The Club again fielded twenty-one teams indoors and outdoors, nineteen in league competitions: As you all know we are the only Club in the T Rippon Mid Essex League to field five sides and for all five to be promoted is a fantastic achievement. Again we competed in the South Essex District Colts League and were one of only two Clubs to field 2 sides in each of the 3 age groups. Reports of the performances of teams and individual players have been covered at the presentation evening and the colt’s presentation evening so I shall merely pick out the highlights.
On the field
Colts
109 boys and 6 girls under 15 have attended coaching sessions during the past season. It is great to see such an interest in the game and this has been made possible because of the dedication of our coaches, managers and parent helpers. Once again our ‘B’ teams played some good cricket, which is testimony to the coaching given and also to our approach to allow players of all abilities to belong to the Club and develop their skills. Whilst the numbers have been high, there has been quality too. Seven of our boys were selected for the District and four of our girls are in the County squad.
Pick of the sides this year were the Under 13A team who were runners up in their League and narrowly lost in the final.
The Under 11Bs came 2nd out of 5 in their League, the winning team being a new A team and Rayleigh were the only team to beat them.
The Under 11As A team came 4th out of 9 in their League winning 4 and losing 4 games.
The Under 13Bs came 5th out of 7 in their League, again the winning team being a new A team.
The Under 13As came 2nd out of 8 in their League, and won through to the final but unfortunately were beaten by Westcliff by 6 runs in a very tight finish.
The Under 15Bs played 4 games and won all 4. However, in view of the fact we would have had to play some 15A players in the two remaining matches, which were postponed on at least 2 occasions each, we opted not to play them. As a result we came 2nd out of 7 teams, which was probably our rightful position.
The Under 15A season was heavily disrupted but eventually it came down to the final game against Wickford to decide 2nd place in the League and a place in the semi-finals. In the gloom the team fell short by one run and had to settle for third place out of 8 teams. All in all there were some excellent performances from many of our young players.
Thanks to the parents who have helped this season with refreshments, providing lifts, scoring, for being there in wind, rain and the occasional sunny day to console, cajole and congratulate, thank you.
Adults
6th (Dragons) Won 8 and lost 6
6th (Eagles) Won 1 and lost 8
5th XI – Won 10 games and lost 2 to finish 2nd in Division 11.
4th XI – Won 8 games, tied 1 game and lost 5 but finished as Champions of Division 9 due to a major breach of League rules by the team who had won more games.
3rd XI – Won 10 games and lost 3 to finish as Champions of Division 7
2nd XI – Won 13 games and lost only 2 to finish as League Champions of Division 4
1st XI – Won 12 games and lost only 2 to finish as League Champions of Division 1
A truly amazing achievement !
The Women and Girls XI competed as Rayleigh CC in the Essex & Suffolk League and came 3rd in their League. Once again their performances improved during the season. At the end of the season the Club hosted a six-a side competition, which was very successful.
A similar format as last year for our President’s Day raised more than £400 for the ‘Scotty’s Little Soldiers’ charity, which supports the families of men and women killed in the Armed Forces.
Sportsmanship
The Sportsmanship points awarded this season were slightly disappointing. The 1st XI were 6th in their Division (84th overall), 2nd XI 9th (63rd), 3rd XI 4th (20th), 4th XI 6th (94th) and 5th XI 7th (15th).
Selection
As ever there were quite a few late cry offs but despite this we had players available to field a full seven elevens during the whole of the league season.
Off the field
Finance
Our success on the field has not been reflected in the Club’s finances with match fees and bar takings significantly down because of the bad weather and relatively poor support for the few social events organised. You will hear more in the Treasurer’s report and in the resolutions which follow.
Social events
Apart from the Presidents Day and Women’s Festival Day we had two other successful Club social events this year: another excellent quiz run by Mike Walsh and a race night, both well attended but not many of those present were playing members.
Bar
Colin White has again done a sterling job managing the bar but takings are well down as mentioned earlier and our prices for draft beers will have to be increased for next season.
Catering
The barbeque manned by Emma Grob and friends during the league season was again a great success and contributed to a lively social scene after our Saturday matches. Thanks to all the ladies who have prepared teas for our cricket teams and to the ladies who prepared food for our social events and cleaned up afterwards. Also to the mums who have provided refreshments for our colt’s teams.
Downsides
Not everything has run smoothly at the club during the past 12 months. The nets were vandalised despite improved security and we have been promised a CCTV system in the close season.
Every year I list a number of issues at the AGM but quite clearly the people responsible don’t attend the AGM or if they do they choose to ignore my requests. The work in collecting overdue match fees and subscriptions from a tiny minority of members has caused Lorraine Frost and me a lot of extra work which is totally unnecessary. Also a habit seems to have developed of members leaving their kit in the changing room, when it is to be used by other members during the week. It should be noted that any kit left in the pavilion at the end of the season will be considered club equipment and disposed of if not of use to other club members. Other annoyances are members not putting empty cans, plastic bottles and cigarette butts in the appropriate containers at the pavilion and just generally leaving the changing rooms and kitchen in a complete mess so that someone else has to spend time clearing all this up. So please next year let us try to look after our pavilion and ground and treat it with respect, pay our fees in a timely manner, join the 100 Club and attend some Club social events.
