Message from the Chair
We’re now a few months into the season and into the full swing of cricket, so thought we would provide you an update on various matters (apologies in advance - it’s a long read!!).
After the wet start to the year, the grounds team were fretting over the effect on early season pitches, and also the impact on the outfield (especially the bowlers run up area at the pavilion end). With a great turn out at the March work party, volunteers were put to work forking the area and despite further rain into April, we didn’t lose any games at home due to the ground conditions.
We again supported the Southborough Community May Day festival on the Common. Despite over an inch of rain across the day, there was still a decent turn-out of people from the local area and we were able to show off our newly re-decorated pavilion (with new toilets).
Across all the age groups, we have a busy calendar of matches and my thanks to all the junior coaches and parents for their support in making all this happen. Huge thanks also to those that have been volunteering in other capacities: Jamie Brown continues to put in huge amounts of his time to ensure the pitches not only look great, but also play well – and puts in the same effort and dedication regardless of whether it’s a pitch for a softball game, training or Saturday league match. We also have dedicated team that works in the café on Saturday mornings, helping support the lovely, social, community feel to softball training sessions: too many to mention everyone but thanks especially to Stefan Taylor, Beckie Crinnion, Lucy Green and Tim Beames
As your local community cricket club, we are reliant entirely on volunteers: from those serving on the committee, to the grounds team, the coaches and those running the café on Saturday mornings (as examples): every position is unpaid, but every volunteering act is vital in continuing to grow the club, offering lots of cricket and ensuring we are a well-run club able to navigate any challenges and maximise any opportunities.
We are always on the look-out for more volunteers. With lots of things we want and need to do, we really need some more of you to come forward be that to take ownership of the café and bar, and as we look ahead to next year, we will need more coaches at All Stars, Under 9s and Under 11s.
Next year is an important milestone in the Club’s history, where we will mark 225 years, on the basis that the club was formed in 1800. I think it’s really important that we put on a good show so will be creating a small sub-committee to develop the arrangements which should hopefully include a cricket week and a dinner. If you are interested in any of these volunteering opportunities, or if there are other skills you have which can really help the Club, please do drop me a line.
Senior Cricket (Men’s)
This year we have entered teams into two additional competitions, both midweek and of a short 100 ball format. The Smash includes existing town and village teams, and we were in a pool alongside Tonbridge, Cowdrey, King’s Hill and Bidborough, whilst Last Man Stands is a stand-alone format (with some weird and wonderful rules) which is made up of groups of friends/colleagues and is 8-a-side. For the Smash we fielded some of our more regular league players alongside a number of our juniors to help support their development and provide playing opportunities. Although we lost all four games, we competed well in the first two losing by 17 runs chasing 137 vs. Tonbridge and one run chasing 185 vs. King’s Hill.
Last Man Stands entry was to provide opportunities to parents of our juniors to return to playing cricket. An early season tournament in April allowed a number of our league players to get some early season practice in once our intra-club game was cancelled due to the weather. Since then, we have fielded teams mainly composed of parents with a couple of our league players to help support the matches. So far we have had 10 parents turn out across the four matches played and are hoping to draw some more in!!
Saturday leagues started well for both sides but with more recent blips, with the first XI winning both of their first two games before losing the next four, but beating the top placed team most recently in what is shaping up to be a tight division. Notable performance includes a maiden 100 for Jack Roberts in the win over Sissinghurst followed up with 91 Not Out in the recent win against Meopham. The second XI won their first four games, suffering a defeat against Underriver before hopefully getting back on track with another win last weekend. Notable performance comes from Raff Williams, taking his first 5-for against Sennocke.
Sunday friendlies are also in full swing with five fixtures having been played, all of which have been played in the right spirit, allowing everyone to be involved in a meaningful way. Unfortunately, we have had to concede two fixtures due to limited availability. Perhaps the extra midweek opportunities to play has impacted on availability of our senior players to support the Sunday friendly fixtures. However, it was great to see a father/daughter combination in one of the matches and with a number of our juniors now ready to take the next step in their development, we’re hoping to see more being given the opportunity.
