CANNOCK CRICKET CLUB



CANNOCK CRICKET CLUB

SECRETARY'S REPORT: 2017

2017 – No champions this season, but five out of six teams ended up in the top four of their respective leagues. The 1st X1 came 2nd in the Staffs Clubs Cricket Championship premier division, The 2nd X1 finished 8th in division 1, and reached the final of the league knock-out. The 3rd X1 ended up in 3rd place in division 4, and the 4th X1 came 2nd in division 6. The Sunday B came 3rd in the Lichfield & District division 1, with the Sunday C team ending up in 4th position in the Lichfield & District division 5.

The details are as follows:-

| |W |WD |LD |PTS |Position |

|Staffs Clubs Premier Division |15 | |3 |367 |2nd |

|1st X1 | | | | | |

|Staffs Clubs Division 1 |7 | |2 |205 |8th |

|2nd X1 | | | | | |

|Staffs Clubs Division 4 |10 |4 | |309 |3rd |

|3rd X1 | | | | | |

|Lichfield League Division 1 |9 | | |99 |3rd |

|Sunday ‘B’ team | | | | | |

|Staffs Clubs Division 6 |10 |1 |1 |266 |2nd |

|4th X1 | | | | | |

|Lichfield League Division 5 |6 | | |72 |4th |

|Sunday ‘C’ team | | | | | |

Will Fleet remained as 1st X1 Captain, but after four seasons in the position, has stated that he will stand down at the AGM in November. We should be very grateful to Will. He has encouraged our talented juniors and many of them have flourished when given an opportunity to play first team cricket. The atmosphere amongst the team members is great to see, and Will is leaving the team in a much better place than it was four years ago.

Matt Cottrell remained, and he and Adam Benton assisted Will as vice-captains. Matt will always be, in my mind, a Cannock lad (even though he’s from Rugeley !) and the club is a better one for having him here.

With Alex Beaman’s availability limited, and Ed Fleet travelling around Asia for the majority of the season, we were again short of a genuine fast-bowler. Ryan Elliott became available, having previously played for Eastwood Town CC in Nottinghamshire. Starting off in the 4th X1, he rapidly moved into the 2’s, and cemented a 1st team place in the middle of July. Even though Ryan could only play every other week, his 11 wickets and undoubted pace proved a bonus to us.

Elliot Horton also had limited availability due to work, but still ended up with 13 wickets from just 67 overs, and a best of 5 for 23 against Springvale. It was, however, a great season for Eddie Martin. Ed is so reliable, never moans, bowls when asked to, and had one of his best seasons ever, grabbing 32 wickets at an average of 20.97 each.

Once again this season, the introduction of our spinners changed games. ‘Veteran’ Matt Robinson, Connor Shingler, Dan Wood and Matt Cottrell grabbed 96 wickets between them, with Robbo’s 44 at an excellent average of just 13.25 each, and including a team best 7 for 40 against Aldridge, making him 3rd in the league bowling awards.

During the winter of 2016, it was decided that we simply could not afford to pay money for an overseas player in 2017. Without one, it was felt by some people (including me, I have to say) that we would really struggle. Although it was agreed that relegation was never going to happen, a lowly table finish was anticipated.

I’m happy to say that we were proved wrong ! With just three losses and three losing draws all season, the team grew in confidence and their runners-up position in the table was the highest since 2014.

In a last minute turn of events, Jamie Fleet was offered an overseas cricketer from Hamilton, New Zealand, Nick Trebilcock. Nick had tried to sign for several clubs in the north, but all had fallen through for one reason or another. Jamie realised that the main club had opportunities for cleaners and bar staff, as well as helping out with opening and closing the premises. As Nick was travelling with his partner, Kelly Smith, and was on a youth mobility visa, under which they were allowed to work, it seemed logical for them to work at Chase Park, and for Nick to play.

I think it’s fair to say that Nick’s first few games did not inspire much confidence in his ability, but he certainly improved, and ended the season in third position with 556 runs at an average of 30.89. More than that though, the couple were hugely popular and a real ‘plus’ for us. We all sincerely hope they will come back to see us very soon.

It was fantastic to see one of our own, Adam Benton, flourish this season. From being a physical and nervous wreck whilst waiting to bat just two years ago, Adam overcame all his concerns and was by far the best batsman in the team. His batting was quite simply a joy to watch. Ending up in second place in the league batting, he just fell short of the 1000 league runs he so wanted, ending on 940 at an average of 52.22, nearly three times his tally from 2016, with seven half centuries and two centuries. Long may his sparkling form continue.

