On the 14th December coaches Paul Griffiths, Ross Hamilton and John Callcut attended a Sports Psychology Course run by Active Surrey. Lots of new ideas for next season.

The MCC comes to Newdigate. We seem to be attracting the top names as we have recently welcomed the last two Presidents of the MCC to the village. Derek Underwood re-opened the nets and on the 7th December, John Barclay came to the Surrey Oaks to run a charitable auction of cricket ephemera. His enthusiasm and love for the game is infectious and he treated the audience to an excellent speech full of wit and humour. A really good evening for the cricket lovers. Andy Meads bought a plaque showing the development of cricket bats (as if he needs any more bats!) and I bought some programmes only to get home and find that I already had the main one. So if anyone wants to buy a 1987 Centenary Programme (the game in which Roger Harper ran out Graham Gooch in the most amazing piece of fielding you could ever see) it is yours for £5.00. It was also great to speak to John on a one to one basis on such thorny subjects as television rights and bowling restrictions for young players! An evening to remember.

November 2009

The Surrey Downs League Presentation Evening took place at Dorking Rugby Club on the 27th November. Many people were surprised to see Mr Brown, in his winter habitat, providing everyone with an excellent lasagne and salad. We were delighted,once again (for the third time) to be presented with the Sportsmanship Award which this year we shared with Netherne CC. Richard Callcut won the first division award presented to the batsman who scored the most runs and coach, Paul Griffiths, won the bowling award for taking the most wickets in the fourth division whilst playing for Tadworth 2nd XI.

A cricket net has been booked at the Oriel School, Maidenbower during the morning of the 29th November. This is a show of unprecedented keenness so if you wish to go contact Paul Bettesworth for more details.

The Dinner and Dance, held at the Russ Hill Hotel on the 14th November, proved to be a great success. The food was good and plentiful and the dance floor was hardly ever empty. This is an event attended by young and old alike and is a thoroughly happy occasion. Congratulations to Craig Jones and his helpers for creating a memorable evening. In the morning Simon Capel organised the Annual Golf Day at Rusper and in atrocious weather, Dan Jones won the cup.

Life President, Colin Hales and his wife Marion

Andrew and Jane Major

Matt Clarke receiving Junior Clubman of the Year award

At a special ceremony at Dorking Halls on the 13th November, the club was awarded ‘Sports Club of the Year’ and Craig Jones ‘Senior Most Improved Player’. The awards are chosen by the Mole Valley Sports Council and we were presented with a handsome trophy by Michael Watson (Chairman of the Sports Council), Gerry Ceaser (Patron of the Surrey Youth Games) and Tim Hall (Chairman of Mole Valley District Council). This is a prestigious award and is testament to the enormous progress the club has made over the past ten years. Many thanks to Tricia Kehl for submitting our nomination.

On the 11th November, in pouring rain, we loaded up all our ground equipment onto Owen Winser’s trailer so that it can all be refurbished ready for next season.

Bonfire night, 6th November and wouldn’t you just believe it. Just like the cricket season. The heavens opened half an hour before the gates opened and teamed it down until half an hour after the fireworks had finished when the clouds broke up. Nevertheless, we had a pretty good turnout and thanks to everyone who helped. We thought that the fireworks were a bit tame at the beginning but they got better and were pretty spectacular at the end. Nick Crawford timed the fireworks at 17 minutes!

Have you seen the Dorking Advertiser of the 5th November? Juniors, Harvey Mewis, Harry Ramsey and Stephen Kehl have been banging in the goals and former coach, Geoff Cox, is trying to start a Dorking Bank!

Ruky has been to the AGM of the Surrey Trust League and has come back with some very interesting fixtures. He is clearly excited with the prospect of playing against some top clubs on fine grounds.

Congratulations to all our juniors who attended the Surrey County Cricket Club assessments and have been either selected for the county, moving on to assesment 2 or have been selected for their District team. Over 600 young players were looked at so you can be proud of your achievement. I would, however, like to say a word about those who were not successful this time. This is just the start of a journey and your coach recommended you because you have talent, and by attending the assessment you get an idea of the sort of standard you need to attain. So work hard with your coaches next season and if you continue to improve your game then you will again be recommended.

