2009 Club Captain’s Report
In my role as club captain I am asked to do a report of the season just gone, my views on it and my hopes for the season to come.
The first thing I will talk about is the performance of the ‘non league teams’ - the indoor team and mid-week cup teams.
The indoor team went into the season as defending champions but unfortunately finished 4th this season. We were a young side (apart from our recruit from the vets – Kevin Beacon) and didn’t quite play as well as the season before, possibly due to a lot more unavailability and also because of the nature of the league. What I mean by that is that I feel the league is in danger of not being taken seriously or at risk of folding altogether. It is not really run properly, with fixtures announced and then its down to the clubs to sort things out between them. No umpires are provided and people are asked to umpire who, through no fault of their own, can’t do it and the games often become farcical. If the indoor league is to survive, then I really feel some money needs to be spent on it in terms of umpires, scorers, etc by Swale District Cricket.
Our two midweek cup teams – the 20/20 team and Doug Wood Cup team - also had disappointing seasons. In the 20/20 Cup we went out in the first round but to a very strong Addington team who were to go on to be unbeaten in the league. As for the Doug Wood team, we won our first games comfortably and played on a memorable wicket at Eastchurch. However, with the new format of semi-finals and finals on the same day, we played badly against Bapchild and lost in the first semi. One thing I should mention though is the show we put on that day. It was down to the hard work of several people and proved what we already knew – locally, no Club can put on an event like we can! We’ve set a very high standard for Bapchild to follow next year - it’s a shame we can’t host it every year!
Last season, on Sundays, we re-entered the Kent Village League and started as is compulsory in Division 7. It took us to some weird and wonderful grounds and overall I think it was a very positive move from playing just friendly cricket. As promised, my attitude towards it was the same, everyone got a chance and everyone got a game. This may have meant that we missed out on the odd bonus point to help towards our promotion but I feel this is the right philosophy for Sundays. For example, I continue to open the batting and managed to score the most runs in the league but this contributed to my best season by far with the bat on a Saturday.
We eventually finished 4th and had we not been beaten in one game by 1 run and got thoroughly thrashed in another we could have quite easily gone up. We also had one game more called off than the promoted teams. One of the best things about Sundays this year was that, in the main, I managed to get 11 players out quite easily. Hopefully this year will be the same and using the same philosophies we will gain promotion.
Next, the Saturday 2nd XI. This was without doubt our biggest success story. I said in last year’s report that I was delighted that Kevin Beacon had agreed to take over as 2nd XI captain and having a regular captain with his experience and ability would improve the teams fortunes. I expected the team to finish around mid-table and avoid the dramas of previous years in needing a result on the last day to stay up. After winning their first few games I thought my prediction was going to be right but they just kept winning and after a little wobble, secured promotion on the last day of the season. Massive credit has to go to Kev for what he achieved with a predominantly young team and for his own achievements in winning the Divisional batting award with 680 runs. A lot of credit also has to go to the likes of Liam Ansley, Matt Baker, Steve and Dan Pumfrett for what they achieved with the bat and Matt Jewiss, Chris Ansley and Mark Jewiss with the ball. All are under 19 years of age - except for Mark and Steve who are a year or two older!
Finally on the subject of the 2’s, I must give massive congratulations to Matt Godden for his 185 not out against Bromley Town but also apologise to him for the very poor decision by the skipper to declare and not allow him to get a double century!
The 1st XI is a strange one. We scored more points again than the previous season, we had more batting first wins than ever before, Sandeep got over 500 runs and 50 wickets, myself and Rob Horne got maiden 50’s, Liam Foster got two 100’s but I can’t help feeling we had a disappointing season! The problem we have faced in the past few years is that teams that come up tend to have a bit of money and are starting to work there way through the leagues. For example, Addington won the Feeder Lague three years ago, won Dvision 5 two years ago and then went the whole of last season unbeaten in our division! They had an overseas player and a very good captain amongst others and after speaking to their captain at the Kent League Dinner, I understand they are looking at bringing in the Namibian U19 wicket keeper this season! The other team to get promoted also had an “overseas” who finished top of the batting and bowling averages so you can see what we were up against. However, we lost by only 1 wicket and 2 runs in our games against Old Elthamians so things could have been very different.
My main problem with the 1’s is the attitude within it. I fully accept that people will miss games due to holidays, illness and injury and I fully accept that my own commitment is a bit “obsessive compulsive”! But the 1st team has had a core of only 8 or 9 regular players for the past few seasons and that immediately puts you at a disadvantage. When 3 or 4 of them are missing 5 or more games each a season you are really up against it! The club is desperate to do well, it has invested heavily in paying for coaching qualifications to maintain the youth cricket here, it is undergoing the long and laborious task of obtaining Club Mark and is facing its biggest challenge in terms of finance to survive. We have the best ground in our league and we have the best facilities but it feels as if not enough first team players are matching the ambition of the club.
Perhaps I am expecting too much and rather than feeling that we could get promoted every season I should just settle for mid-table with a few wins and a few defeats along the way. All I do know is that, when we are in the top 3 of the league and have a big game on a Saturday, to find out 3 or 4 of our players are going to be missing is gutting and the reasons behind it even more so.
My last moan about this situation is nets – every year, by August nets have more or less completely fizzled out. Again, talking to the likes of Addington, the entire first team are there more or less every week and they don’t just turn up and see how far they can hit the balls out of the net. Every winter the club pays for us to use the nets at Canterbury – the best nets in the county. I would have thought people would jump at the chance to use these facilities for free. However, this year we had 6 people there the first week and I had a new player I was trying to attract to the club – how embarrassed was I! The second week we had 10, better but not good. Both weeks we only used 1 net when the club had paid for 2. What a waste of money when the club is up against it already financially. Perhaps next year we shouldn’t bother?
Looking ahead to this season, I’m hoping that the 2nd XI has a good season in their new division and the first team can finally get promoted. Nets have started, there are some new faces which will hopefully put some pressure on people who take their place for granted. I feel that if everyone works hard, is committed (its only a short season compared to football after all) and plays well then this year could be a very successful one all round for us and we can finally start matching the ambition of the committee who work so very hard for us.
I would just like to finish by thanking all of the people who make the season happen but can be taken for granted – umpires, scorers, tea ladies, I am very grateful to all of you. And a special thank you to Mrs Nokes for continuing to be a sports widow!
Good luck to everyone in 2010!