Matt Cottrell proved his value with the bat as he ended up in second place with 602 runs at 30.1

A quarter-final loss to Wednesbury in the league knock-out, and the decision not to enter the Chauntry Cup or Staffs Cup meant the coloured kit was disappointingly not used this year.

John Cooke continued into his second year as 2nd X1 captain. Due to reorganization of the leagues, the old division 1 A was removed, and replaced with division 1, meaning we were playing against many clubs 1st teams. The difference in standard was obvious from the start, as we struggled against many and ended up in 8th position.

We simply didn’t score enough runs, only reaching 200 three times during the season. Things started well with an opening day victory against Beacon. Coming close to beating the eventual league winners, Coseley in the first game, and getting a draw in the second were highlights, as well as bowling Penn out for just 42 after only posting 92.

We also reached the final of the league knock-out. Victories against Penn and an interesting one against Whitmore Reans off the last ball took us through to finals day at Chase Park. Sadly it was not a good day at the office as we literally failed to turn up and were bowled out for just 80, leaving Pelsall to reach the target for the loss of just one wicket.

With the bat, it was good to see Michael Chadderton win the batting award for the first time after many years at the club with 370 runs at an average of 28.46 including three half-centuries. Ryan Peach came second in the run tally with 323 at 17.94 and it was Jamie Hill with the highest average of 33.89 for his 305 runs.

John Cooke was far and away the best bowler with 43 league wickets at just 11.6 each, and including a superb 8 for 44 against Aldridge and an unbelievable 6 wickets for 2 runs in the win against Penn, meaning John came 4th in the league figures.

Joe Tennant bowled well at times, but needs consistency. He ended up with 19 at 24.37, showing just how much John Cooke’s contribution to the season was. Nick Bell, ever reliable, came in third with 17 at 17.41 each.

Anthony Wood remained as 3rd X1 Captain, and the team seem to have found their level in division 4 of the Staffordshire Club Cricket Championship. Anthony insists that he will be stepping down as Captain at the AGM in November. If this is the case, we should always remain grateful to Ant for the many years he has given to the 3rd and 4th X1.

The team ended the season in 3rd position, but some 88 points behind 2nd place Wombourne and

99 behind champions Fordhouses. The campaign started well with a win against Pelsall, but a loss against Ant’s favourite team, Whitmore Reans saw a gap of five weeks before another victory. The corner seemed to have ‘turned’ as a run of eight victories and two draws in eleven games, including wins over Wombourne and Whitmore Reans, saw the season end on a high.

It was Martin Davies who topped the run chart with 467 at a very healthy average of 46.7, including four fifties and a top score of 87 against Rushall. 15 year-old Cameron Osborne came in second place, 320 at 26.67, and shows great potential for the future. Dave Perkins played twice, scoring the club’s highest individual score of the season, 151……if only he would play more often !!

Ant Wood again topped the wickets tally with 39 at a miserly 11.95, but was ably assisted by Matt Bull (35 at 12.24) and Tom Hinks (30 at 17.3) It was Tom who also obtained the team’s best figures with his 6 for 31 against local rivals C & R Hawks.

A run in the cup was halted by Lichfield in the quarter-final after a satisfying first round win over Milford Hall.

A change at the helm of the 4th X1 saw Mark Boden hand over the captaincy to Aaron Saunders, together with the many problems that go with it. Once again there were massive selection issues due to losing players to other teams, and many hours spent trying to get eleven on the pitch.

Again, the league structure didn’t help things. Teams were asked at the start of the school holidays if they wished to continue with a further set of fixtures to take them through until mid-September. Certain teams confirmed they would (including us) and then found themselves having to concede games with the poorest availability ever !

In the end, they finished very respectfully as runners-up, 74 points behind the champions Whittington. It could be that, due to the required structure of the leagues due to teams relegated from the Birmingham League, they may still gain the promotion they desire so badly. It was particularly annoying that we were made to play Armitage twice in those second set of fixtures, but didn’t play Whittington. Skittling Rugeley out for 29, Armitage for 28 and Wightwick & Finchfield for 27 were highlights, but shows the vast difference in ability across the league.

