With the Ashes well and truly lost we thought that you might like to see these pictures from Brisbane when we were still full of optimism. This is Mike Cooper’s grandson who lives in Australia meeting the stars.

On the 16th December a group of members went to the club to do loads of jobs before the winter sets in. Here they are, hard at work.

November

We had a call from Vice President Dave Harris who said that he had a load of coaching gear that he wanted to donate to the club. ” You will need a van though”. So we jumped into the camper van and drove to deepest Hereford, Almeley in fact. We spent a convivial afternoon and evening with Dave and Sue and loaded the camper to the scuppers. Kwik cricket equipment, balls, stumps, bats etc. etc. All of which will be put to good use. Dave sends his best wishes to everyone who remembers him.

Lots of work going on at the club on Tuesday, 14th November during a particularly mild spell. Derek has mown the square and spiked it and it is really looking good. Also the nets have been de-weeded and de-mossed.

The Fuller’s League dinner was held at Sandown Park on the 10th November and it was quite a night for the club.

Before proceedings began a minutes silence was held in memory of two players who had passed away. It was then announced that a sportsmanship trophy would be awarded each year in memory of Mark Collin and Newdigate was announced as the first recipient.

Graham Gooch was the guest of honour and he entertained everyone with a lively speech and presented the awards. Not only did we win the first division championship and cup runner-up trophies but we were named as Team of the Month for August/September. To complete the evening we won no less than FOUR raffle prizes.

All together a great night for the club.

Fuller’s Dinner

Charlie Major and Allan Cooperreceive the Mark Collin Shield from the Effingham Chairman

The Mark Collin Shield

Allan Cooper receives the Cup Runner-up trophy from Graham Howgate

Cricket Club of the Month Award

Graham Gooch presents Allan Cooper with the First Division Winners Trophy

The Trophy

Paul Bettesworth wins two ODI tickets

Dave Arnold wins a Surrey shirt

Stephen Kehl wins a pair of pads

Paul wins a bat signed by Keaton Jennings

A Good Night’s Work

October

Congratulations to James Penfold and the team who organised a brilliant and record breaking bonfire evening on the 27th October.

On the 23rd and 24th October, Notts Sports did the refurbishment of the nets in their customary professional manner. They installed new matting for both batting ends and used the sound area of the old batting ends to replace the bowling ends. They put in shock pads at both the batting and bowling ends to help maintain levels. We have to thank Mole Valley District Council, the Surrey County Playing Fields Association and the Surrey Cricket Foundation who assisted us with funding for this project.

We originally hoped to have the batting ends completely relaid and a new cage and netting but our funding applications to the London Marathon Charitable Trust and the Surrey Community Foundation were not successful. However, although we will probably not see an improvement in the consistency of bounce the nets will be safe and usable even in damp conditions….. and there are no holes in the batting ends.

NOW

BEFORE

On the 14th October the club held its Awards Presentation Evening. Many thanks to Tricia and Christina for providing a magnificent spread of food. A collection was made in aid of Mark Collins’ family and the Air Ambulance Service and over £200 was raised.

Some of the successful 1stXI receive the applause of the audience.

Paul Hughes receives the 1st XI bowling award from Allan Cooper

Allan Cooper received the ‘Player’s Player award from Roger Bailey

Dave Wrightson received the 2nd XI batting award from Charlie Major

Charlie and Penners display the Sunday batting and bowling awards won by Cody Irvine

Paul Hughes received the Brian Chamberlain award for bowling

The President and Chairman present Fiona Kehl with the Junior Clubman of the Year award

Mike Ashkuri receives the midweek batting award from Graham Capel

Lee Brien with the Midweek fielding award

Barry Wiles receives the Midweek bowling award

Graham Capel

Roger Bailey was awarded the Midweek Player of the Season trophy

The Autumn preparation is now finished but it didn’t happen without difficulties. Suddenly the rain tipped down just as Derek and Julian were scarifying – here they are in the falling rain.

All done.

September

With the season now over and we sit back and remember past exploits on the field we thought that readers might be interested in this clip sent to us by a local historian of a match which took place over 100 years ago:

A little detail that you might like (or wince over!) from the newspaper archives. It’s a cricket match in June 1909, between the Westcott and the Newdigate and Parkgate clubs, played at Westcott . Westcott batted first and declared at 119 runs, with two wickets in hand. Newdigate then went in, and were either wildly outclassed or unable to cope with a demon bowler, as the scores of their first five batsmen read 3, 1, 2, 1, and 0. After that there was one man not out 2, and five who are recorded as ‘absent, 0’. I have a mental image of the dismissed batsmen and the tail-enders sitting together in the pavilion watching the disaster unfold and deciding that, with a score of 9 and 100 runs behind, there was no point in continuing the humiliation, and the only thing that could improve the situation was an immediate retreat to the nearest pub to drown their sorrows.

