Tricia Kehl has kindly made a load of Christmas Puddings which have been on sale at Bob’s Shop over the festive period. She has very kindly donated these to the club so all proceeds will go to the pavilion appeal fund.

Many congratulations to Evie Spreadbury who has made the full County Under 13 girls squad.

With thick frost lying everywhere it seemed a bit incongruous to see Owen Winsor servicing the outfield mower. He has also taken the cutters away for re-sharpening so the machine will be in good order for next season.

November

Our annual Dinner & Dance was held at the Surrey Hills Hotel on the 10th November. Although numbers were down everyone had a good time and congratulations must go to Craig Jones and his team for organising everything.

……… The ‘young’ table (apart from Mark Rance)…………

Marion Hales with Mike & Norma Cooper

Don & Annette Jones, Roger Holland, Ross & Helen Hamilton, Barry & Annette Jordan

Teresa & Nick Procter, Barbara & Graham Capel, Pauline & Neil Austin, Ricki & Colin Hughes, Jane Major, Adriana & Simon Cryer

Richard Callcut receiving the Clubman of the Year Award from Chairman, Andrew Major.

Diane & Ruky Wickremasinghe, Claire & Allan Cooper, Ben & Tania Crook, James & Stephanie Bettesworth

The barn at Greens Farm was packed for the new building launch on the 6th November. There were over 100 attendees and it was gratifying to see that three quarters were made up from the local community. Everyone was given a leaflet about the new project and a dedicated help form. Andrew Major started the proceedings by welcoming the guests and this was followed by a DVD which described the cricket club and the reasons why a new pavilion and scout hut is needed. John Callcut then explained that the building had been deliberately designed to be larger than the average cricket pavilion to cater for a wider community use and this decision was clearly justified by the large number of attendees representing many different village activities. Nick Procter then explained the method of construction and showed detailed plans and explained the rationale behind some of the planning decisions. He explained how the design would enable many other village activities to use the building. Sharon Eyers, the Surrey Cricket Development Officer, explained that one of her main jobs is as the Surrey facilities officer, and she offered us her support when we come to making the all important grant applications. Tom Stimpson M.B.E. then gave a stirring talk about the scouts, beavers and cubs and spoke about the need to make the building fully accessible for people with disabilities. The evening closed with an auction of a cricket bat signed by the 2012 Surrey Squad. This fetched £130 which will go towards the appeal. Special thanks must go to Charlie Frost who let us use the barn without cost, Alok and Pennie Agarwal for the loan of all the chairs and tables, Martin Clabby who made the DVD and showed pictures and played appropriate music on a large screen throughout the evening, Tricia Kehl who provided such delicious food and all the members and scouts who helped serve hot and cold drinks, wine and help clear up afterwards. The journey has just started and the work has begun.

The barn at Greens Farm prior to the start of the Pavilion Launch

On the 1st November Jimmy Adams, the former captain of the West Indies, came to talk to our under 11s. Coach, Ross Hamilton, has been a long time friend and invited him to come up to his home from deepest Kent, where he is the county coach, to do a question and answer session with the boys. First of all the boys were asked questions about Jimmy’s career and they had certainly done their homework as they knew that his highest score was 208 (against New Zealand), his test average was 41.26 and that his last test match was in 2001. They then asked questions, and it was fascinating to learn how he played against Shane Warne – concentrate very hard and rotate the strike as much as possible and if a bad ball came (which was very rare) then make sure you put it away for a boundary. What was the toughest tour? – all tough in different ways. What bat did you use? – Gray Nicholls, 2lb 6oz. Who were the fastest bowlers you faced? – Brett Lee, Allan Donald, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Ian Bishop and Patrick Paterson. Have you sustained any serious injuries? The worst was having his cheek bone and eye socket crushed by a bouncer from Andre van Troost during a tour match against Somerset (Jimmy preferred a helmet without a grill!!). This was a delightful evening with a delightful guest. Jimmy started playing first class cricket at the age of 17 and in the years leading up to that he always tried to play against the strongest opponents possible; and he left two very clear lessons to the boys. Always play against the strongest opposition possible – cheap runs and wickets do not have the same value as success against strong opponents. Always practice what you will do in matches – in other words bat sensibly and with a sense of purpose and bowl with your normal run-up in the lines that you wish to achieve in matches. The boys left happily with autographs signed and happy memories of meeting a true star.

