February 2023 Newsletter
Message from the Chair
We are now well past the point where we are closer to the coming season than from the previous one, with pre-season indoor training underway for most of the Club. It is fair to say that the winter weather has been vastly different, with three months of heavy rain, compared to the hot dry summer we experienced last season – not sure what that means for our coming summer.
In November we held our Annual Club Dinner and Awards Presentation at One Warwick Park. It was great to be able to come together, not having done so since 2019 due to Covid, and it was a brilliant night of celebration. Many thanks to the team of Rhona, Katie, Tom and Mark in organising it, thanks for the support from those able to attend and congratulations to all the award winners. It was really pleasing to be joined by several of our players from our newly formed women’s softball section as well as some of our Sponsors and supporters.
In early December we held the AGM. It was not the best attended AGM, but that’s part of the hazard with holding it well into December – we will plan it better next year to secure a better turn out. There was much progress made over the past year to report on and some ideas for the future, including some healthy discussion about how we effectively bring juniors through into senior cricket and it was topped off with a vote to adopt a Club position on the new ‘Mankad’ (run out at the non-striker's end!!). I just want to thank all those that served on the Committee last year with special thanks to Tom Williams who has stood down as 1st team Captain, for his work over the past two seasons.
We have a nearly full committee for the coming season and have recently met to set our priorities for the coming year. We really want to build on the strong growth in junior cricket and the introduction of a girls U12 team. Plans will include how we can create a pathway for girls from All Stars through to hardball and how we solidify and expand the women’s section.
We are also looking to improve our facilities in the pavilion. Thanks to an ECB grant, we have enhanced our catering facilities and are looking to secure a further grant to improve the toilet facilities – hoping to provide a positive update in the next newsletter.
Your committee for the coming season is:
President Mike Dunn
Chair David Smith
Honorary Treasurer Mark Harrison
Honorary Secretary Ben Holt
Membership Secretary Alex Juon
Social Secretary VACANT
Women & Girls co-ordinator Katie Cranley
Junior co-ordinator Stefan Taylor
Club Safeguarding Officer Hamish Robertson
1st Team Captain David Jones
2nd Team Captain Jamie Brown
Sunday XI Captain Hassan Hadi
Pavilion Manager Steve Smith
Groundsman Jamie Brown
League Representative Ben Holt
150 Club Organiser VACANT
We have two posts vacant, and I am keen to ensure they are filled but am really interested in seeing if we can get Committee members from other parts of the Club that are not currently well represented such as the women’s or junior section. If you are interested or would like further details, please do contact me.
Peter Riley
As reported previously, on 28 December SCC lost a hugely popular member of the club. A few weeks back there was a service to remember and celebrate his life with many members of the Club in attendance. Our President was asked to say some words and provided a warm tribute to Peter’s various exploits for the Club over his many years of service. The Club made a donation to Peter’s identified charity, the British Butterfly Conservation Society and we are also considering how else we will commemorate Peter’s huge contribution to the Club.
Junior Cricket
Our Under 11s and Under 13s have both started their indoor training sessions in January on Sundays at Tunbridge Wells Boys Grammar and our U15s have started on Tuesday evenings at Judd School. We have entered one team into the Invicta League for each of these age groups and matches start from the beginning of May.
For the summer programme, information will be going out in the next couple of weeks, so please keep an eye out and if interested in signing up, please do so quickly to guarantee a place and to help us arrange the training tops in time for the season.
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Women’s Cricket
Following last season’s successful debut season, we are looking to further grow the section. Katie has taken on the role of Women’s & Girls Co-ordinator and much work has taken place over the winter by the W&G sub-committee.
The plan is to start indoor training on Thursday evenings from late February/early March. We are in discussions with a local school so once finalised will confirm the arrangements. The sessions will be coach led, with Steve again offering his time and we have entered an indoor softball tournament on 18 March.
Outdoor training will resume on Friday evenings from early May, up on the Common. As well as local friendlies, we have signed up for several softball tournaments, hosting our own round on Sunday 21 May with other rounds at Penshurst and Capel.
We are looking for more female players, so if you have friends, family or neighbours who you think would like to join, please spread the word!!
Girls’ Cricket
We have entered the U12 girls into the Invicta League, where growth of the girls' game locally has led to a girls only division of the league.
As with the women, we are planning to start indoor training on Thursday evenings from late February/early March. We are finalising the outdoor programme but have the option of Tuesdays at Southfields Park or Fridays up on the Common but will confirm and share details when finalised. To help support this section, we are really pleased that Beckie has recently completed her coaching qualification and will be on hand to coach the U12 girls.
We will also be running an U10 girls' section for school years 3,4 & 5. Training will take place on Saturday mornings alongside the U9 training up on the Common from late April and there will be some match opportunities. Katie has also recently completed her coaching qualification and will be coaching this U10 group.
With both U10 and U12s, we are always on the lookout for more players (and even at U13 and U15), so please spread the word. If the thought of hardball cricket is off putting, U13s upwards can join the women’s softball section so there are options available to stay in the game.
Senior Cricket
We are two weeks into our indoor training and attendance has been quite strong with use of three of the four available nets (so about 18 players). We have some new members in Kesava, Mark and Shabbir who have been at training, and we await Matt’s return when we will get to meet him and welcome him to the Club. There are still a few existing players hibernating, so we hope to see them soon. Due to Judd School needing their sports hall back from early April, the final indoor session is on 28 March. We will look to arrange some outdoor nets, weather permitting from early April – venue and timings tbc.
The league fixtures have now been confirmed and all fixtures are on the website. The 1st XI is in Division 2 and 2nd XI in Division 5. Dave is the new 1st XI Captain and Jamie continues in the role as 2nd XI Captain with Hassan also remaining as the Sunday XI skipper.
Club Shop
As before, there is a Club shop bulk order for pre-season. The final date for orders will be on Sunday 5 March, which should give sufficient time to get the kit in time for the pre-season intra-club T20 on 22 April.
Please order through our Club shop, which is on Kent Cricket Direct https://www.kentcricketdirect.co.uk/teamwear/ The Password is SCC2021
We are in the process of updating the range to reflect the needs of all our members, so there will be improved options for women and girls. These options are not currently showing in the shop, but we will notify you when these options are available.
150 Club
We're up to date with draws. We currently have 107 squares sold, but have recently got as high as 132 squares. Big efforts will be made this season to see if we can widen the playing pool to include players from the women's section and parents from the junior sections
For those interested in joining, it is £2 per month per square and there are monthly draws of £100 and a bonus Dinner draw. Money made is put back into developing the Club and experience for the players and members such as the electronic scoreboard we purchased and installed a few years back.
We have several squares available at present, so if you are interested in playing, please contact the Chair who is currently overseeing this role.
Recent draw winners:
January Jane Dunn
February M. Pulsford
March Hazel Bartlett
April Jon Pickett
May Damian Theobald
June Rob Berendt
July Debbie Phillips
August M. Pulsford
September C. Pickett
October Steve Smith
November Jack Roberts
Dinner Peter Young
December Geoff Brown
For those playing, please check that you are paying into the 150 Club Account as some have set up payments into the main club account. For reference, the 150 Club account details are:
55-70-13
78233615