CricX are delighted to announce Port Fairy Cricket Club’s signing of James Vandepeer for the 2023/24 season.
Vandepeer is a talented right arm opening bowler that can swing it both ways at good pace, and is a hard hitting batsman who currently plays Minor County cricket for Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club.
James has played cricket his whole life and when he was aged 7 and joined the Suffolk county side he knew it was something he wanted to excel in. James has been in the county set up ever since, and made his Minor counties debut when he was 18 years old for Cambridgeshire 1st XI. On his Debut Game against Cumbria in the MCCA Championship (3 day format), his Figures across both innings were an astonishing 34 overs, 13 maidens, 71 Runs, 5 Wickets.
Following that he played against Lincolnshire CCC and scored a quick 42 off 45 balls in the 1st innings, then top scoring with 76 off 72 with 11 4s and 2 6s in the 2nd dig. Last year (2022) he was a part of the side that managed to get to the NCCA T20 Final against Oxfordshire taking 2 wickets and scoring a very quick 19 runs at the end of the innings. Although they unfortunately didn’t get across the line and win, it gave him great experience playing at such a high level in front of a big crowd.
Following James’s great form with both bat and ball he got the opportunity to play a number of games for Essex 2nd XI. Playing against teams like The Future stars XI where he hit a very quick 42, also taking 2 wickets in a ODI game. He then went on to play against Kent 2s in a 2 day match scoring 67 runs. After his success in these trial games he got the chance to do some net bowling with Essex 1st XI and Leicestershire CC giving him the opportunity to learn a lot from the professional players and coaches of the game.
Currently, at club level he plays for Sawston and Babraham Cricket Club in the East Anglian Premier League, which is the highest level in the region at club level. They are back to back winners of the competition in 2021 and 2022 which is a massive achievement of his. In the 2021 season he took a superb 36 wickets which played a huge part in securing the title with his best figures being 4-32 off 15 overs and an overall average of 19.50. After a tough 2022 he is back better than ever and raring to go for 2023. At the half way point this year he has picked up 21 wickets and taking his career best figures of 8-39-11.3.
We wish James and everyone at Port Fairy the best of luck for their upcoming campaign.