The gentle rain and warm sunshine have been perfect for excellent growth on the square as you can see from this picture taken on the 17th October. The ground looks autumnal but we have never seen such a carpet of acorns which have dropped from the trees in the middle of the ground. 15 barrow loads were removed from the outfield and dumped on the bonfire.

Talking of the bonfire have you all seen our new banner advertising the event? Do come along and don’t forget help is needed on the day and also on Saturday morning. John Hanson who sells the fluorescent tubes has agreed to donate £500 from the sales to go towards the pavilion fund.

October 2009

The winter preparation has now been completed by Owen Winser. Incongruously, after all the rain we have had this summer the ground is looking drier than at any time this year. Thankfully gentle rain fell throughout the 5th and 6th October so we should get some good grass growth.

So where was everyone for the pitch clear up on the 3rd October? As usual there was excellent support from the midweek team but just THREE weekend players bothered to turn up. This is simply UNFARE and puts too much work on the few.

September 2009

Poor, poor Mr Brown – is he upset that the season has ended ? Has someone slipped behind the bar without telling him ? No, Nick Crawford ‘distracted’ him and the suds escaped from the sink and spread all across the floor. This is his reaction to Nick’s uncontrolled laughter.

The season finally came to an end with an exciting match against a young, Chipstead, Coulsdon and Walcountians team at the Brocus on the 26th September. Our last pair of Ruky Wickremasinghe and Stephen Kehl saw us home to victory. It was a good game for Ruky and Richard Callcut who both passed the 1000 runs for the season. You can tell that the end of the season was here as football and cricket were played concurrently and the Chipstead supporters had to wrap themselves up in blankets. G.D. Martineau summed up the end of the season when he wrote – ‘Let cheers resound for cricket-folk whose love’s a steady flame, their fervour crowned with deeds of derring-do and fairest fame and glad remembrance of a glorious game’.

Due to increased commitments at the shop Paul Bettesworth will not be attending to the square after the end of this season. He has been doing it since 2005 so on behalf of all the players we would like to say a big thank you. We are now on the lookout for a new groundsman and we have already approached the Surrey Association of Groundsman but it is no small task, as sixty matches have been played on the square and that does not include the forty junior matches which were played on the artificial pitch !

The lads played in the Aarvold Cup Semi-Final at Pixham Lane, Dorking and lost to a strong Dorking team.

Thanks to everyone who has collected Tesco vouchers throughout the summer. We’ve been able to get a lot of junior balls for next season.

The junior season finished when the under 15s took on the coaches and parents on the 3rd September. Great fun was had by all and the pride of the adults remained intact as they taught the juniors the finer arts ofour great game – ahem! A full report can be found in the under 15 result section.

We had a phone call from the Centurion Cricket Academy asking if they could return to Newdigate to finish off their tour before returning the next day to Mumbai, and we were of course absolutely delighted to welcome them back to the Brocus. After some heavy rain in the morning the pitch dried out and we had a good afternoon’s cricket. A full report can be found in the under 15 results section but this was another very happy occasion and our boys thoroughly enjoyed the experience of playing against some very classy cricketers.

Matt Clarke receives Newdigate Man of the Match from Mahesh Hatkar and Yogesh Kaudare.

Alex Miller receives a special award from the Centurion President, Ravi as John Callcut looks on

August 2009

The 6-a-Side competition on the 30th August was organised by Simon Capel and raised about £1500 for Diabetes UK. We had a record team entry and used two pitches and many congratulations to the Football Club (what a year they’ve had!) for winning the main competition and the under 13s for winning the Consolation. The previous week the under 13s played the Midweek Side and one of the senior players mentioned that the youngsters should not be taken easily – how true that was. How nice it was to welcome Newdigate Cricket Club from Warwickshire and let’s hope that this event will establish a firm relationship – the Six Bells will no doubt endorse that !

Our dreams of becoming champions of the Surrey Downs League faded after the joy of winning our last match against Albury, when news filtered through that Westcott had beaten South Nutfield and thus denied us. Westcott lost less games than us and have become worthy champions but we can rue losses against Ockham and Claygate, two of the bottom teams because if we had won those matches then we would have been clear winners. Anyway, congratulations to Richard Callcut and his team on a great season. The Second XI will be pleased to see the end of this season and to regroup as they will feel more comfortable playing against other second elevens next sesaon in division three.

