The 2026 Home Counties Premier League, Division Two season preview.
Challow & Childrey – James Phillips leads his side into their new campaign after winning the Cherwell League last year having gone undefeated. Dylan Crees returns as the club’s overseas player for the fourth season running. The batter has scored 1,670 runs in the last three seasons, including four centuries and ten fifties at Vicarage Hill. Read more …
Chesham – Mark Eteen takes the captaincy role at The Meadow for the first time having been at the club for a number of years. Chesham have added Umayanga Suwaris and Tanay Avhad over the winter, while the experience of Matt Rance will again be vital with both willow and leather. Daksh Sabherwal is one to watch. The talented wicketkeeper-batter is already on the radar at Northants having played a number of Academy games for the club in pre-season. He is the only Bucks Pathway player to have scored over a thousand runs since Saif Zaib.
Datchet – Newly appointed captain Joseph Thomas is the player to lead a club which is in the process of rebuilding. New signing Tom Bevan impressed on his first competitive Home Counties outing. The former Glamorgan and Wales NC batter hitting 127 in the T20 fixture. Under the guidance of the experienced director of cricket Tom Lambert, the Challengers Head Coach, the club has updated their facilities with a bright future on the horizon.
Gerrards X – Teddy Fleming has been installed as the skipper at Dukes Lane. Having recently debuted for the Portugal national team, the talented all-rounder takes charge of Gerrards X having progressed through the youth system. Kiwi seamer Liam Sullivan arrives having replaced Patrick Smith, who has returned to his native New Zealand. Fleming did give an interview which you can read more here …
Horspath – Captain Amin Rafiq again takes charge of the ‘path and has the boost that West Indian Derval Green will be returning as the club’s overseas player. Rafiq and Green were part of a side that went ten games unbeaten which pushed them up to third in the table before eventually finished a creditable fifth. A fantastic effort for a club who were only just back in the league having been promoted from the Cherwell League at the end of 2024. All-rounder Sravan Konidena has enjoyed an excellent start to his Oxfordshire career this season and will be a key member of Rafiq’s squad.
Ickenham – The newly promoted Thames Valley League Champions will be led for the ninth season by Elliott Evans. The club have added South African left handed batter and left-arm spinner Lesiba Ngoepe over the winter. Ngoepe, a professional in South Africa, captaining the North West Dragons in the First-Class scene. He has 121 First Class, 120 List A and 112 T20s at professional level scoring hundreds in each format. He also has a century for South Africa A and represented South Africa U19s. Also joining are Yawar Taria and Jash Patidar. Tariq took 33 wickets at an average of just 10 for Reading last season, while Patidar arrives from Sidmouth in the Devon Premier League having moved to West London having known some of the squad from their annual Devon tour. Read more …
Oxford – Jack Wilkins takes charge of the Romans for the second season working under the vastly experienced director of cricket Rupert Evans. South African Issac Dikgale will re-join as overseas for a second stint, while Oxford have strengthened with four additions; Brad Taylor, Gaajuran Ganagabalan, Will Smith and Josh Towell. Seamer Taylor makes the short move south from Banbury to link up with former team mate Wilkins, while Ganagabalan, a batter from Reading comes in from the opposite direction. Two promising players also arrive as left arm seamer Smith comes in with Towell, the former Bicester & North Oxford skipper, previously with Thame Town.
Stoke Green – Karanpreet Singh is the 1st XI captain for the 2026 season with the club giving the Home Counties website an honest assessment on the last two years. Having won promotion from Division Two in 2024, last year was a hard learning curve for the club and they were relegated having learnt some harsh lessons. This year they are better prepared for another promotion push with the aim of establishing themselves as a top-flight outfit.
https://hcpcl.co.uk/stoke-greens-first-taste-of-division-one/
Thame Town – Hassam Mushtaq leads the side from Church Meadow again for the forthcoming campaign and has a new Head Coach joining him in running the team. Shahbaz Meer, an experienced wicket-keeper batsman, who played first class cricket in Pakistan before moving to the UK 15 years ago will take on the duties of Head Coach. Shabz has a wealth of coaching and playing experience in the UK and has played for numerous prestigious clubs. Recently he has topped charts with his batting in the Middlesex League, leading Ealing Trailfinders to two promotions. He is also fresh off an unbeaten 200 last season. Also joining the club is Evan Cowley, who attended the Bunbury Festival in 2026 and has played for Sussex as part of the Oxfordshire Pathway link, and Foa Fasanya, an exciting young left-armer from Middlesex.
Wargrave – Following relegation from Division One, Berkshire’s Rhys Lewis takes over at the helm from Toby Greatwood and will lead Wargrave in 2026. Lewis, who represents the Challengers, has the experience of wintering in Australia for Goodwood (Adelaide). Former Hampshire Academy wicketkeeper-batter Andrew Macewen joins and takes the gloves. He will add to Berkshire’s National Counties contingent, including Challengers’ Euan Woods, who along with Greatwood, will be key players. Lewis will be hoping the promising younger players within his squad will again evolve and take them back up at the first time of asking.
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