After the Colts/Coaches match we held the annual Junior Awards evening. This was the 25th summer of junior coaching at Newdigate. Constantin, Ian, Tricia and the team fired up the barbecue. The burgers and sausages were great! Well over a hundred people attended and the pavilion was packed. Chris and Marcus Haigh met the 2018 Russell Haigh Bursary winners. Don Jones and Nick Procter presented their trophies which they originally donated when the junior section was founded in 1993 and 97 years old Marion Hales, the wife of our former President Colin Hales, also came and enjoyed seeing the pictures of her husband and son on the corridor wall.

On Sunday, 24th September we held the annual Colts vs. Coaches match and the coaches were victorious.

‘My dear old thing’. Henry Blofeld gave his final commentary at Lords on Saturday, 9th September. Who remembers him commentating at Newdigate during the Lashings match? Greenwich bowled by Crook. ‘My word, Crook has stolen the wicket of the great Gordon Greenwich.’ Farewell Blowers.

Who compared Paul Hughes’s bowling action to the Ministry of Silly Walks!!

6th September, early morning and Cody is on his way home. Bon Voyage and it’s been great to have you with us.

On the 3rd September, President Andrew Major celebrated his 75th birthday at the club whilst Newdigate was playing Southern Rail, Kenley & Selsdon in the league cup final at Old Paulines. The birthday party was a great success but the cup final, played in drizzling rain, was not a success as we lost, but as everyone said ‘that was the icing on the cake’.

The 1st XI had an emphatic win against Roehampton to win the first division of the Fuller’s Surrey County League. This was a fantastic achievement. At times the team played brilliantly, but they were always a ‘team’ with everyone supporting each other even during difficult times. Well done lads, you thoroughly deserved it.

What about the sculpture made from the stump of the dead oak tree behind the pavilion? A real work of art to be enjoyed by generations to come. Kindly sponsored by Simon Cryer.

Under 10 player, Dexter Duthie raised over £1000 for the Altzheimer’s Society. He grew his hair for a year and he did it in memory of his departed grand mother. Very many congratulations.

August

On the 28th August ‘ Prosecco’ Cricket came to Newdigate. This was designed as a fun filled, family day, for the ladies of the club. We fielded one team of ladies and a team of girls and Pyrford CC brought a team along which was supplemented by Vicki Howard and some more Newdigate ladies. Harry Ellis came down from Surrey to score and Andrew Major and Pierre Tartari umpired. Each team played each other and a lot of spectators from the village saw three interesting matches with our girls beating Pyrford by one run to win the competition. Constantin Mitran and Glen McGarrigle ran a brilliant barbecue and our Chairman poured copious quantities of Prosecco for the ladies. We are grateful to the ECB who funded the Prosecco and barbecue which enabled us to provide the refreshments without charge.

A two minutes silence was held at the ground as a mark of respect for Mark Collin who sadly died a week ago at our ground.

Our match against Thames Ditton attracted a lot of supporters and they weren’t disappointed as Newdigate eased to a good win which puts them in pole position to win the league. It was great to see Dan Procter, visiting the UK from Australia, paying us a visit. Here are a few pictures showing the happy supporters.

Pic. 1. Dave Wrightson, Dave Freeman, Mike Cooper, John Callcut, Bill Turner. Pic. 2. Dan Procter & Don Jones. pic. 3. James and Paul Bettesworth, Dan Procter, Dan and Craig Jones.

A bit of normality returned to the club when we held the annual summer camp for juniors from the 20th – 25th August. Our young boys and girls enjoyed a week of fun filled games and activities.

There are times when events transcend cricket and put our favourite game into perspective. On the 19th August, Newdigate hosted a key match and bowled Effingham out for 83. During the interval, just as he was going out to field, their player Mark Collin felt unwell. His colleagues took to the field but Mark had a seizure. Our boys rushed to Bob’s Shop and fetched the defibrillator. The emergency services were called and then two air ambulances arrived. Mark was rushed to King’s College Hospital but to no avail as he didn’t make it. We are especially proud of Charlie Major and Cody Irvine who operated the defibrillator and did everything possible to save him. Our thoughts are now with Mark’s family and everyone at Effingham Cricket Club. If you wish to send your condolences then this is the link: http://effinghamcc.co.uk/condolences/. The club will be sending condolences to Mark Collin’s family.