Last Sunday also saw a collection of Berendts take to the field. I’m sure Adrian was rightly a proud dad to share the field with all four of his children, and his daughter-in-law to be. Huge congratulations and huge thanks to the Berendts for essentially being the Sunday XI last week!!
Women’s & Girls’ Cricket
Our women’s softball team started training again on Friday evenings at the beginning of May, welcoming a few new players to the squad. We are once again competing in the Kent Women's Softball League, which sees us play round robin festivals against Penshurst, Capel and Castle Hill. The standard of opposition has been higher this year, but the Strikers have seen some really good performances and have been unlucky not to have notched up a win yet. We have two more of these festivals, including our home leg on July 14.
We have also entered the Kent Women's Softball Bash this year which is a more traditional format (rather than our usual pairs cricket), meaning for the first time out means out! We had a fantastic first game in the competition, beating Sidcup by 6 wickets after bowling them all out for 59. Everyone really enjoyed the different format, and this will give us an opportunity to specialise more. We currently sit at the top of the table in the competition and have 3 more matches.
We also have Women and Girls’ day on Sunday July 21, which sees all of our womens’ and girls teams competing on the Common. It was a great day last year and we very much welcome supporters and anyone who wants to see if they would be keen to join us.
Junior Cricket
This year we have entered teams into the Invicta Junior Cricket League at Under 11, Under 13 (two teams) and Under 15 and also Under 12 and Under 15 Girls.
After five games, the Under 11s currently sit top having won four and lost one game in their division.
We entered an U12 girls’ team into the league: despite a huge increase in the squad, we felt it wasn’t right to continue in the league so unfortunately have withdrawn and instead are looking to play intra-squad matches and find other opportunities to support their development.
At the half-way mark of four matches, the Under 13 A’s lie second in their division, having won five and lost one (though have played one game fewer than the first placed team), whilst the Under 13 B’s have won two and lost three of the first half of their fixtures and lie second in their division.
The Under 14 Girls have been entered in the Under 15 Division B, have been competing well against teams with girls few years older and recently secured their first win against Holmesdale Under 14s with a great performance and followed it up with another win in the reverse fixture.
The Under 15s, a young team mainly comprised of Year 9s, have shown improvement week to week and have just won their first game in their fifth outing, and in their latest match vs Tunbridge Wells Under 15B’s they showed huge improvement.
Our All Stars programme this year saw 72 sign ups and along with the Under 9 boys and under 10 girls, Saturday mornings on the Common are visibly vibrant: full of young cricketers and our community of coaches, parents, young leaders and other volunteers. The Under 9s have also taken part in their first game against Cowdrey and there are more matches in the offing.
Due to the volume of teams we now run, diary clashes for junior matches are increasing so we are really grateful to Rusthall CC for allowing us to host some of our matches at their ground. There are many more matches to play and we wish all of our juniors the best of luck their run-ins to the conclusion of their leagues.
Dates for the Diary
Sunday 7 July – Sponsors’ Day
Returning this year, this event is where we put on a show of support for our Sponsors, organising a small cricket tournament with food and drink. In the past this has been hugely successful, with a great turnout from club members and the local community so we’re hoping for more of the same. A volunteer sign-up form will go out Spond closer to the event, so we can capture people’s volunteering.
150 Club
Recent draw winners:
December Mike Dunn (39)
January Kevin Moore (150)
February Mark Harrison (81)
March Jamie Brown (118)
April David Smith (129)
May Dave Fuller (60)
June Reuben Stapells (117)
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 we’re part-way through the season, we are arranging the next group order. The cut-off date for orders is 11 July – please go onto the Kent Cricket Direct website, or pop into the shop, which is in Southborough. The link to the website is https://www.kentcricketdirect.co.uk/teamwear/southborough-cc-shop/ and the password on the website is SCC2021. Once the order goes in, we should start receiving kit from mid-July.
Thanks, David