DINNER NEWSLETTER - Pitchero



Cheshire County Cricket League

NOVEMBER, 2017 NEWSLETTER

Busy season for Cheshire in 2018: T20 is back

CHESHIRE’S cricketers will be in for a busy season in 2018.

The T20 competition returns to the schedule with Cheshire having four rounds to fulfil leading up to Finals Day at Wormsley in August.

The 50-overs competition will be staged in knock-out form with Cheshire having one group game before a possible quarter-final-final, followed by the semi-finals, then the final, also at Wormsley.

The three-day championship – in which Cheshire finished a creditable runners-up in the West division last season under captaincy of Chester’s Lee Dixon - begins in late June. It consists of the usual six fixtures, including home dates with Dorset, reigning double champions Berkshire and Herefordshire, all from late July onwards. The concluding game is as late as Sunday, September 2.

Cheshire secretary Derrick Hastings was invited to make some explanatory comments. He writes:

“The 50 overs competition becomes a straight knock out with eight counties playing a preliminary match and the remainder qualifying for the last 16. Cheshire go through as they reached the quarter-finals last season. In future years, the counties playing in the preliminary round will be chosen on a rotating basis.

The T20 competition has four groups of five counties with four going through to Finals Day. Each day will be a double header with the same two teams playing each other twice. The draw is done so that the home T20 matches are not on consecutive week-ends. It has not yet been decided how points will be awarded for each day.

All one-day cricket will be played using coloured clothing and white balls. These are likely to be mid-range Dukes, although the Tiflex has not been ruled out. There will be one white ball per innings in the T20 and two per innings in the Ko Trophy, one from each end.

The three-day championship fixtures have not been altered significantly and it is good to know that the championship will continue for the forseeable future with the backing of the ECB, the MCCA – and most importantly, the players.

There will be a full Cricket Week at Wormsley to feature both the T20 and Ko Trophy finals, but the championship final in 2018 is expected to go to Banbury who did such a good job last season. It could return to Wormsley in future”, Mr. Hastings concludes.

O The County’s cricket committee will meet shortly to select the venues for their 2018 home matches. This information will assist the County League fixture-makers.

LEAGUE’S 2018 SEASON DATES

For early birds who need dates to launch plans for next summer, here’s a reminder:

The 2018 League programme will begin on Saturday, April 21 and end over the week-end of Saturday / Sunday, September 15 / 16.

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER: p2

CHESHIRE FIXTURES IN DETAIL

T20 knock-out

Sunday, May 6: round 1: Cumberland home

Bank Holiday Monday 7: round 2: Staffordshire away

Sunday, May 27: round 3: Cheshire open date

Sunday, June 3: round 4 Northumberland home

Sunday, June 17: round 5: Lincolnshire away

Sunday, August 26: Finals Day at Wormsley

Bank Holiday Monday, August 27: Finals reserve date

50 overs Knock-out

Sunday, May 20: round 1: Cumberland home

Sunday, June 10: quarter-finals: home to Lincolnshire or Northumberland

Sunday, July 1: semi-finals: away to Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Staffs, Shropshire or Herefordshire.

Wednesday, August 29: Final at Wormsley

Thursday, August 30: Final reserve date

County championship

Sunday, June 24: Shropshire away

Sunday, July 8: Wales away

Sunday, July 22: Dorset home

Sunday, August 5: Cornwall away

Sunday, August 29: Berkshire home

Sunday, September 2: Herefordshire home

Sunday – Wednesday, September 16 - 19: play-off at Banbury

* The play-off may be brought forward to September 9 – 12.

League’s 2018 fixtures

O THE League’s 2018 season fixtures are expected to be available by December.

Meanwhile, clubs are asked to notify 1st XI competition secretary Ian Sharrock ASAP regarding any special 2018 dates on which they would prefer to be allotted 1st XI home or away fixtures.