Enjoying his 50th season At Cannock, it was nice that Jamie Fleet topped the run getters with 204 at an average of 34. One of the most satisfying wins saw Jamie’s highest score of the season (76 not out) and Dan Simpson (22 not out) reach the 200 target set by Springhill having been ‘dead in the water’ 8 wickets down and with only 10 men.

Mark Boden had one of his quieter seasons, but came second with 187 at 26.71, including his maiden century for the club, 102 against Wightwick & Finchfield. Unbelievably, it was Mr. Saunders who ended up in third place. His tally of 168 at an average of 24 included something I never thought would happen, his maiden century ! Coming in at number seven in a fixture against Armitage, Aaron ended up with 102 not out of a total of 172, with the second highest score being just 27.

One thing you have to say about Aaron is that he wants to improve as a cricketer, and without a doubt he has improved as a strike bowler. He ended the season with 34 wickets at just 5.32 runs each, and a club best of 8 for 40 against Penkridge, winning him the division 6 bowling award. Aaron Wilkes came in second place with 26 at just 7.69 each, and Jamie Fleet was third.

For their second season in the top flight of the Lichfield & District Cricket League, Matt Bull returned as captain of the Sunday ‘B’s. Ending the season in third place, one of the highlights was certainly beating eventual champions Nether Whitacre at theirs, bowling them out just 8 runs short of our target in the last over.

It was Connor Shingler who just topped the batting stats with 312 runs at 39 and including three fifties. He was closely followed by Dan Wood (281 at 35.13) and Adam Benton (245 at 61.25, and including the teams only century, 108 not out) John Cooke and Nick Trebilcock scored over 200 runs each, and there were 13 half-centuries in the 13 matches played.

Bowling honours went once again to Dan Wood with 23 wickets, six up on last year, at 15.39 each. Connor Shingler was placed second with 19 at 11.32 each and a team best tally of 7 for 20 against Lullington Park. John Cooke came in third place also with 19 but at the higher average of 17.74 each.

We again entered a ‘dads & lads’ team in division 5 of the Lichfield & District Cricket League, and again, at times, it was hard for them. The standard and attitude of the opposition varied greatly, with some having a full team of adults looking to win their games in an aggressive manor, and even resorting to playing their first team players (Nether Whitacre for example) who went on to smash 229 and felt as if he had achieved something by doing so. Even after that, credit must go to the lads who picked themselves up, and went on to finish a very respectable 4th in the league, winning six games.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the majority of our current 15 and 16 year-olds are not keen on making the transition into senior cricket. This is having a knock-on effect for the Saturday 4th X1 and the Sunday C’s, and is an issue that we as a club need to overcome.

Those who are making the move are gaining in maturity and their performances on the field are also improving. Due to teams dropping out, the L & DCL will have to restructure, and this team may have to move up a division, making things even harder next season.

It was great to see James Boden gain his maiden century with an excellent 100 not out against Yoxall, and this year has seen him maintain a regular place in the Saturday 2nd X1. James topped the batting stats with 213 runs in just six innings, with an average of 42.6. Ben Lockley also scored over 200 league runs, with 208 at 23.11.

Using seniors to strengthen to team proved a ‘must’, and it was two of them, Aaron Saunders and Matt Osborne who gained the top two bowling positions. Aaron ended with 10 at an average on 10.1 each and a best of 5 for 24 against Bronze. Matt recorded similar stats, just 2 behind, ending on 8 wickets at 14.88 each, including a ‘fifer’ at Dunstall.

Unfortunately, our over 45’s failed to get a side out for the first set of ‘round-robin’ fixtures in the Marstons sponsored competition. The dates of the next two rounds fell awkwardly for us, and the finals day that we were due to host late in September was taken away from us.

Off the field of play, we were very grateful to Kassie Fleet, who made all the arrangements for our annual presentation evening. This year, the options were curry, chili or hot pork and stuffing rolls and once again the very popular home baked cakes / pudding table was present.

70 members attended, 15 up on last year, and the decision to hold the event in the function room and not move it to another venue was fully justified as the room scrubbed up nicely once more. For the first time ever, our overseas was able to attend, and Nick Trebilcock and partner Kelly Smith were guests of honour. They were presented with £200 from members of the cricket club, men’s hockey club, and Chase Park executive as a ‘thank-you’ for all their efforts over the summer.