On the 6th August we hosted Godalming in the league cup semi-final. Our visitors batted first and posted a competitive 185 from their 45 overs. Ruky Wickremasinghe was run out but Richard Callcut and Cody Irvine steadied the ship and steered Newdigate to a competitive nine wicket win.

A big crowd enjoyed the summer sunshine and some excellent cricket.

July

Over the past nine months we have been trying to raise funds for refurbishing the nets. This involved replacing the cage and netting with material to the latest standards. We also planned to replace the batting and bowling ends and have the batting bases relaid to ensure a consistent bounce. This work came to just over £20,000 incl. VAT. Finding a funding body to support this work proved very difficult as the money is just not available. Sport England has had its funding dramatically reduced and Lords’ Taverners no longer support net projects. We were relying upon a big application to the London Marathon Charitable Trust but unfortunately this was rejected as the Trust is now majoring on projects involving getting new people into sports and our project did not meet that criteria. We have been successful in raising some money via Mole Valley District Council (£1,000), the Surrey Cricket Foundation (£2,000) and the Surrey County Playing Fields Association (£1,000). Together with some money from club funds we have arrived at a compromise for both lanes. The bowling matting will be removed. The batting mat will be lifted and the good material (8 mtrs) will be used for the bowling ends. The foundations will be levelled and compacted and new batting mats installed including special, strengthened material where the batsman stands. Our contractor, Notts Sports, is UNABLE to guarantee the bounce as this can only be done if the foundations are completely relaid and this would cost an extra £5,000. However, they will do their best, within the budget, to get an improvement. The first 1.5 mtrs, where the bounce is non-existent, will not be improved as the mat, when originally laid by a different contractor, was put straight on to the earth. The work will be done in the Autumn. The nets will not be able to be used for at least two weeks after completion but doing it then will enable it to settle down over the winter.

On a damp Saturday Jim Bell and his daughter made a nostalgic trip to Newdigate. He opened the bowling for the club in the 1960s. Here’s a picture with him, ball in hand, holding a 1969 fixture card.

On Tuesday, 25th July John Callcut took part in the cricket forum entitled ‘On the Front Foot’ at Susy Radio. Click here to hear the discussion:
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/ba50f5ebe13cbe3921d94f46513ae33020170727190645/837e0748c37b3d5671c6fd3fe0d71cfa20170727190645/9d2c69

Members of the cricket club experience all emotions. Witness these two pictures. The first XI had a comprehensive win against league leaders Chaldon M.O. and celebrations were in order. At the same match was latest member Oliver Robert Bettesworth who was not impressed. You have to admire Cody’s power of recovery though, as the next day he blasted 155 not out!

As a result of us being joint first in the country with Rowledge CC in achieving our renewed Clubmark accreditation under the new system, our juniors were invited to be Guard of Honour at the Oval for the Surrey vs. Somerset 20/20 match. A huge crowd of supporters from the club also attended. They witnessed Aaron Finch smashing the ball all over the ground for Surrey and Corey Anderson leading a terrific fightback with some of the cleanest hitting you are ever likely to see. (In 2014 he set what was then the record for the fastest ever ODI century at Queenstown against the West Indies – 36 balls) Surrey won this match on the last ball. In the sweltering heat we were packed like sardines in the train going home but it was an altogether happy day and thanks must go to Harry Ellis from Surrey and Roger Bailey for co-ordinating the day.

Congratulations to Charlie Major and Matt Clarke who posted the second highest partnership in the club’s history when they scored 246 against Long Ditton on the 8th July. This is also the best opening partnership ever recorded beating the previous record set by Dan Jones and Matt Ross in 2002. Charlie, having scored his maiden century, just a couple of weeks ago, is in the form of his life. It is also good having Matt back with us again. Spare a thought for Mark Rance who sat with his pads on throughout the innings and faced just one ball (which he hit for four!).

Also a belated congratulations must go to father and son – Ian and Andrew Kehl who a few weeks ago broke the record tenth wicked partnership. Their 75 broke the previous record of 74 set by Peter Pople and Jack Bowley in 2006.

What with Bill Turner and Jack Bowley breaking the highest seventh wicket partnership this has been a vintage year for batting.

