Teresa Burrows, president of Western Counties, has hailed the continued resurgence of the competition as she remains determined to help return it to its former glory.

After years of dwindling supporters, the trend finally appears to be shifting back in the right direction with fans returning in their droves for the first two weekends of competition at White Hill Field.

For Burrows it has been a particularly welcome sight and just reward for the efforts put in by administrators since she took over at the helm in 2020.

“It has definitely been pleasing to see so many people coming back out to support Western Counties,” said Burrows, who admits the worrying decline spurred her to get involved.

“For years the numbers had been dwindling to the point where there was no one. I used to be involved a long time ago when my uncle was president and back then there used to be a lot of people. It got to the point where I just could not bear to see it possibly disappear.

“I decided to get involved and see if we could help give people a reason to come back out and support.

“We have just been doing basic things like promoting the competition more and trying to encourage younger people to come out. It was about trying to do our own thing and allow people to come and enjoy the games again.

“Thankfully it has worked out, people have come back and the last couple of weeks have been amazing. We had slightly more than 300 for the first-round match and then last weekend we had more than 400.

“The most pleasing thing is that despite the heavy rain we’ve had, people have stayed and enjoyed themselves.

“People have been telling me that they’ve heard good things about the numbers coming out and people have a good time, which is pleasing to hear.

“It definitely gives me optimism that we can try and get back to how the competition was when I was younger and there was always big crowds.”

Not content with resting on her laurels, Burrows is confident that numbers will continue to grow ahead of the final between Willow Cuts and Somerset Bridge on August 12.

“I’m in no doubt the final will have an even better turnout because we’re actually in a situation where we’re having to figure out how to have more spots available,” added Burrows, who believes the return to White Hill Field has been pivotal to the resurgence.

“Being at White Hill Field is such a big positive because we can have people all the way along the bank. That is just so great to see and for us the amazing thing is that people have not only paid for their spots for one game, but got them for the entire competition.”

The return to prominence of the competition has also not been lost on those involved on the field, with Willow Cuts coach Dexter Basden hailing the growth of support.

“Western Counties is definitely making a big comeback,” said Basden, whose side beat Warwick by five wickets on Saturday to book their place in the final against Bridge.

“You can see that there are loads of people coming out to support again with their tents and that is really good to see. Hopefully, they will all be back for the final and we can put on a good game for them.”

Despite coming out on the losing side of a thrilling encounter, Warwick coach Lorenzo Tucker highlighted the significance of a thriving competition.

“Obviously, we were all disappointed to lose, but we put on an exciting game and it was great to see that Western Counties is coming back strong,” he said.

“The first round had a large crowd and it was the same for this match was is really pleasing to see.”