The following trophies were awarded:

Clubman of the Year: Anthony Wood

Young Cricketer of the Year: Jamie Hill

1st team batting: Adam Benton

1st team bowling: Matt Robinson

1st team player of the year: Ed Martin

2nd team batting: Michael Chadderton

2nd team bowling: John Cooke

3rd team batting: Martin Davies

3rd team bowling: Matthew Bull

4th team batting: Jamie Fleet

4th team bowling: Aaron Saunders

Sunday B batting: Connor Shingler

Sunday B bowling: Daniel Wood

Sunday C batting: James Boden

Sunday C bowling: Aaron Saunders

The Peter Pritchard trophy: Mark Boden

Centurion ties: Aaron Saunders, James Boden, Mark Boden, Nick Trebilcock and, at the junior presentation evening, Cameron Osborne.

Two glass-etched awards were presented to Peter Pritchard and Jamie Fleet to celebrate 50 seasons at Cannock Cricket Club. They are both ‘legends’, as are their wives, Wendy and Marian, both of whom were presented with a medal for putting up with them !

At the junior presentation evening, the annual Chairman of Youth’s award was presented to Cameron Osborne.

For the second year running, voting for the ‘Clubman of the year’ was done via an on-line survey with a link for members to enable them to easily cast their vote. This system seems to work well with 75% of members using it. Anthony Wood won the award for the first time since he joined the club, a very worthy recipient.

John Rushbrooke became Chairman of Youth at the AGM in November 2016. We are very grateful to John for his energy and commitment given to the club at both junior and senior levels, having played 4th team cricket and attended senior meetings as well as being a member of the fundraising committee on top of everything connected with the junior section.

This season just 56 juniors registered, 14 down on the previous year, and showing the trend of decreasing numbers nationally. They were coached by our team of volunteers who once again deserve our thanks for their time, which starts late in January and runs through until the end of August.

The junior committee realise that the number of our coaches attending training has reduced in the past two years, and they are looking into options for next year. It is a ‘must’ that a rota needs to be drawn up for senior members to attend to help out on Monday evenings. The alternative is the employment of a ‘club coach’, and option that we simply cannot afford.

The highlight of the season was undoubtedly the introduction on the new ECB initiative ‘All Stars’ for 5 to 8 year olds.

When first discussed, my initial concerns were that it was an age-group that we didn’t currently run, and therefore didn’t have an available coach. The ECB anticipated this, and stressed that the group should not be run by a coach, but ideally by a parent. Stuart Holmes came forward and asked to become our ‘activator’ duly attending the course.

We had over 30 register ! For their £40 fee (of which the club got £5) the kids got a t-shirt with their name on it, a bat, a ball, a cap, a drinks bottle and a rucksack, on top of the eight one hour training sessions. Watching Stuart run the sessions was a joy. Parents were encouraged to help out and the kids really enjoyed themselves. The ECB have a major sponsor waiting in the wings for 2018, and the scheme will only get bigger and better.

We were again asked to host the local schools kwik cricket tournaments. Whilst the girl’s tournament took place at Rugeley CC this year, as did the year 3 / 4 competition, the year 5 / 6 ‘open’ one at Chase Park fell foul to the weather on the original date, leaving only four schools available for the rearranged date. Chase Grammar School were by far the best team, and went on to the county tournament, which we also hosted. Sadly, that tournament was rearranged due to the weather once again, and they were unable to represent the area on the new date. It is sad to see so few schools competing. It was not so many years ago that there were up to 16 schools at this event.

Our Academy continued in 2017, with Lloyd Tennant as head coach. This year, we again completed five sessions for each of the two groups over the winter months at Cannock Chase High School. The decision was made in the winter of 2016 to invite all of the under 15 age group to attend, in the hope that this would encourage the juniors to make to transition into weekend cricket.

Sadly, that didn’t seem to happen, and there are plans to trim the numbers in 2018 to make the groups smaller and more beneficial to its attendees.

A brief summary of our junior teams is as follows:

Under 9’s

We are very grateful to Matt Osborne who volunteered to coach the under 9’s outdoors this year, with help David Robinson and myself when required.

I agreed to manage the team. This year, the number of round-robin fixtures organised by the Staffs Youth Cricket League was reduced back to four, and the groups were once again fixed, meaning we played Penkridge B, Aldridge & Rugeley each time. Despite not having 6 of my regular 8 available for the fixtures at Penkridge (and having to get willing volunteers via Marian Fleet at St. Lukes School !), we won 10 out of 12 games, topped the group and qualified for finals day, held once again at Chase Park.