June

It is with much sadness that we have to announce that Norma Cooper lost her brave fight with cancer and died at Princess Alice’s Hospice in Esher on Monday, 19th June. She was surrounded by her family. After Mike retired from cricket in 2003 both he and Norma became regular supporters of the club and could be seen at most of the first team matches right up to the end of the 2016 season. They were a devoted couple. We send our condolences to Mike and all his loving family.

We have had a total of 36 young people who have signed up to ‘All Stars’ Cricket and have attended the weekly sessions.

Sunday the 18th June was a busy day for Newdigate juniors. In the excellent Capel Six-a Side the under 9s won their first three matches, then lost by one run and then lost their final match thus failing to qualify.

The under 11s reached the semi-final and lost to Southern Rail, Kenley & Selsdon.

Our girls represented Mole Valley at the Surrey Youth Games. They lost to Elmbridge but beat Epsom & Ewell. Unfortunately they came last on count-back. They had a consolation by beating Guildford.

…….. and the u10s had a match at Sanderstead which they won.

The Summer Party was held at the club on the 17th June. It was part of the national get-together to commemorate the life of Jo Cox. A good time was had by all.

On the 15th June we hosted the Dorking Schools’ Girls Kwik Cricket competition. Five schools competed and St. Pauls, Surrey Hills and Surrey Downs each lost one game so it was down to who scored the most runs and St. Pauls won by the narrowest of margins. They will now play in the County finals at Epsom College.

Lots of publicity around the village for the Summer Party on the 23rd June courtesy of Jackson-Stops & Staff

Wow! Charlie Major scores his maiden century as he steers the second eleven to a fine win against West End Esher. You never ever forget your first century so many congratulations.

May

We have now reached our target of 30 under 7s who have signed up for All Stars Cricket.

The 23rd and 24th May saw the final Chance to Shine sessions for years one and two at Newdigate Infants School. Over the past five weeks the children have learned the basic cricketing skills culminating in fun filled ‘diamond cricket’. Not certain who enjoyed it the most – the teachers or the children!

On the 23rd May the club hosted the Dorking Schools’ Boys Kwik Cricket Competition. Seven local primary schools competed and over 80 young players took part over the day. The event was organised by Rona Ottaway from North Downs School and congratulations are due to St. Pauls who beat North Downs in a high class final. St. Josephs beat St. Martins to gain the bronze medal.

The club has received messages from Simon Hards (Cricket Participation and Business Development Manager for Surrey CCC) and Leshia Hawkins (Head of Participation for the ECB – London region) congratulating us upon gaining our Clubmark re-accreditation following the site visit on the 19th May. We, together with Rowledge CC, are the first clubs in the COUNTRY to officially re-accredit via the new ECB on-line system which was introduced in 2017 following a year’s long consultation period.

Andrew Mayne and Simon Wells have both just passed their UKCC2 examination. Congratulations are due to both of them because it is a very intensive course and the final assessment is particularly nerve racking. Well done.

Midweek stalwart, Mike Young, has had a torrid time of it recently. He returned to his native Australia to have major back surgery. This appeared to have gone well but then he got an infection which has resulted in the removal of his gall bladder and appendix. Our thoughts are with Mike and Prue at this difficult time.

The league got underway on the 6th May with the firsts having a good win against Shepperton and the seconds lost a desperately close game against Weybridge Vandals. The first round of the cup was played on the Sunday and we won a high scoring match against Whiteley Village.

April

Excellent weekend with two good wins against Leigh and the Bushmen. Congratulations to Dave Wrightson who scored his maiden century for the club.

Junior cricket started on Friday, 21st April and despite a number of absentees due to a rugby tour there was a fantastic attendance and lots of adults stayed and had a drink.

We have had a load of insulation panels delivered which will hopefully lessen the echo in the main hall. Andrew and Cody take a break whilst putting them on the ceiling.

Vicki Howard and Harry Ellis from Surrey joined John Callcut at Newdigate Infants School to present All Stars Cricket. Here they are with Tricia Morbey.

On the 18th April, Simon Wells completed his supported practices for his UKCC2 accreditation. He, along with Andrew Mayne now just have to complete their final assessment. Here is Simon in action.

The ground was ready to welcome Dorking for the first match of the season on the 15th April. Dorking’s Ben Overton obviously took a liking to the pitch as he scored a brilliant century to get his season off to a fine start.

We have now successfully completed the new on-line ECB Clubmark documentation and it has been approved. We will be inspected during a Friday evening junior session. For being one of the first clubs to have submitted an application using the new system our girls have been invited to be Guard of Honour at the Surrey vs. Somerset T20 match at the Oval on the 9th July.