O The management meeting at which potential rule changes including those assembled by deputy chairman Brian Boys will be considered, is at Timperley on Wednesday, November 15 (8 p.m.). Secretary Geoff Wellsteed has this week circulated all clubs with an agenda and the detailed proposals.

The management meeting when new rules will be voted upon, is at Bowdon on Wednesday, January 17, 2018, followed by the AGM.

O TOFT’s AGM in December will install long-serving spin bowler James Lomas as 1st XI captain. He is set to succeed Toby Drummond who has done a sterling job for the past eight seasons and plans a break from cricket in 2018.

O ANDY FLUCK has stood down as chairman at Alderley Edge and will be replaced at the AGM on November 27. Acting chairman is Andy Towle. Meanwhile all correspondence should go to secretary Robert Bradbury (tel. 07837 911 461; or e-mail at rhb.2005@live.co.uk).

O CHESHIRE Seniors (Over 60s and 70s) hold their annual dinner at Chester Boughton Hall on Friday, November 19.

O LEAGUE Umpires & Scorers Association AGM is at Toft on Wednesday, November 8, at 8 p.m. The quiz may be postponed, but the evening will end with a buffet.

O THE recent League Presentation Dinner may be the last at Mere after 21 years. Organisers are looking for a possible new venue and for the event to adopt a new and more attractive format. Possibly at a lower price than £35.

O NEW Cheshire Board Welfare officer is Julie Rafferty, based at Moss Farm, Northwich. She can be contacted by e-mail at julie-rafferty@cheshirecricketboard.co.uk. or by telephone at 07964 9871 262.

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER: p3

League fines top £4,000

THE total amount of fines run up by League clubs during the 2017 season for various failures to heed rules and regulations at £15 per time, totalled £4,026. It included 14 sums of more than £100.

Worst culprits with a £255 run-up were Bowdon, while relegated duo Cheadle Hulme and Bredbury St. Mark’s face bills of £245 and £200 respectively.

On the credit side, nine clubs incurred only one fine all season at £15 each.

The fines list was available for scrutiny and was updated regularly on the league website. The list in descending order is:

£255: Bowdon;

£245: Cheadle Hulme;

£200: Bredbury St. Mark’s

£195: Urmston;

£165: Widnes;

£150: Cheadle and Tattenhall;

£135: Neston;

£120: Alderley Edge, Oxton, Warrington, Weaverham;

£105: Romiley and Stockport;

£96: Middlewich;

£90: Barrow, Bramhall, Didsbury, Heaton Mersey, Runcorn;

£80: Christleton;

£75: Hyde, Northwich, Timperley;

£70: Grappenhall;

£65: Marple;

£60: Brooklands, Chester Boughton Hall, Hale Barns, Sale;

£45: Alvanley, Davenham, Macclesfield, Mobberley, Oulton Park, Wilmslow, Wistaston, Woodford;

£30: Haslington, Lindow, Nantwich, Woodley;

£15: Ashley, Ashton on Mersey, Bollington, Caldy, Disley, Stockport Geo., Stockport Trinity, Toft, Upton

‘Pavilions in Splendour’ out at Easter

LEAGUE secretary Geoff Wellsteed is to publish his book entitled “Pavilions in Splendour” at Easter, 2018.

Covering 200 pages, it will be printed in A4 size paper with a hardback cover, plus an attractive dust jacket and will feature stories, many with pictures, covering 133 Cheshire-based clubs past and present.

It will retail at £25, but subscribers can obtain a copy at £18 including postage. Applications for a discounted copy need to be made direct to the publisher by November 30, 2017.

Purchases can be made on line via max-books.co.uk (using paypal) or by post, sending a cheque for £18 cheque addressed to Max Books, Epworth House, 34, Wellington Road, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 7BX. Both November 30 options will allow the purchaser to have his/her name included in the subscription list to be published within the book, plus their name/club/town/village also published by request.