On the day we lost to Wolverhampton and Wightwick & Finchfield, but gained a tie against the eventual winners, Penkridge A, the only points they dropped all day. This gave us 4th place, and a medal for all of the kids.

To give others match practice, I arranged additional fixtures, and we played two further games against Penkridge and others against Church Eaton and Brewood.

Under 10’s

It is always pleasing when a parent agrees to run a junior team, and that is what Gareth Curtis did. Ably assisted by Michelle Painter, their organisation was superb with a team WhatsApp group set up and scoring done via the ECB scoring app, then instantly uploaded to Playcricket.

The group was coached by Ant Wood, Gareth and with assistance from Ryan Peach. It was great to see the massive improvement in performances as the team developed over the weeks…..so much so that the matches finished too early and just as they were looking like a team.

They played 8-a-side ‘pairs’ cricket in division 2 of the West Midland Youth Cricket Association, playing with an ‘incrediball’ but wearing full kit (unless some of the opponents decided to change to rules to suit !) and ended the season as runners-up, with 6 wins from 10 games.

The annual awards were given to:

Batting: Rhys Curtis

Bowling: Finnley Gleeson

Manager’s player of the year: Luan Painter

Under 11’s

Sharon Cope moved up from the under 10’s to run the under 11’s this year, but despite help with umpiring from Russ Youll, and her trusty husband, Mark, volunteers to help were lacking. Also lacking seemed to be the enthusiasm from juniors to play cricket, as Sharon found it a very ‘difficult’ season trying to get a full side out. Things didn’t start well on a cold, wet evening in April at Chase Park in a County cup game against Wolverhampton, where the rules state its ‘proper’ cricket, leaving half the side not having a bat or a bowl, and we were heavily beaten. In the end they played a good number of fixtures, 9, winning 5 of them and ending up in fourth place in the Staffs Youth Cricket League, on top of making the semi-final of the league cup.

The annual awards were given to:

Batting: Jake Cope

Bowling: Jamie Youll

Most improved player: Neve Osborne

Under 12’s

John Rushbrooke managed the team, and we are very grateful to him for the time he commits to the club. Sadly, like ourselves, it has become apparent that other clubs in the Staffs Youth Cricket League do not have the players available in order to enter a team at this age group, and this meant they did not have a under 12 league this year. We again joined the West Midland Youth Cricket Association at this age group.

It was hard for John to get a full team on the pitch, and he regularly had to turn to younger juniors to make the side up. They won just 2 from 10 games, with 2 abandoned. They also made the semi-final of the cup.

John is considering moving leagues next season.

One highlight was the progress of Jamie Youll, who, in one game against West Bromwich Dartmouth, batted the entire 20 overs for 47 not out, then took 4 for 14 with the ball.

The annual awards were given to:

Batting: Jamie Youll

Bowling: Jamie Youll

Fielding: Luke Rushbrooke

Under 13’s

Stuart Goddard moved up from the under 12’s and together with his right-hand (admin & scorer) man, John Rushbrooke, they ran the under 13’s this year.

They also chose to enter the WMYCA due to declining numbers of teams in the SYC, and ended up in 8th position in a 12-team league, winning 3 games.

Max Goddard continues to improve as a cricketer, scoring more than double the number of runs with the bat than his nearest challenger, 123, including his maiden half-century, 50 not out in a game against Smethwick.

The annual awards were given to:

Batting: Max Goddard

Bowling: Finley Deeley-Brewer

Fielding: Luke Rushbrooke

Under 15’s

The under 15’s continues to be a difficult group to run due to the decreasing numbers of juniors at this age. We are thankful to Matt Osborne who agreed to run the team this year, with help from John Tooth & Gaz Lockley.

Again it was decided to join the WMYCA, as there were 13 teams in their league, as opposed to just 4 in the SYCL. Playing this number of games is always beneficial, and the team showed signs of improvement towards the end of the season, winning their last four games, and ending up in 7th place with 5 wins.

Cameron Osborne dominated with the bat, scoring more than double the number of run than his nearest rival, 190. The teams highest score, however, went to Josh Lewis, 47 not out against the eventual league winners, Walmley.