Over the next two weeks sixteen Newdigate junior players will be going for their Phase 1 Assessments with Surrey. They along with about four hundred other youngsters will be seen by Surrey and the better players given the chance to play for Surrey District or even the full Surrey team in their respective age group. Last season seven Newdigate players represented Surrey Central District and one, Marley Bygrave played for Surrey under 10s so we wish all these players the very best of luck and we will keep our fingers crossed for them all.

The R & K Strollers came, they saw and conquered our midweek team. As a reward they took the fornicating pigs trophy away with them which will at least save the under 9 and 11s coaches embarrassing moments trying to explain the unusual pig ‘stance’. The match coincided with Mr Browns sixty something birthday and as the picture shows he had a good time and was ably assisted by Sally-Ann and Hannah.

Have you seen the new, ultra cool midweek team shirts? Here’s Dave Riley modelling the latest version and looking very smart too!

On the 13th August the Centurion Cricket Academy from Mumbai came to Newdigate to play a forty over match against our juniors aged from 13-18. They only landed the night before but there was no evidence of jet lag as they arrived over an hour before the scheduled start time and conducted a series of exercises and drills. They batted first and thanks to some controlled bowling and excellent catches from Henry Warne, Thomas Ball and Stephen Kehl our visitors were restricted to 211-7. In reply we were handily placed on 65-2 after 15 overs due partly to the bowlers inability to control the swing. With the advent of two leg spinners Newdigate rapidly subsided and were all out for 118. This was a memorable game and a great opportunity for our youngsters to play against some very classy cricketers. The match was played in a great spirit and we hope that our visitors, for most it was there first ever visit to the UK, had a really good time.

Centurion Cricket Academy from Mumbai

Youvraj receiving the Man of the Match Award from Andrew Major

Stephen Kehl receiving an award from Mahesh Hatkar with Yogesh Kaudare looking on.

On the12th August a group of Newdigate members went to the Oval to see the NatWest Pro 40 match between Surrey and Glamorgan. We were awarded the free tickets by Surrey for participating in the NatWest Cricket Force 2009 initiative at the start of the season and completing a questionaire.

We had a busy couple of days at the club. On the 4th August we hosted the under 11 match between Surrey and Warwickshire in which Surrey snatched an improbable victory when the cause seemed lost. There were upwards of about a hundred players, coaches, officials and supporters and after a bad start weather-wise we were blessed with a dry spell which enabled the match to take place. On the following day our youngsters were Guard of Honour at the Surrey versus Derbyshire NatWest Pro 40 match at the Whitgift School at Croydon. A coach left Newdigate at 11.30 am and the party arrived in good time for the match. The boys and some parents saw a high scoring match in which Derbyshire managed to overhaul Surrey’s total of 282. A tired but happy group arrived back at Newdigate at 7.15 pm.

July 2009.

Following the disappointment of losing in the Surrey Trust Development League attention turned to the under 11s who had to beat Lingfield to become champions of their division in the East Surrey Colts League. This side were unbeaten and their opponents had lost two matches but due to the fact that Newdigate had lost points due to cancellations owing to bad weather everything was on this game. Whether it was due to nerves we don’t know but Newdigate never got going and ended on a below par 266, the first time they had failed to pass 300. A highly disciplined Lingfield side passed the required total and then sensibly blocked out the last four overs. On the day Newdigate was beaten by the better side but the look on the dejected boy’s faces told the whole disappointing story.

When we entered the Surrey Trust Development League we were told that we would probably lose all our games but it will be good experience for the younger players. Imagine our pleasure and anticipation as we drove down to Normandy on a wet and windy day with the prospect of winning just this one match to become league champions and progress through to semi-finals day! Normandy is a small village like Newdigate but with two fantastic grounds and a superb pavilion and they were determined to play the game – they were also unbeaten and fielded a side all under 19 years of age. Our dream was shattered as we were comprehensively outplayed with only Richard Callcut who scored 35 not out reaching double figures. Our total of 79 was easily overhauled and Normandy became deserved champions. This team, skippered by Ruky Wickremasinghe, performed admirably in all the other games and can be proud of their achievements and look forward with optimism to next season.

Is this the season for brilliant catches ? We have seen Richard Callcut take a stunning slip catch, Henry Warne diving full length and snapping up a quarter chance and in the league match against East Horsley on the 25th July, Matt Clarke did his Tom Daley impression and dived to take a full length one handed catch that left the batsman standing in utter bewilderment.

