of our talented youths into County pathway cricket and hopefully beyond.”


Since it was established by Paul Jones’ father, Brian in 1960, WPG has grown into a multi-service operation through strategic business acquisitions and continual investment in cutting edge technology.


The Welshpool-based company’s portfolio of specialist products and services goes far beyond state-of-the-art litho and digital print solutions, delivering high speed production capabilities across multiple formats and substrates. It has an in-house direct mail service and design studio, offers large format exhibition and outdoor advertising displays, and a wide range of trophies, awards and engraving, promotional products, and personalised sports and workwear.


“There is no job too large or small that we can’t handle,” said Paul. “All we ever ask of our fellow Chamber members is the opportunity to quote. Whether for a brochure or newsletter, targeted mail shot, banners, pop-ups, or exhibition space design, we cover the entire panoply of business needs.”