Training was run by John Cooke, Elliot Horton and Nick Trebilcock.

The annual awards were given to:

Batting: Ben Lockley

Bowling: Harry Tooth

Managers player: Josh Lewis

Under 19’s

We entered the NatWest Blast T20 competition for the third year running, even though we are very short of ‘true-age’ players.

Just one win against Penkridge, in a group containing Milford and C & R Hawks as well, meant that we did not qualify for the finals day, held at Himley CC, under floodlights.

Unfortunately, we don’t seem to make much effort, and were the only team not wearing coloured kit.

Fundraising is a huge part of our income, and David Owen continued as chairman of the fundraising committee. Last year, it came to light that some members were unhappy about the way pressure was put on teams to hold an event. Because of this, all events were listed under one ‘fundraising’ banner, and a total of £3369.45 was raised. David himself must be thanked for arranging four quiz nights, a test match runs / wickets competition and a Grand National sweepstake as well as the bonus ball competition and being in charge of collecting donations from our vice-presidents.

David has stated he will stand down from this position at the AGM, and I personally hope he changes his mind, as finding someone with so much passion for this club will be very hard to do.

Within the figure above, the race night raised £425, the annual Cannock Premier League £745.20 and two bag-packing events £498.14. A golf day made £276.90, Cheltenham £225 and the treasure chest draw £263.

The ECB replaced the ‘Club open day’ with CricketFest 2017, and made a pack full of promotional items available. Although the weather on the day was really poor, meaning numbers attending were low, we still raised £330.21, and gave us a base to build on next year.

Once again food sales did well for us once again, as we made just over £2000 profit during the season, including sales from the BBQ. This was down to a ‘hard-core’ of volunteers who regularly manned the kitchen for special ‘one-off’ events and hockey tournaments.

Hot dog sales at Monday night training continued, and we branched out to include milk-shakes and sweets which contributed nearly £500. Sharon Cope continues to bake cakes to be sold every week, a great effort.

Holding the junior presentation evening at Chase Park was never in doubt, and the room was packed full once again. A DJ was employed, but the feeling is that we could save this expense moving forward. Sharon Cope again organised the food rota, Craig Watts attended together with a few members of the 1st team, and everyone seemed happy with the way the night went.

Thanks must also go to Connor Shingler and James Caswell who organised the Cannock Premier League for the first time this year, and did fantastically well. Sponsors fees were reduced, no shirts were produced, meaning overheads were down, but the number of players increased and the event made a great profit.

Despite the rain, the day was completed with Caswell’s Cavities beating Cooke’s Crossdressers (!) in the final with no thanks to the apprentice scorer (mentioning no names……Aaron Saunders) who seemed to have 6 fingers on each hand. Another great day was had by all who attended.

After eleven years for David Robinson, and ten for me, the decision was made in the winter of 2016 to run the tour of Devon after it’s one-year break. Twelve places were quickly snapped up, and we played games against our hosts, Ipplepen, and two new fixtures, one at Barton, which fell foul of the weather, and one against Bovey Tracey.

The lads were a delight this year, plenty of fun and no issues, and we returned home tired after a ridiculously long journey home looking forward to 2018, but seriously considering coming home late on the Thursday evening to avoid the traffic.

David Robinson remained as Chairman in 2017, and we should all be grateful to him for everything he does for our club. We are both looking forward to the day that we can have a pint in our new clubhouse.

I would like to thank the members of the various Committees and the Captains of all our teams for their efforts, with special mention once again to David Owen for the work he does regarding our fixtures.

One of the criteria for being in the Staffordshire Club Cricket Championship is that our 1st X1 must have a non-playing scorer for every game. John Martin continued in the role and attended every game. Thank you John…….we couldn’t manage without you !

Ant Wood remained as Treasurer and must be thanked for everything he does for the club.

Peter Pritchard remained as our President, and although he didn’t manage a game for the 4th X1 this year, he now has a full-time job as Grandad to Geoff & Matt’s children. Peter’s life-long dedication to Cannock Cricket Club is beyond compare.

Thanks must go to John Tooth, who again applied via his employers, Clydesdale Bank for a community grant, and we received £500.

We hosted a considerable number of Staffordshire district trials and performance matches, but declined to host a full Staffordshire junior county fixture due to lack of volunteers and the fact that it makes little or no profit, something that has to be taken into consideration. We also hosted the Staffordshire Club Cricket Championship’s knock-out finals day.