Good to see Ruky and Des back playing cricket although still bruised and battered. Di is still not back to work but she is improving.

Congratulations to the under 14s who have become joint champions of their division in the East Surrey Colts League. They were level on points with Southern Rail Kenley and had a superior run rate but the league rules state that in the event of a tie the winner is decided on the result of the match between the two teams. This match was cancelled due to bad weather so the championship is shared. This is the first time that a Newdigate team has won their league so well done the whole team and manager, Richard Callcut. If the under 11s can beat Lingfield in their final match then they too will become champions.

East Surrey Colts League U14s Joint Champions

There was a happy day at the club on the 19th July when an old Newdigate team came to play the annual match in memory of Jenny Chamberlain. It was a happy day but not one that Andrew Posner will wish to recall in a hurry. He came on to bowl against young Sussex star, Adam Davies, who had already passed his century. He eyed up the short boundary and deposited six 6s in the over, but Andrew don’t despair as it has happened once before at Newdigate when, in the late 1980s, Peter Allen deposited a Tadworth bowler, Peter Kemp, for a maximum in one over.

Newdigate Old Boys after the match

Darren Drew nails Adam Davies

Andrew Posner and Adam Davies shake hands

The two captains – Sam Slade and Julian Chamberlain

Our thoughts and best wishes go to Di, Ruky and Des who were involved in a car smash on Saturday night. They are all bruised and shocked and the car is a right-off but thankfully they are home and let’s pray that each day finds them on the way to recovery.

Congratulations to both Ben Crook and Matt Jee who have been selected to represent the league at the Oval on the 22nd July.

Our schools programme for 2009 finished on the 16th July when we had the final session with year 2 from the Newdigate Infants School. We have presented six ‘Introduction to Cricket’ Courses to Newdigate Infants School, The Weald Junior School and St. John’s Community School in Dorking and hopefully we will see some of these children filtering through into our own coaching scheme. Here are children from Newdigate clearly having a good time….

Congratulations to both Richard Callcut and Dan Jones who have both scored their maiden centuries in the Surrey Downs League. Richard scored 120 against Holmbury St Mary on the 4th July and Dan scored 100 not out at a very damp Westcott on the 11th July.

There was a great party at the club to celebrate Independence Day and so many people entered into the spirit of the event and arrived in costume. Not much sleep for the village as coincidentally a group of bikers were holding their annual rally and party at the bottom of the Brocus.

Have you met our new member! Hand knitted and crafted by Sue Callcut she brought him all the way from the Isle of Wight and presented him to the club during the match against Holmbury St. Mary on the 4th July.

Junior update – 1st July……. The under 15s are joint second, one point behind the leaders. The under 14s are top of their division and they just have to win one out of their last two games to become champions. The under 13s are fifth out of eight but have just secured their first win. The under 11s are second, three points behind the leaders but with a game in hand. The under 10s are second but six points behind the leaders with a game in hand and the under 9s have struggled this year and are ninth out of eleven teams. There have been a number of excellent individual performances. The league compile statistics for all teams and Alex Southon is overall top of the averages having so far scored 239 an impressive average of 59.75 and Jack Wyllie is third and hot on Alex’s heels with an average of 55. Alex Miller is third in the overall bowling averages with an admirable 6.5 and Stephen Kehl is the third highest wicket taker on 18. Special mention must be made of Harry Ramsey who has the best economy rate throughout the league of 3.22. We have five bowlers in the league top 25.

June 2009

The ECB has given us two tickets for the opening ceremony of the ICC Twenty 20 competition and the England vs. Netherlands match at Lords on the 5th June. These were to be given to two volunteer coaches so we had a draw at the club after the junior coaching on Monday and it was won by Craig Jones and Matt Dilger. Richard Hall, Surrey Community Coach, was doing a bowling master class so we asked him to present the tickets to the two lucky winners.

John Callcut attended a course for Volunteer Co-Ordinators at the Surrey Cricket Centre on the 4th June and met Jane Hannah from the ECB who gave him two more tickets for the ICC Twenty 20 competition at Lords and being unable to go himself he gave the tickets to Paul Bettesworth and Saul Gabriel who witnessed the opening ceremony being cancelled due to rain and England losing to the Netherlands ! Sounds like a great day out.