Did you know that after his first 12 test matches Jimmy’s average was the highest ever achieved by any batsman apart from Don Bradman. To see Jimmy in action go to You Tube and see the tremendous catch he takes at forward short leg to dismiss Australian, Mark Taylor in 2000! An object lesson in staying low when fielding close.

…..Jimmy Adams, Ross Hamilton and our u11s…….

October

Cricket Club Magazine has run a feature on the club. Click here to read what they have said about us.

http://www.cricket-club.biz/CricketMags/Cricket_Club_Issue_14

The bonfire evening went off with a bang on the 26th October. Rain during the day threatened the whole evening but fortunately it stopped and a good crowd came and enjoyed excellent fireworks and refreshments. Many thanks to all the helpers who made the evening possible.

Dave Keating is running in the Brighton Marathon for Alzheimers and would appreciate any help that our members can give for this worthwhile cause. Just log on to http://www.justgiving.com/david-keating to make your donation.

The autumn preparation on the square was completed on the 11th October. We’ve had the rain so let’s hope that we get a spell of warm sunshine (like last year) to encourage growth. Our groundsman, Derek Heselwood, deserves our congratulations for producing such good wickets throughout the season, despite the weather which caused him constant frustrations.

September

On Tuesday, 25th September our President, Colin Hales, passed away peacefully at East Surrey Hospital after suffering an internal infection which did not respond to treatment. He was 94 years of age. He found it increasingly difficult to get to the club and his last appearance was at the junior presentation last May when he gave a speech of encouragement to all our young players. His interest in the club never wavered and he always wanted to know the weekend results and to have details of any new developments. He particularly wanted to be kept up to date with our plans for the new pavilion. Our condolences go to Marion, Frances and Andrew.

The season drew to a close on a beautiful September afternoon when we entertained our old friends Cuddington Casuals. We scored 178 and as the sun set the Casuals put up a sterling resistance and turned the match to their favour winning with three overs to go. There was a certain symmetry to the season as the Sunday match, the popular Coaches versus the Juniors was called off due to – yes you’ve guessed it – heavy rain.

“How shall we live, who love our loveliest game with such bright ardour that when stumps are drawn we talk into the twilight, always the same old talk with laughter rounding off each tale – laughter of friends across a pint of ale in the blue shade of the pavilion.”

Finally the wettest summer in memory has drawn to a close in ironically bright sunshine. Next year we have fresh challenges, the Fuller’s league and a new pavilion to build. So have a good winter and come back in the spring with renewed vigour.

Our intrepid Belgian visitor, Tiuri Rombauts, who actually played for the 2nd XI at Headley saw this advert in the newspaper. One of the earliest dates of cricket being recorded in England is about 1550 at Guildford so it looks as though the natives of Flanders were playing before that date! The batter has a pretty impressive helmet and first slip looks ready for the nick.

Congratulations to Jackie Bennett, mum of Will and James. On Saturday, 8th September she climbed to the top of Ben Nevis and raised nearly £9000 for the Alzheimer’s Society. Here she is at the summit:

On Friday, 7th September on a balmy late summer evening the coaches barbecue was held at Six Bells Barn. This has proved to be a problematical season so it gave the chance, at the risk of boring their partners, to informally discuss the challenges presenting themselves for 2013.

We have received this nice note from Nigel Spreadbury: “I wonder if you would be so kind as to forward my thanks onto everyone concerned who helped with my injury during the six a-side competition. My unbelievable ongoing prompt recovery is greatly due to the help and assistance given to me on the day and my appreciation and huge thanks go out to all concerned. I am now off crutches and even the Physio can’t believe the improvement in just over a week, I feel very lucky to have had some truly fantastic support around on the day”.

Whilst we were playing against Dorking on the 2nd September the champagne corks were popping to celebrate our Chairman’s 70th birthday. A goodly crowd gathered to celebrate this auspicious occasion and sandwiches and a cricket themed cake was enjoyed by all.

Andrew cutting his cake and long after the birthday crowd had departed Newdigate just beat Dorking in the dark and drizzle

August

The under 14s represented the East Surrey Colts League in the NEC Surrey Champions Trophy at Beddington on the 29th August. They were well beaten by a very strong Spencer side and had just started their match against Wimbledon when the heavens opened and that was the end of cricket for the day. A lot of the boys were going to play in the evening against the mid-week side but that too was rained off.