For further information, Geoff can be contacted at 3, Beatty Close, Caldy, Wirral CH48 2JT; by tel. on 0151 625 6470 (home) or 07443 909 232 (mobile). His e-mail address is geoffwellsteed@

O Geoff is currently tending to his wife, Penny, who has undergone a series of major operations and is in the intensive care unit at Liverpool Royal Hospital. Everyone in the League will wish Penny and Geoff well.

THE T20 IN 2018 ….

NO date has yet been set for the League’s Joseph Holt T20 Trophy Finals Day, which is likely to be in early July.

The winners of the tournament will go on to represent the league in the ECB T20 Area Finals on Sunday, July 27 on Clifton’s Greater Manchester League ground, alongside the North Staffs. & South Cheshire and North Wales Premier League winners.

The winners at Clifton progress go to the Regional Final on Sunday, August 12, followed by the National Finals Day on a first-class county ground during the first week in September.

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER: p4

Hyde join Over Forties

HYDE were admitted to the Over Forties section at the special general meeting at Warrington on Wednesday, October 18, raising membership to 33 clubs.

Based at Werneth Low and founder members in 1983, Hyde will operate in a nine-team South-East Division. All the other divisions remain unchanged as there were no resignations.

Clubs welcomed the experiment of using pink balls at the beginning and end of the divisional season, then from the quarter-finals onwards. It was agreed to use pink balls in all fixtures next season although if both captains prefer red Reader balls may be used in divisional fixtures. A special consignment of pink balls, which cost about £10 each, will be ordered from the manufacturers, Lord’s.

Clubs agreed that in rain-affected games, two points each will be allotted. However, if 10 or more overs are bowled in an innings, the result will be decided on the run rate in each innings

Where two clubs finish level on points with identical group records, they will no longer toss up for the choice of home advantage in the quarter-finals. Run rates in the games between each other will be the decider.

A proposal to introduce fielding circles in divisional fixtures was not approved.

2018 dates

Competition secretary Mike Talbot-Butler said the 2018 season would begin on Wednesday, May 2 and end on Wednesday, August 1, all teams playing 14 games. The quarter-final play-offs would be on Wednesday, August 9 or by Sunday, August 19 at the latest. Finals Day would be on Sunday, September 2 at a venue to be agreed. Only clubs with two grounds should apply.

Ian Sharrock agreed to devise the fixtures.

In his annual report, Mike Talbot-Butler said that the divisional competition had been marred by a club fielding an under age player for the third successive season. Timperley had had eight points deducted for fielding an ineligible player in two games. Clubs had stressed last year that they wished this rule to be strictly applied.

Grappenhall had beaten Toft in the final at Chester to win the Tailor Made Trophy for the first time. A week earlier, also at Chester, Grappenhall had eliminated Urmston and Toft beat Bollington in the semi-finals before rain arrived.

He congratulated clubs on conceding only seven games last season, compared to 16 in 2016.

Chairman David Humpage thanked the 10 clubs for attending and wished the competition well in 2018. He remarked on the absence of 22 clubs, although Chester and Timperley had sent apologies.

Divisional format (8 clubs unless stated)

WEST: Caldy, Chester Boughton Hall Blazers, Irby, Neston, Tattenhall Wreckers, Oxton, Upton, Weaverham

CENTRAL: Ashley, Ashton on Mersey Vikings, Davenham, Grappenhall, Mobberley, Timperley, Toft, Warrington.

NORTH EAST: Bowdon, Bowdon Vale Vikings, Brooklands, Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme., Sale Silverbacks, Urmston Tigers, Whalley Rangers.

SOUTH EAST (9): Alderley Edge Wizards, Bollington Veterans, Bramhall, Bredbury Saints, Hyde, Macclesfield, Poynton Legends, Offerton, Woodley.

In the draft fixture list produced by Ian Sharrock, problems presented by the new nine-team South-East Division have been addressed.

For the first nine weeks all teams will play each other, one having a free week.