Another source of disappointment has been the lack of support for work weekends although I was pleased to note that about 10 members turned up to help do some decorating at the end of the season.
The weather has had a serious effect on the Club’s finances with a considerable loss of match fees and bar takings due to so many matches being cancelled. Another source of disappointment has been the lack of support for the relatively few number of playing members attending our social functions, work weekends and supporting our 100 Club. This is the third year running when expenditure has exceeded our income so the Management Committee will be proposing an increase in subscription and match fees at the AGM together with a requirement that subscriptions are paid by 31st March as a lot of our expenditure occurs before the season starts e.g League and Umpire fees and purchase of equipment.
Enough of the downsides – a new third pitch has been constructed on the back field, the outside of the pavilion has been re-varnished. We have installed a results board and some Honours boards. The Club also won the Sports Club of the Year in the Rochford District Sports Awards in October.
Looking forward
Mid-Essex League
Next year we will have six teams in the league with our 1st XI playing in the Premier Division, the 2s in Division 3, the 3s in Division 6, the 4s in Division 8, the 5s in Division 10 and the 6s in Division 11.
Sunday matches
The Club has been offered 9 league games in Division 1 and a decision will be made in the near future as to whether play these matches as League games or friendlies. The remainder of games will be friendlies.
Indoor and Mid-week leagues
It is anticipated we will be playing in these leagues again.
6 a side competitions
It is intended to have two competitions next year, one an invitation event with other clubs as a charity event in June and an internal club event on President’s Day using the same format for the event as in 2012.
Women and Girls
Two teams have been entered into indoor competitions this winter and the club will continue as members of the Beaumont Seymour League.
Colts Section
Again we intend to enter 2 teams in each of the Under 11, 13 and 15 leagues and will play a number of under 9 games. We do need to get more support from adults to help run these sides.
Coaching
The Club has a policy of allowing all boys and girls who want to try and learn to play cricket to come into the Club. This is in direct contrast to some other Clubs in the locality who only want talented players in their Clubs. There is a downside to this approach. The young people coming to each session are often of quite differing abilities making it difficult to provide the best coaching for youngsters new to the game whilst catering for the needs of more talented players. We had planned to limit the number of colts in each section according to the number of coaches allocated to that section so it is vital as many people as possible make themselves available to take up coaching. No one who has been a paid up member this year will be turned away but we will almost certainly need to have a waiting list for new members if our numbers exceed the recommended ratio of colts to coaches. If any member is interested in helping with coaching please contact Brian as soon as possible.
Chance to Shine project
In conjunction with Rankins we will continue to develop coaching to local primary schools as part of the curriculum.
Discipline
It is really important that everyone representing the Club bears in mind the good reputation of this Club and that we expect our players to observe the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ both on and off the field and show respect to the Club, other Club members and members of opposition sides. This includes any communications on Facebook, Twitter and our website. I am pleased to say after an initial outburst of bad language on our Facebook site the contributions have been more appropriate As was said last year inflammatory remarks about umpires and opposing team members are not on and the Club Management Committee will treat any such action by one of our members as serious misconduct.
Development projects and Finance
The third square has now been constructed and we are now concentrating on getting a water supply to the square and purchasing a portacabin for changing and having teas etc.
Social events and 100 Club
Absolutely vital to these projects is a vibrant social programme and we plan to run a full programme of events during the coming season. The 100 Club is a really good source of income but it is noteworthy that many of the people in this fundraising scheme are no longer active in the Club.
Officials and other helpers
Thanks to all the captains of our adult teams who worked hard to get six, often seven, adult teams out each Saturday and also to the captains of our other adult teams including our women & girls XI. Thanks to Matt Walker who took over as fixture secretary and has done an excellent job in a difficult year with lots of cancellations not only because of the weather but also because opposition sides could not raise a team. Thanks also to the managers, coaches and parents for coaching and running the colts teams. Thanks also the parents who have supported our colts in all weather and with dignity. Thanks to the ladies who have provided teas and refreshments throughout the year. Also to Colin White and helpers for manning the bar and particularly to Colin for cleaning the pipes each week which is a lengthy task and unpleasant in the winter months. Thanks to Paul Spratt, John Charles, Brad and Matthew Walker for all the work on the ground throughout the year. Thanks also to all the committee members who worked so hard behind the scenes this year and in particular to Lorraine Frost, who has done a brilliant job in dealing with the accounts again. Thanks to Richard Verrinder who has continued as Secretary and for putting the results and averages on the website. Thanks to all these people who have done so much to keep this Club going forward.
To summarise, 2012 was by some margin the most successful year in the long history of the Club with success on the field and the key now is to maintain that level of performance, which will not be easy. Yet again we have some excellent performances by our younger players, which bodes well for the future of the Club. Absolutely critical to ensure this forward momentum is maintained is that more people come forward to help, even if it only one small task to spread the work amongst more volunteers and also to try to ensure we have back up if the lead person is away or is ill. If you can help in any way at all, it would be much appreciated. As I have said for the many years now, we have a fantastic set up and are the envy of many Clubs. Next year will be the 111th year of the existence of the Club so we say to everyone in the Club, you need to support the Club in every way possible and look after the Club’s reputation and property.