Southborough Cricket Club News story


January 2024 Newsletter

19 Jan 2024

Message from the Chair

Having rounded out the season with a well organised and well attended Club Awards Dinner followed by (a less well attended) AGM, we closed out the previous season and started preparing for the coming one. 
Last season, both men’s leagues teams were competitive in their respective leagues with results overall positive. The turning out of a 3rd XI for the first time potentially since the 1929 season was fantastic and really encouraging and something we really want to build upon in coming seasons. The Sunday XI also fared well with a full fixture list from June. 
The women’s section celebrated their second season with entry into the Kent softball tournament which saw them play in various festivals against local teams as well as some additional fixtures. 
The juniors finished their season in September, with an awards day which included some intra-squad games, a bouncy castle and assault course, and to the relief of many, a water hose, as it turned out to be a very hot day. 
Overall, there was much to be proud of from the 2023 season and here’s to continued growth in the 2024 season – although it seems far off, there is much work underway, much of which is detailed below. 
At the AGM, the following were voted onto the Committee for the 2024 season:

President Mike Dunn 

Chair David Smith 

Secretary Ben Holt 

Treasurer Mark Harrison 

Social Secretary Reuben Stapells 

Fixture Secretary Hassan Hadi 

Sponsorship Secretary Richard Douglas 

Membership Secretary Alex Juon 

Women’s & Girls Co-ordinator Katie Cranley 

Junior Co-ordinator Stefan Taylor 

1st XI Captain Dave Jones 

2nd XI Captain Chris Williams 

Sunday XI Captain Hassan Hadi 

Club Safeguarding Officer Hamish Robertson 

Pavilion Manager Steve Smith 

Head Groundsman Jamie Brown 

KCVL League Representative Ben Holt 

150 Club Organiser Phil Davis 

Café Manager VACANT 

Volunteer co-ordinator VACANT 

 

Pavilion Improvements

We were successful in accessing the ECB Small Grants scheme and used the money to make improvements to the ladies’ toilet, update the electric consumer unit and improve the lighting in parts of the pavilion.
The main aim of the project was to enhance the ladies’ facilities – the existing set up was tired and desperately needed improving especially with the growth of the Club in the women’s & girls’ sections, but also to make it a welcoming environment for all including parents, wives or partners.
This is what we were contending with…
…and this is what we now have: two separate cubicles, each with sinks and hot water (and the hot water also feeds through to the gents!!).

I’m sure you’ll agree that the transformation is superb, and we’re indebted to all those involved in securing the funds, coming up with the plans to make best use of the available space and for arranging the work and seeing it through.
We’ve also taken the opportunity to update the consumer unit so that is more suited to our developing needs, such as the increase in kitchen equipment for our café and bar, so we can be sure it will be safe and function properly (and should allow us to run the bouncy castle/assault course off the mains!!). We’ve also added an extractor hood – the popularity of our bacon sandwiches was only matched by the cooking smells and grease produced on Saturday mornings!!
We hope these improvements will make the pavilion more inviting and welcoming to all involved in the Club.


Senior Cricket (Men’s)

Dave Jones has been re-appointed as 1st XI Captain and is already developing plans to build on a successful first season in the role.
Jamie Brown, having captained the 2nd XI for two seasons has decided to step down from the role. Chris Williams has taken on the role, and we wish him well for the coming season.
Hassan Hadi will continue to lead the Sunday XI. More coin tosses with Hass bedecked in Club Bazer and Maroon cap await unwitting opponents!!
This season we are looking to enter a mid-week team into one of the various mid-week tournaments – most likely this will be the Savills Smash. The aim is to provide more opportunities for existing players, including those younger players that have just graduated from our junior section, and also to bring in more players for whom weekend cricket is not possible for various commitments. Please do spread the word that there will be more cricket on offer!!
Indoor nets have now been arranged and will take place on Sunday evenings between 6.30-7.30 at Tonbridge School Sports Centre from 4 February to 24 March. Sessions will be £4 each or £24 if you block buy up front. If there is the demand during the Easter holidays, we can always look to extend.


