It would be fair to say that July won’t be recorded in the Club archives with much fondness. Possibly the worst availability crunch we have endured for many years led to the concession of a number of fixtures including one for the 1st XI which is extremely disappointing.
I must thank the captains and Ben Harrison for their considerable efforts in getting teams out and trying to make the games enjoyable experiences even when results are going against us. That said, they can only work with the availability presented to them and that is down to all the playing members. We cannot continue to concede fixtures without sanction from the League which ultimately could see the 2nd XI being withdrawn from their division. We are drinking in the Last Chance Saloon and the barperson has just put the dishwasher on!
On a brighter note, at the time of writing, we have just had a weekend with three fixtures, so we can do it, even during the peak holiday period. There are five league weekends remaining so please do your best to help ensure we can complete the season as intended.
Elsewhere it was a very positive month for the Club in a wider context. The fundraising was generously supported, and a separate significant donation has put the Club back on a much more secure financial footing and will give us the capability of supporting requests for new equipment particularly from the expanding Junior Club. On that note the second mobile net has been put to good use and has considerably helped the coaches with greater flexibility with their on square practices.
We are also starting to see the benefits of our new sponsorship arrangements with New Beacon, Blue India and most recently Computer Gurus. Where possible please support these businesses. There are plenty of clubs looking for sponsorship and it has to be a two-way street to ensure continuity of support.
The Junior Club continued to thrive during the month per the update from Francis below.
“July saw the end of our seventh All Stars programme. This year we had 60 very young cricketers sign up and attendances between 30 and 40 each Saturday (a similar ratio of signed up to attended as past years) until the holiday season started.
The League season for the Under 11, 13 and 15 teams also finished. The results continued to be mixed as we deliberately gave as many players as possible the chance to experience competitive matches while many other Clubs played their strongest team every week.
More Under 13s and Under 15s played Senior cricket for the second team or on Sundays. All the debutants enjoyed the experience, and many held their own against older and more experienced cricketers.
The Junior Cricket coaching season continues at all levels through August on a smaller scale culminating in the End-of-season Awards Day on Sunday 1 September. This involves numerous Players v Parents matches at 11, 13 and 15 age group. More details to follow.
Finally, I want to pay respect to, and offer personal and Club level thanks to, the Senior Coaches who lead the coaching sessions and make our Junior Cricket section such a friendly place to learn the love of Cricket.
The Senior Coaches involved are:
Anthony Greenway, Ed Bartlett, Jon Neal, Mark Langton, Mark Utting, Matt Bell,
Matt George, Rich Goman, Simon Williams, and Tom Churton.”
So, a curate’s egg of a month but with more positive than negative news. However, the bad bit is material to the future of the Club in its current form so to all senior club members, please help where you can over the next five weeks.
Regards
Mark
Speldhurst Cricket Club 