The annual 6-a-Side was blessed with good weather. As a couple of sides dropped out this became a totally Newdigate event with all sides, young and old coming from within the club. Many thanks to Craig Jones for stepping in and organising the event. Bare a thought for poor Nigel Spreadbury. In the first over, playing for the coaches, he turned to run and pulled hamstrings in both his legs. He appeared later on crutches.

The bowls club invited us to play in the annual match on the 23rd August. They really looked after us and provided an excellent barbecue. The cricket club team of James Penfold, Nick and Ann Crawford and Angus Campbell won their match. This is the first time that the bowls club has been defeated at their own game. A good time was had by all those who participated.

The under 14s travelled to Beddington CC on the 21st August as they had been invited to participate in the NEC competition. We were well beaten by Dulwich in the first match but recorded a good win against Beddington who had previously beaten Tadworth. Tadworth beat Dulwich and we beat Tadworth so we went through to the semi-finals against Old Midwiftgifians. In a previous round they had scored 120 off five, eight ball overs so they were going to be tough opponents. We scored 70 and they got the runs with one over left. We acquitted ourselves really well. One very pleasing aspect of our play was the favourable comments from the umpires who admired our sporting attitude.

52 girls attended a Cricket Summer Camp at Purley Cricket Club. Seven of our girls attended and enjoyed two days of training, skills and matches. Here they are pictured with England cricketers, Charlotte Edwards and Caroline Atkins.

On the 13th August, former Surrey and England quick bowler, Joey Benjamin, came to Newdigate to pass on some tips to some of our under 11 players. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t very kind but they continued despite the drizzle.

Last week we spoke about the disturbing trend on Sundays with teams cancelling matches at short notice. This ‘disease’ has now struck at the heart of Newdigate, with us being the culprit. First of all Coldharbour cancelled our Sunday home fixture as they were unable to raise a side. We then had to cancel the prestigious Surrey Trust game away to Ashtead and lost the opportunity of playing at a top championship ground and at the same time making Ashtead rightly very unhappy with Newdigate. We had just one under 18 available. But even worse was the cancellation of the Saturday 3rd XI league match away at Horsley and Send. With many cricketers opting to play a friendly football match we were down to just nine players. On the morning of the match two dropped out thus giving Will Bowley the unenviable task of phoning the opposition and cancelling on the morning of the match. This cancellation could have had far reaching effects. The decision to allow Newdigate’s 3rd XI to play next season in the Surrey Downs League was made at a league meeting just last week. If that meeting had taken place a week later there is no doubt that the decision may well have gone the other way. We have now gone three weeks without a Sunday game and many people in the village are rightly asking ‘what’s happening with the cricket club?’. We wish we knew.

The much anticipated under 11 cup final against Horley was scheduled to be played on the 6th August. Our covers came into their own and it was possible to prepare a fairly dry wicket on Monday morning. Then at 1.00 pm the heavens opened for three quarters of an hour but fortunately a group of u13s, who had been practicing in the nets, came to the rescue and got the covers on again just in time. There was no more rain and the match started on a dry pitch at 6.00 pm. Horley scored 251 and then the wind changed direction and a huge black cloud hung over the Brocus and at 8.00 pm down came the rain with still ten overs left. When it stopped all the boys stoically continued in dismal conditions and a very well disciplined Horley side came out on top.

6.00 pm and perfect weather for cricket

two hours later and this was the scene as the rains fell

Who’s for cricket? Sunday, 5th August 2012

July

The u11s had a bumper day out arranged by coach, Ross Hamilton, on the 31st July. They travelled to Kent and played a friendly match against St. Lawrence & Highland Court Cricket Club. They had a good win (see junior section for the report), this was followed by lunch and then a visit to the County Ground to view a second eleven match from a specially reserved box in the new Leslie Ames Stand. Here are some pictures of their day out.

There was much fun and games at the club on the 28th July. With the Olympic Road Race taking place across the area there were no league matches. Instead we had a home and away fixture against Merstham. After a dismal season when even half centuries have been a rarity it was good that Richard Callcut brought some sunshine with a fine century. But what about the Kehls? Andrew was out and then father Ian was bowled first ball. In come Stephen and he holes out to mid-off. A hat-trick is rare but for all three wickets to come from one family we reckon makes it unique. After the match a large crowd gathered to celebrate Paul Bettesworth’s 30th birthday and a lively evening ensued.