Senior Cricket (Ladies)

As with last year, we are looking to enter Kent softball festivals, and also a longer form tournaments of 16-20 overs. We have also entered into several indoor festivals, so plenty of softball will be on offer. We are exploring hard ball opportunities for those ladies that are interested and wanting to give it a go. 
Indoor training takes place at Holmewood House School on Thursday evenings between 8.30-9.30, from 22 February to 25 April.  More info on this will be coming out on Spond and WhatsApp shortly.
And of course, we are always on the lookout for new recruits. No experience is necessary, and the team are very friendly and welcoming. 

 

Junior Cricket

Another year of cricket is upon us, and that means the continuation of the ever-growing junior section of Southborough Cricket Club. We will continue to fielding teams in the U11, U13 and U15 as well for the first time, girls age group squads at Under 14s and Under 12s (both hardball) and Under 10 (softball). Additionally, at Under 13s we are looking to field two teams with one team each at Under 11s and Under 15s. There will also be the Under 9 softball section.
If your child knows of any friends from school or outside clubs that are interested in taking up cricket, please contact the Junior Co-ordinator: stefan_taylor_5@hotmail.co.uk. 

At Under 13s we are looking to field two teams. At Under 11s and Under 15s we will field one team per age group. There will also be the Under 9 softball section with festivals and matches.

Training for all hardball cricket will take place on Tuesday evenings at Skinners’ School playing fields – it looks like we will be able to regularly use their nets this summer, which will really help us maximise the training sessions. We will confirm timings as well as when the programme starts and finishes but will most likely be for 1h30 between 6-8pm and will run from early May to mid-July (around the time schools break up for summer).
Training for softball will continue to take place up on the Common on Saturday mornings. Again it will be for 12 weeks (start/end date to be finalised) and will be 10.30-11.30 (with All Stars from 9-10).
We will be looking to complete our membership document and payment through Spond, which means that you will only need to use one app for all your cricketing needs - hooray!
All the information above will be sent out via our annual Junior Club Letter very soon. 
Even though it is too cold to play cricket outside, our indoor nets will be starting soon. Below is when each age group will be training: Under 11s Sunday 2-3pm TW Boys Grammar 18 Feb - 7 Apr £40 Under 12s (girls) Sunday 4-5pm TW Boys Grammar 18 Feb - 7 Apr £40 Under 13s Sunday 3-4pm TW Boys Grammar 18 Feb - 7 Apr £40 Under 14s (girls) Sunday 4-5pm TW Boys Grammar 18 Feb - 7 Apr £40 Under 15s tbc

Volunteers

To make sure we can support cricket at all the age groups we are wanting to run, we need some parents to come forward to volunteer their time as coaches. This is particularly at Under 9s this year – all of last year's coaches have moved up to Under 11s so currently we have no dedicated coaches for this age group and will have to reduce the number of places available, which would be a shame.
We fund the coaching courses so it’s your time and enthusiasm we require – ideally, we would have four to five coaches which means that you don’t have to commit to being available for each of the 12 weeks as we can spread the volunteering ask across the group. There’s a bit of stash involved with all coaches receiving a coach's top. If you are interested, please contact Stefan, the junior co-ordinator.


150 Club

Recent draw winners:
July Jamie Brown (101)

August Jane Dunn (91)

September Chris Holder (50)

October Kate Sharpe (123)

Dinner Draw Geoff Brown (27

November Ian Salter (2) 

We have 36 squares available to buy at the moment - each square costs £24 per year (or £2 per month) and there is a monthly draw where the winner takes away £100, with an extra draw at the dinner. Any proceeds from this scheme are re-invested in improvements for the Club’s membership.
If you are interested in playing a square, please contact the 150 Club organiser, Phil Davis (philcodavis@gmail.com). 

 

Club Shop

As with previous years, we will arrange a cut-off date with our Club Shop provider (Kent Cricket Direct in Southborough) by which any orders will need to be made for kit to be ready for the start of the season. A separate message will come out once we have set that up.