Good riddance rather than au revoir is probably the overriding sentiment at least as far as the senior Club’s League campaign is concerned. Suffice to say we will be playing in new divisions for both teams in 2025.
Even before the season started it looked as though the loss of key players from the 1’s was going to put a significant strain on resources and undermine the competitiveness of both teams. In truth we have been looking over the precipice in Division 1 for a few seasons and we now need to find our appropriate level and rebuild from there.
I must pay tribute to the two league captain’s Ben Brandt and Chris Pannell who had a thankless task with limited resources, against stronger opposition, throughout the season. There were some good performances and with a bit of luck a few more wins would have been achieved. Availability has been the greatest weakness this year and without settled sides it became an increasingly difficult task for the skippers to implement a game plan, other than to hope to win the toss and bat!
That said we have welcomed a large number of new players into the senior Club teams this year and we hope they will help form a stronger foundation of availability during the coming seasons.
A good news story with a final Sunday outing away at Falconhurst that produced an excellent game that ended in a draw, as a consequence of it being a timed game (a rare animal these days). The last over had the potential for all three results and we fell agonisingly short as century hero Ben Harrison ran out of energy! Ben’s 100 was a small recompense for considerable effort on behalf of the club in a variety of capacities throughout the season, which has been much appreciated by me and the Committee.
You may have seen elsewhere notification of the appointment of a new cohort of Vice Presidents of the Club. I join the Committee in conveying our congratulations to them and thanks for all of their service to the Club in a wide range of roles over many years. We are keen that our VP group maintain their connection with the club in whatever way possible even if their playing, coaching or administrative roles have ended. Our youthful President Paul Eames will take the lead in VP liaison matters.
Whilst the senior Club goes into a period of hibernation that is not the case for the junior Club who seem to be busier than ever according to the following missive from Francis;
“The Cricket season is over? I think not.
On Monday we started a 10 week Advanced Coaching programme for selected Under 14s and on Thursday a similar programme starts for Under 12s
On Saturday both Under 12 and Under 14 match squads start their Indoor Cricket League programme which runs into March next year
On Sunday 5 January we start Winter coaching, in Judd School sports hall, on a wider scale with four consecutive hourly coaching sessions for, in time order, Soft Ball, Under 11, Under 13 and Under 15.
We take a break over Easter and then …… it’s Summer 2025 coaching on Friday evenings and Saturdays mornings again”
That all sounds quite exhausting and many thanks to all of the coaches and helpers that will be giving their time to the winter programmes.
A final note by way of a reminder that the Annual Dinner is scheduled for Friday 15th November at the G&D. We are very keen that more partners join us this year and I have made a personal promise to Lizzie Pannell that the speeches will either be short or entertaining and preferably both. Dull droning about doubtful LBW decisions will not be permitted.
Regards
Mark Flemington, Chair
Speldhurst Cricket Club 