Ingatestone & Fryerning CC will begin their quest to reach Lord’s in the Voneus Village Cup with a trip to South Weald on Sunday 28 April.
Bruce Grobler’s side will make the seven-mile trip to Sandpit Lane to take on their fellow Mid-Essex League side in round one.
Fourteen clubs have entered in the South Essex Group in 2024, including Mid-Essex League teams Stock, Little Baddow, Bentley and Herts and Essex Border League club Matching Green, who beat IFCC by eight wickets in the Village Cup in 2023.
IFCC first entered the Village Cup in 2021, when another Smith half-century and five wickets from Grobler secured a four-wicket win over Hatfield Heath in the Essex and Suffolk Group preliminary round. However, Two Counties Championship club East Bergholt proved too strong in round one, despite rapid fifties from Sam Blackman and Richard Eaton.
Launched in 1972 by the National Cricket Association and The Cricketer magazine, the Village Cup offers clubs from settlements of less than 10,000 inhabitants the opportunity to play new opponents at unfamiliar grounds and, for the finalists, the chance to play at the Home of Cricket.
IFCC previously met South Weald in the Essex and Suffolk Group preliminary round in 2022, but 50 from Glen Smith and three wickets from Grobler could not prevent Ingatestone & Fryerning suffering an 86-run defeat at Sandpit Lane.
Matches are played on Sundays and are 40-overs-per-side, with no bowler permitted to bowl more than eight overs.
Should IFCC defeat South Weald on 28 April, round two will be played on Sunday 12 May. The final will take place at Lord’s on Sunday 15 September.