At last summer has come with high temperatures and blue skies but a cloud has appeared with the news of the death of Ted Leadbeater on Sunday, 21st July. Many of you will remember our happy visits to Yorkshire and the warm northern welcome that we received at Rawdon Cricket Club. Both Ted and Betty have been suffering with ill health for sometime but their love and enthusiasm for the cricket club never wavered. The tea bell at Newdigate was presented to the club by Ted and Betty and was rung in Ted’s honour on Saturday. The funeral was held at Rawdon Crematorium on the 31st July and there was a reception afterwards at, where else?, the cricket club where there were a lot of people who fondly remembered the visits from those strange people from ‘down South’.

What a summer we are having! On the 11th July, Year 1 infants from Newdigate School came up to the Brocus for their final ‘Chance to Shine’ session of the summer. After twenty minutes the heavens opened and we squeezed 32 children into the pavilion as thunder and ligtning swept across the ground. Within minutes the ground was flooded as you can see from these pictures. Eventually it eased off and we had to take the children back to school via the main road.

‘Old’ Newdigate came for the annual Jenny Chamberlain memorial match on the 8th July and the heavens opened and the game was called off. But true to style the team had lunch and a few beers at the Six Bells and then went to the club to inspect the sodden pitch, watch the tennis, and have a fine pint of Harveys. But ….. has aged caught up with them? Here is Peter Stevens and Andrew Hales making a cup of tea – unheard of in former times!!!!

Such weird weather – first the rain, then the sun comes out and the ground is shrouded in mist !!

June

The 20/20 match against Headley Court was played on an idyllic summers evening on the 28th June. The match introduced our new sponsors, Dorking Deepdene Rotary Club to the club, and what a fantastic match their members witnessed. Headley Court batted first and set an impressive 157 from 20 overs. In reply Newdigate built up a good response centred around the magnificent Andrew Posner who smote the ball to all corners of the ground, but suddenly wickets fell and it got to the last over with eight runs needed. Posner was run out with six runs needed and in came Stephen Kehl. As cool as a cucumber, and with just three balls to go, he smote his first ball for a massive six and then took a single from the penultimate ball. What a superb match.

Dorking Deepdene Rotary Club with the victorious Newdigate team

Headley Court CC and Newdigate CC

Stephen Kehl – the hero and a pensive Hiten Patel (I wonder why?)

Newdigate Chairman, Andrew Major, presents the trophy

Sally Buckle hands over £167.00 for the Headley Court charity

Dorking Deepdene Rotary Club members enjoying Newdigate hospitality

We had a distinguished guest at the club on Tuesday, 26th June. Cllr. Bridget Lewis-Carr, the former Chair of Mole Valley District Council, came to see our young girls at their training session. She had seen a picture of the girls at an exhibition at Guildford Cathedral and promised to pay us a visit. She was impressed with the girl’s enthuiasm and was also able to witness an under 16 match in progress.

Our girls coach, Nigel Spreadbury, turned up to collect the gear for a tournament. He is a photographer and arrived in one of the props…. a 1938 Lagonda – just one of 16 cars built. You have to admire his courage as the car is worth a cool half million pounds.

Much disappointment with the news that our application for funding from the Sport England Inspire Fund has been rejected. This was a very complex application involving the Newdigate Community Centre and our application was to replace the artificial pitch which is now 12 years old, replace the batting and bowling ends in the nets and replacing the cage …. the cost is in excess of £20,000. Apparently there were over 1000 applications and money only allocated to 300 organisations. Cricket was well catered for in the first tranch so our sport fell to the bottom of the priorities and for the third tranch will be completely ignored. The Gatwick Community Trust has very kindly agreed to grant us £2000 but we will only get the money on completion of the project. Surrey CC are looking at alternative forms of funding for us.

After the euphoria of the weekend it was sad to hear the news of the three young lads injured by falling branches at Spencer CC on Saturday and this followed by the tragic news of the death of the young Surrey cricketer Tom Maynard.