Staffordshire Cricket’s Outstanding Services to Cricket Awards (the OSCAS) were moved to Fordhouses CC due to the uncertainty over the availability of our facility at the time of booking. We nominated John Martin, Sharon Cope and John Rushbrooke, and all three came away with a well-deserved ‘highly commended’ award.

We did, however, welcome back the full England Physical Disability team, who played two T20 fixtures against the Staffordshire u17 team, resulting in one win each.

Five of us attended the Staffordshire Club Cricket Championship’s annual dinner, held this year at the Chase Golf Club, where Aaron Saunders collected the division 5 bowling award, and the league runners-up shield. We also received the 2nd X1 knock-out runners up, and premier division runners-up shields.

Maintaining our grounds and the preparation of our wickets is a massive task. Our equipment continues to be a huge problem for us. With the outfield mower blowing it’s engine last year, this time is was ‘old-faithful’, the roller, that gave up. We managed to locate one from the disbanding Trentside CC based at the power station in Rugeley, at a cost of £2350. It has been agreed that we need to budget more towards replacing equipment, and to go for better, more expensive pieces if funds allow. Sadly, we obtained an interest-free ECB loan to buy the old outfield mower over 5 years, and still have 2 years left still to pay it off.

Having recently met to update our development plan (a necessity for retaining Clubmark) purchasing an additional wicket mower at a cost of up to £3000, a van to transport mowers around site at £500 and replacing the pump allowing watering of both squares at a cost of £1800 have all been put in there, and will have to be budgeted for.

We are eternally grateful to Keith Cooke and Jamie Fleet who have put in so many hours of work on the ground this season over and above those that they get paid for. The number of additional volunteers to help them has certainly dwindled this season. There are some exceptions, and we must thank the few regulars who do help out. I repeat my request from last year, when I said that this needs to change and players need to start realising that the work cannot be left to just a few senior members. The proposal of a Friday evening work party needs to take place next year.

Sadly, three old friends of the club passed away this year, and we said our goodbyes to Les West, Mike Bulpitt and Kath Johnson. Rest in peace.

During the past 12 months, Chase Park has continued to haemorrhage money, and Craig Watts has continued to assist us financially. Finally, however, David Robinson and I feel that there is a light at the end of our very dark tunnel. The planning application to convert the existing clubhouse to 26 apartments, plus erection of a new hockey clubhouse with access road and, most importantly for us, an extension to our proposed new pavilion for a tea room has been submitted to South Staffordshire District Council.

David and I have had several meetings with the ECB regional head of facilities and Staffordshire Cricket, and we are confident that they will support us financially one way or another, subject to planning being granted. I have also made an application to Sport England’s Community Asset Fund for a substantial amount of money, together with one to the Police Commissioner’s People Power Fund for £3000, having been successful two years ago.

Once planning permission is achieved, the two clubs will split, and legal documentation drawn up to state that certain areas of land will belong to the individual clubs. From that day, all incomes from those specified areas will become the clubs, forming part of their business plans.

The hockey club will continue their search for funding to build their own clubhouse to be sited in between the two water-based pitches. In the short term, Craig has intimated that they will be able to use the half of the existing clubhouse that contains the changing rooms while the building work continues. Should this not happen, the cricket club have implied that they could use our new pavilion in the short term if required.

Our ultimate hope is that eventually the whole of the area known as ‘pitch 3’ will be sold for development, even though it is currently green-belt. If this happens, it would release enough funds for both clubs to build their ideal clubhouses in their ideal place.

Although some volunteer work has taken place in our new pavilion, work will massively increase when planning is obtained. In this report last year, I wrote that we hoped to be in the new pavilion at the start of the 2017 season. This obviously did not happen, but let’s stay positive and hope that we reach our aim and start 2018’s season in our new home.

This will mean a massive amount of commitment from everybody as the more we do ourselves, the cheaper the project becomes. WORK TOGETHER AS ONE, IT’S OUR FUTURE.

Finally, could I ask that you all have a look at our brand new website, , which launched early in October thanks to the efforts of Matt Robinson and Matt Bull. I sincerely hope you will find some of its content both useful and interesting. It is hoped to fill its pages over the next few months, and provide vital income from links to sponsors websites.

GRAHAM MACHIN: HONORARY SECRETARY

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