In the remaining five weeks, five teams miss out with an additional free so play only 12 games in total. Those selected are from the bottom of the 2017 table involvingWoodley, Cheadle Hulme and Bramhall (six home and six away) and Poynton Legends and newcomers Hyde (seven home, five away).

The remaining four teams who will play 13 games (six home, seven away) are Bollington, Alderley Edge, Macclesfield, Bredbury Saints. So all teams will have at least six home fixtures.

It is proposed that the table will be worked out on a basis of points gained divided by games played.

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER: p5

Runcorn & Hale Barns set for promotion

UKFAST Cheshire League Division 1 champions Runcorn and runners-up Hale Barns have both been approved for promotion to the County League after inspections led by Grounds chairman John Bygate.

Runcorn have never been members before while Hale Barns had two previous spells from 1998-2001 and 2007-08.

Former Yorkshire and England fast bowler Matthew Hoggard was guest speaker at the UKFast’s awards dinner at the Cresta Court, Altrincham, on Friday, October 20. He delighted an audience of 253 for an hour with fine stories of his long and successful career.

One of the highlights of the event was the presentation of a 50 years service plaque for umpiring in Cheshire to former League chairman and current County Board chairman Peter Davies.

Among the individual playing awards presented was one to Ian Sharrock for taking 59 wickets at 9.02 for Upton 3rd in the UKFast Saturday league.

Death of Timperley’s Tim Lucas

TIMPERLEY Cricket Club stalwart Tim Lucas died on October 7 after a long illness.

Chairman Bob Page writes: “Tim and his wife Carol moved to the area in the late 1970s and he was soon opening the bowling for the 2nd XI. When his sons Neil and Matt started playing, he ‘retired’ to launch the club’s junior section and his ambition continues to sustain us to-day with almost 100 current junior members.

His 40 years’ continuous membership has seen Tim invest huge energy and passion and he has been variously cricket chairman, secretary, team captain, voluntary groundsman, scorer, umpire, a rep. on the Cheshire Board, Sports Development chairman.

Tim celebrated his affiliation to all other club sections, supporting each with objectivity and enthusiasm. If he was able, he would always be the first to offer his time in whatever initiative or endeavour was being planned.

More recently, he proposed and wrote the initial funding bid to Sport England that resulted in the new cricket wicket and outfield drainage system at Stockport Road.

Outside the club, Tim chaired the Trafford Cricket Forum and helped the port develop widely in clubs and schools across the borough.

He had only recently heard that he had been awarded an OSCAR in ‘The Heartbeat of the Community’ section at Lord’s and had been planning to attend. Sadly he never made it.

Tim will be dearly missed and thoughts of everyone in the cricket section are with Carol and his family: sons Neil and Matthew and daughter Hannah.

His funeral at St. James’ Church, Didsbury, on Wednesday, October 18 was well attended, as was a wake which followed at Timperley Sports Club.

Former Bowdon chairman Graham Barton

MUCH-admired former Bowdon chairman Graham Barton has died. He had spent the last years of an active and interesting life in a Care Home.

In a brief note secretary Andrew Marshall writes: “Graham was club chairman in 2005 whose enthusiasm for the game never diminished”.

No funeral details were available when Newsletter went to press. Contact Mr. Marshall on Andrew.j.marshall@hotmail.co.uk or by tel. on 01625 565 985 / 07743 523 848.

LEAGUE WEBSITES

The League’s Pitchero website administered by Richard Fennah contains pictures and documents, including all 2017 issues of Newsletter to date. It can be located on:

.uk

For other League news including the 2017 averages and any fixtures so far compiled visit Darren Sutcliffe’s website:

cheshirecountycl.

The Newsletter is compiled & edited by Mike Talbot-Butler:

Mike.t-b@ ……. November 6 / 2017

Next issue: early December

NEXT UP: DECEMBER ISSUE, MONDAY, DECEMBER 4 or 11

-----------------------

[pic]

[pic][pic]

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download