Sunday, 17th June will be a day remembered for a long time by a group of young Newdigate cricketers. Nine Newdigate girls represented Mole Valley One at the Sports Park in Guildford on a surprisingly warm and sunny day. There were seven teams – Mole Valley 1 & 2, Epsom & Ewell, Elmbridge, Woking 1 & 2 and Runnymede. We had to play Woking 2 and Runnymede in our group and won both games, rattling up over 80 against Runnymede. The semi-final against Elmbridge proved to be a close affair. We passed their total with one over to go, so our last two batters just had to hold their nerves and not get out. With advice coming from all quarters around the ground they preserved their wickets and steered their side to the final. Everyone knew that the final against Woking 1 was going to be tough as they had an excellent Surrey player going in last. We only scored 35 and frankly that wasn’t enough but the girls showed tremendous determination and spirit and bowled good lines and followed all the fielding disciplines including backing up at both ends. When Woking’s star player came in the leg-side fielders dropped to the boundary restricting the Woking last pair to just one four in their last over and when a wicket fell the game was all over and Mole Valley retained the trophy they won last year.

The Capel 6-a-Side took place on the same day and we entered an under 9 and an under 11 side. This is a brilliantly organised day and we look forward to it immensely. The u9s won their group and played Pulborough in the semi-final. They played good cricket and won fairly comfortably. The final was against a strong Capel side but the Newdigate boys bowled and fielded sensibly to restrict Capel to 25. It was all nip and tuck and there were a lot of very nervous Newdigate supporters watching the nail biting last overs but our boys kept their nerves and once the total was passed, with a cricketing sense way above their years, blocked out the last few balls to secure a memorable victory. As you would expect Barry Jordan was a tired and happy team manager. Spare a thought though for our under 11s. Three sides all amassed six points by winning three matches but Newdigate’s run difference was the poorest so they became third and did not qualify for the semi-finals. To make matters worse they only lost to Plaistow by ONE run!

Barry has a team talk before the final

The huddle

A very happy Newdigate u 9 side

The legendary Andy Meads played his last game of the season against Salfords. He plays table tennis in the Veterans World Championships in Stockholm and then he goes to hospital to have both his knees replaced. He played his last game against Salfords on a cold and windy day and cut the ball on to his wicket. A sad way to end the season. After the operation he hopes to be back next season and smearing the ball to all quarters. Here he is at the club enjoying an excellent pint of Sussex. He has offered to be our official scorer.

Does this sound familiar? – ‘Our worst experience of cold was in the M.C.C. match at Lord’s in May, when the bowlers in particular suffered because they could not keep their arms warm, even by donning their sweaters at the conclusion of each over. As for rain, it is sufficient to say that in this series of matches whole days were lost, and to cap all, there was the debacle of the first Test match at Nottingham, when only fifty minutes’ play was possible on the first day, and none at all on the remaining two.’ Thus wrote the great Aussie cricketer, Charlie Macartney, about the Ashes tour of 1926.

Congratulations to Simon Cryer. Playing for the midweek team against M & M he performed a rare feat in securing a hat-trick. Well done Simon.

……and the rain continues. Under 11 and 14 matches cancelled along with the Girls u13 County match between Surrey and Sussex. Do we still have a hose pipe ban?

The Newdigate street party to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee was a great success and the club played its part by hosting a children’s sports day after everyone had eaten and the road re-opened to traffic. The evening ended with a band playing late into the night and the beacon being lit at 10.00 pm. Disappointingly all Sunday cricket was rained off and the Kenny Doyle Memorial Match against Graveney on the Tuesday wa abandoned due to heavy rain.

May

Great news. Dorking Deepdene Rotary Club who meet every week at the Watermill in Dorking have kindly agreed to sponsor our under 16 team and provide them with smart new shirts. They hope to get involved closely with the club and join in with our fund raising events such as the Headley Court 20/20 match, the Six-a-Side competition and the bonfire night. Hopefully this will be a two way association for the benefit of both clubs.

So you thought that the job description for coaches meant taking coaching exams, being CRB’d, going on safeguarding and first aid courses. Bet you hadn’t reckoned on this !!! Picture courtesy of u11 coach, Ross Hamilton.

