Skipton cricketers set sights on Dubai tournament

CRICKETERS from Skipton Cricket Club have set their sights on a slightly bigger away trip than Settle or the far side of Leeds – they’ve entered a side in the Dubai 7s in the UAE this November.

The tournament will see competitive teams from around the world compete at The Sevens Stadium – a world-class sports and entertainment venue just 30 minutes from Dubai International Airport. The event is expected to attract crowds of over 100,000 over the three days of the multi-sport tournament and music festival.

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The 2025 version featured the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Georgia Elwiss and Jacques Kallis; musical performances from Shaggy and Tiny Tempah and competition across five sports – rugby, padel, netball, fitness and cricket.

The Skipton team will be led by Skipton 1st XI player, Finlay Walker and the aim is take a squad of 15 players to represent the Sandylands club.

“I heard all about the tournament from our former club secretary, Damian Smith, who has umpired at the event and when I read a bit more about it, I was desperate to get involved,” said Finlay.

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“To compete for Skipton on an international stage would be the greatest ever experience and something nobody involved would ever forget.”

To turn the dream into reality, Finlay and his younger brother, Izak have been busy raising funds through sponsorship and a crowdfunder push. To date they’ve received shirt sponsorship pledges from L.R Bits, Next Wicket Cricket Coaching and Cobbydog Dog Food, while the fundraiser is helping towards the £1,200 entry fee for the competition.

“Our plan is to fund travel and accommodation ourselves, but for sponsors to help cover the costs of kit, competition entry and added expenses. Of course, if somebody decided to dig deep and fund the full trip for a player or two, or even the whole team we’d bite their hands off – and definitely add them to the squad for the experience."

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Skipton Cricket Club, whose mains sponsors are Mastabs, Skipton Self Drive, Peter Watson Garage, Walkers Bakers and Source Marketing, fields five senior sides, including two women’s teams and a friendly XI, plus nine junior teams, ranging from U9 softball teams up to U18s. In addition, it also runs ECB All Star and Dynamo programmes during the season, meaning it offers cricket to everyone from 5-years old upwards. The teams compete in the Airedale & Wharfedale Senior Cricket League, West Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket League and Upper Airedale Junior Cricket League.

To help get the team to Dubai, the fundraising page is at: crowdfunder.co.uk/p/skipton-cricket-tour-2026

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