On the 3rd April, Roger Bailey attended the All Stars Cricket activators course at the Surrey Cricket Centre, Burpham.

Throughout the country cricket clubs take part in the NatWest Cricket Force scheme which is designed to encourage cricket clubs to get everything ready for the forthcoming season and do all those jobs that never seem to get done. On the 1st April a group of members gathered at the club and managed to get lots of jobs completed. Here they are:

March

We attended a Cricket Club Forum at Reigate Hill Golf Club on the 21st March. Paul Taylor gave a presentation about the current Surrey set up and Simon Hards explained the new on-line Clubmark procedures. Most revealing, Lawrie Baker from Active Surrey who gave a talk about funding, said that Sport England’s allocation has been cut by 60%. We really secured our funding for the pavilion just in time as now there is far less money out there for sports club. What happened to the 2012 legacy??

Andrew Mayne with the help of John Callcut has been conducting his six supported practices as he works towards his UKCC2 qualification. He has been training a mixed group of years 3 and 4 at the Weald Primary School.

The Russell Haigh Bursary has been enjoyed by all the players. Poor Fiona Kehl has broken a finger playing netball so her place for the remaining two sessions has been taken by Oliver Wells. Here they are with their coaches.

The under 9s with their coach, Ben

The under 11s with their coach Sophie Pout

The under 13s and 15s with Jeremy Greaves

We are delighted to be able to tell you that Cody Irvine will be our overseas player for 2017. He is 24 years old and will be arriving from Australia about the 17th April.

We see in the local paper that two of our girls, Megan McLoughlin and Amelia Brien have been starring for Mole Valley Girls u13s football team. Megan scored a late goal against Molesey Juniors guiding her team into the final of the Surrey County Cup.

We have signed up to All Stars Cricket. This is a new ECB initiative aimed at encouraging under 7s to play cricket. There will be heavy advertising throughout schools and the media. Young players who sign up get a bag of kit and will attend the special All Stars Cricket sessions which will be run by our specially trained activator – none other than our Chairman, Roger Bailey.

February

Welcome to our new website. I hope that you like the clearer text. We have moved from Dreamweaver to WordPress which is much easier to manage.

Good news, Craig Jones has agreed to take over from Mick Randle as fixture secretary.

Unfortunately we have been unable to raise a team from our girl cricketers so we have withdrawn from the Swimarathon scheduled for the 11th March.

January

Congratulations to Finn Osborne who has made is debut for Dorking Rugby Club’s 1st team. He joins his brother Cameron.

The Burns Night has been cancelled due to lack of interest. This has been successful in the past so commiserations to Andy and Christina Wood who have put so much effort into getting a piper, arranging publicity etc.

Health Watch – Bill Turner is skipping around again after his hip replacement, Steve Jones has had his appendix removed, John Callcut is awaiting more tests following four months of cellulitis, Mike Cooper’s ablation has been successful and he’s getting up stairs without losing breath. Norma Cooper is not too well at the moment so our thoughts are with the Cooper family at this moment in time.

The leaf collectors are back again to clear the last of the leaves.

We have heard that the television programme, screened by the Russian film crew in 2013 and 2014, has been broadcast across Russia. Here is a picture to remind you. We will never forget our attempts to describe the laws of cricket to Vladimir Pozner who is the Russian equivalent of David Dimbleby ! If you follow this link and go to 28 minutes you can see our section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx_iOvpe0Iw

The AGM was held at the pavilion on the 8th January. All the committee had agreed to stand for re-election except Mick Randle who was stepping down from his post as Fixture Secretary. A new position of Club Captain was proposed and Charlie Major agreed to accept this position. He would no longer be able to continue as Assistant Junior Co-Ordinator so Andrew Mayne agreed to step in.

Allan Cooper and Paul Bettesworth agreed to continue as captains of the Saturday 1st XI and Saturday 2nd XIs respectively and Stephen Kehl and Jack Bowley will be their vice captains. There will be no 3rd XI in 2017. Ruky Wickremasinghe stepped down as Sunday captain. As no replacment could be found from the meeting it was agreed to ask the overseas player to take the position in liaison with the Club Captain. No replacement fixture secretary could be found.

Steve Jones, the treasurer presented a satisfactory set of accounts showing that the club had made a profit in excess of £2000 and Simon Cryer presented an overview of the limited company’s financial position and the satisfactory conclusion of the dispute with HMRC.