On Friday, 25th May, on a beautiful summers day, we hosted the Dorking Schools’ Kwik Cricket Tournament. Six primary schools from the area competed in two groups and the final was played between St. Paul’s and the Weald. It was a very close and tense match and there was much excitement coming from the spectators. St. Paul’s just won in the final over against the fancied Weald team. On the Wednesday we organised a similar competition for the girls which was played at the Weald School. St. Martin’s triumphed with a fine win over favourites, St. Paul’s.

Look who is sporting a dinky ear ring – our old friend Dai Fraser. Bet he did it for a bet!

The weekend of the 19th/20th May finally saw some cricket played and the Junior Award Presentation on the 21st May was held on a warm evening. For pictures and a full list of the winners, see the junior section.

This must be just about the worst start we have ever had. The 2nd XI finally played against Old Woking on the 12th May when our covers saved the day as both the 1st and 3rd XIs were cancelled. Only two junior matches have been played but our u11 girls had a good day on Sunday, 13th May when they played in the Surrey Girls Club Competition at Epsom CC. Here they are in their new shirts sponsored by Will Parkhouse’s Search4Technology.

The midweekers managed to get a game in on the 3rd May which resulted in a win against Reigate Heath. They are a stoical lot as they played through the rain. Our Club Welfare Officer, Annette Jordan, celebrated her 40th birthday and Dev Patel prepared a delicious curry to warm everyone up. Here is Annette opening a bottle of bubbly.

April

After the fabulous weather in March the season started with matches against West Chiltington and Slinfold and then the rains came down, pretty well immediately after the water company had declared a drought! The Saturday 2nd XI played against Graveney on the artificial pitch and the Sunday 1st XI made a start on the 22nd April but the rains came back and it hasn’t stopped since….

Junior registration and the first coaching session took place on a cold evening on the 16th April and there were 70 attendees. Encouragingly our first session for girls on the following evening resulted in 15 registrations. Unfortunately training the following week had to be cancelled together with all the scheduled junior matches.

Congratulations to our two marathon runners. Dave Keating completed in 3 hours 35 minutes and Hiten Patel in 4 hours 45 minutes. Dave came 1000th in the race which was a fantastic achievement and we hope that they both raised lots of money for their charities.

March

Twenty seven people turned up for the club opening day on the 31st March. There were a lot of jobs completed. More leaves and branches cleared from the outfield, the nets straightened and swept, the kit inspected and stored, repairs to the store room lock, gutters cleared and repaired, brambles cut back, the netting removed from the square, the pavilion cleared etc. etc. As a result we are now pretty well ready for the start of the season.

Good news! Our next door neighbours, Ibstock Brick Ltd, has agreed to sponsor our Saturday 3rd XI. We are very pleased to welcome them as one of our sponsors.

Congratulations to one of our young girl cricketers. Ten-year-old Heidi de la Hoyde who goes to St. Paul’s Primary entered a competition to design a flag. Her design won out of 542 other entries and it will be handed out to 6000 residents during the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay.

February

Hiten Patel is running a marathon in April in aid of cancer relief. You can support him by clicking here http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HitenPatel Best of luck Hiten. Also Dave Keating is doing the marathon and in training he has broken the three and a half hour mark. Best of luck to you as well Dave. If you wish to support Dave go to www.justgiving.com/davekeating

A few pictures from the nets at Dorking Leisure Centre on the 26th February.

James Bettesworth, Thomas Ball, Stephen Kehl, Alex Southon & Ben Crook

Ruky showing off his muscle (s)

Good head and foot position, but the back swing is going towards slips, the elbow has dropped -would you believe the ball is going to leg, now there’s a surprise! Still Paul, practice makes perfect.

Active Surrey has discontinued their accreditation scheme and have encompassed Clubmark. We will therefore have to remove the Active Surrey logo from all documents.

The club prides itself as being open to all and has followed an equity policy for a number of years. The ECB has now re-examined this and we now have to follow what is called the ECB Club Inclusion and Diversity Policy. Please take time to read and digest this under Club Information.

The winter nets at the Dorking Leisure Centre are being pretty well attended and we understand that the batsman are having to be on their toes against some pretty good bowling and the leg spinning, top spinning twirlyman has not been there yet!

Following our acceptance to the Fullers League we sent a formal letter of resignation to the Surrey Downs League. We have received a reply and I think that as a club we can feel justifiably proud of the following paragraph. ‘Newdigate has made a substatial contribution to the success of the league both through their performance and conduct on the field and their hospitality off the field. It is very disappointing for the league to be losing such a club but I understand your reasons and wish you every success in the future.’ Our request for our 3rd XI to remain in the Surrey Downs League will be determined at the league AGM.

The Community Foundation for Surrey is dedicated to assisting organisations run by volunteers and as part of their ‘A Celebration of Giving’ ran a photographic competition. We entered a picture of our girl cricketers and it received a commendation and the picture along with details of the cricket club have been displayed at Guildford Cathedral for the past month. We attended a reception on the 9th February and explained to visitors all about the activities of the cricket club. Amongst our visitors were Councillor Bridget Lewis-Carr who is the Chairman of Mole Valley District Council and Mr Gordon Lee Steere of Jayes Park in Ockley who explained that his family used to own Newdigate’s former cricket ground at Parkgate. Unfortunately our application to the Foundation for funding for our net improvement scheme has been rejected due to there being so many pressures on the limited amount of money they have available and seeing the number of worthy causes at the reception it is easy to see why.

January

Went to a fascinating session at the Surrey Cricket Centre on the 31st January to see the Surrey elite u14s and 15s go through their paces. The ECBCA coaches present were allowed to ask questions throughout. We saw fitness and conditioning exercises designed especially for cricket and this was followed by a psychology session from Rebecca Symes. This was fascinating and the interaction from the boys and coaches was excellent – it was all about handling pressure. Matthew Syed’s book ‘Bounce’ was mentioned many times and I can certainly recommend it although you would not necessarily agree with everything he writes. The last hour was spent on bowling and batting. One batter faced short pitched tennis balls with the machine set at 83 mph. Another used hard balls but set at 70mph. An off-break bowler was taught the use of the crease. Three pace bowlers had to bowl through a restricted area to maintain correct alignment at the point of delivery and another batter was using his feet to a Merlin machine set for spin. These boys have come through the system and now the full weight of Surrey’s coaching staff is behind them as they atttempt to get selected for the Academy.

There is a nice article in the winter issue of the Association of Cricket Officials (ACO) newsletter about our own Pierre Tartari. Pierre is retiring from the Executive Team at Lords where he became the pioneering editor of the newsletter turning it from a four sided broadsheet into a much anticipated magazine. He was also the ‘eyes and ears’ for the team of what he called ‘real’ cricket as an active umpire with the Surrey ACO officiating in all forms of cricket. I can do no better than quote the magazine – ‘Pierre’s independent spirit and robust views were sometimes more bruising than soothing to those who may have been the targets, but the motives were sound, and I suspect that his questioning of processes and people will continue.’ Now that sounds like our Pierre.

Our leaf clearing request pretty well fell on deaf ears as only about ten people turned up on the suggested day. Saturday, 28th January. Those who did come worked very hard and cleared all the leaves on the west side of the ground towards the woods which will give the grass there a chance to grow. There are still leaves around the square and in the nets to be cleared and acorns under the trees on the east side. This job is really case of ‘many hands make light work’ so an even bigger thanks are due to those who volunteered.

At the AGM of the Fuller’s League our application to join was agreed unanimously.

Congratulations to Annette Jordan, Stephen Kehl and Barry Jordan who have all achieved their UKCC1 coaching award on the 22nd January.

The AGM was held on the 15th January 2012 courtesy of the Newdigate Bowls Club. Considering that two key issues were to be discussed, namely the new pavilion development and our entry into the Fuller’s County League, it was disappointing that only just over thirty people attended. All the committee had agreed to stand so they were duly voted in. The following captains were appointed Richard Callcut (Sat 1st XI), Bill Turner (Sat 2nd XI), Will Bowley (Sat 3rd XI), Craig Jones (Sun 1st XI), Matt Dilger (Sun 2nd XI), Stephen Kehl (Surrey Trust Development League) and Graham Capel will co-ordinate the Midweek XI. There was a lengthy discussion with regards to our entering the Fuller’s League. There were some abstentions but everyone else voted in favour. Nobody voted against. Our entry will be subject to ratification at the Fuller’s AGM but it has their committee approval. The situation regarding our 3rd XI was left in abeyance as the general feeling was that it should stay in the Surrey Downs League but that will need their approval. A presentation was given outlining the current position with regards to the pavilion development and once the tree survey is finished a formal planning application will be presented to Mole Valley.