Saturday the 6th June and where’s our cricket team ? All at James Bettesworth’s wedding. Here is James with his bride, Stephanie and a load of cricketers all looking very smart. Hope James keeps his eyes open next time he goes into bat!

Have you seen our new sign ? Looks great doesn’t it ? Thanks to Simon and Kirstie Havard and Rob Owen.

When the rains come we try to get matches played. The under 10s were due to play South Nutfield on the 7th June and overnight rain left the square covered with puddles. The match was moved to the Flicx pitch on the football ground and the game duly started on time in bright sunshine. This turned out to be a memorable ‘half a match’ as Joseph Teague took four wickets and Jonathan Reid his first ever competitive wicket. But late replacement Oliver Turner bowled magnificently and took four wickets for just one run including a hat-trick. After we had bowled our twenty overs the heavens opened and in spite of a vigorous ‘sun dance’ being performed by the under 10s the match was abandoned. As the last cars left the ground the sun came out and shone brilliantly. Our marquee, donated by the Miller family, really came into its own.

We finally played our first Surrey Trust Development League match at home to Camberley on the 21st June. We had a solid win and congratulations must go to Matt Jee who scored his third century for the club. The league has been designed to encourage young players into senior cricket so the team consists of six under 18s with four having to be under 16.

Centurion, Matt Jee shows that he can bowl as well as bat and Jack Bowley has the perfect head position as he delivers a tight spell of leg spin.

Stephen Kehl in full flow and the victorious team, lead by skipper Ruky Wickremasinghe,leaving the field. (No he can’t keep the stump!)

Congratulations to Chris Fox and Craig Jones who have both scored their maiden fifties.

This is the Surrey Trust Development team that narrowly lost to Guildford City on the 28th June.

May 2009

Newdigate entertained Wraysbury in the second round of the nPower Village Knockout Competition on the 3rd May. The boys played some excellent cricket and recorded a fine win against good opposition. As we had won the Scrumpy Jack Masterclass Competition, Alec Stewart OBE and the nPower Girls were in attendance for the afternoon and Alec conducted a net session for a number of our junior players which was quite a thrill for them. We had a very good crowd of supporters to cheer the team on to an excellent victory. Well done Dan Jones who has put the misery of last season firmly behind him with a superb 91 not out. Alec Stewart signed Paul Bettesworth’s gloves and what a difference it made. Paul was lightning behind the stumps and that was in spite of him being best man at Simon Shopland’s wedding the day before. Well done Newdigate. Click on http://www.cricketworld.com/internationalcricketnews/england/community_cricket/article/?aid=20443 to read the official report. Go to the home page to see all the official photographs.

Rucky Wickremasinghe (capt), Alec Stewart and G.Morgan (capt)

The two Chairmen with Alec Stewart

Wraysbury and Newdigate line up

The Newdigate team with Alec Stewart, the nPower Girls and the umpires, cheering spectators and a general view

History repeats itself. Last season Newdigate had a dismal Saturday with both league teams being soundly beaten, but the gloom was lifted as the Patel family cooked one of their legendary curries and spirits were lifted. On the 9th May both league teams were again soundly beaten but who was there to bring a smile to the player’s faces? Yes, the Patel family, and once again their curry night proved to be a resounding success.

Congratulations to the following boys who have all been selected for the Surrey Central District Squad: Under 11s – Andrew Kehl & Charlie Wyllie. Under 12s – Will Roberts. Under 13s – Thomas Ball, Harry Ramsey & Jack Wyllie. Under 15s – Will Bennett & Fraser Mosley.

Have you noticed that our friend the mole has not been digging up our outfield? Mark Lavender, Zach’s Dad, has laid some traps and hopefully he/they will not be bothering us any more. Any ideas about the rabbits ?

A star is born. Under 11 Andrew Kehl played his first game for Surrey Central District and took three wickets, the last two being the last balls of the match. He has just played in his second match and he took a wicket first ball thus securing a brilliant hat-trick. He took four wickets in all, took a catch, was made player of the match and helped district to an unexpected win over Outer London. Andrew is a modest lad and we only knew thanks to his proud Mum.

On the 11th May, during a bitterly cold evening, the Junior Presentation took place. It was well supported and it was good to see the Rev. Andrew Coe and Noelle and the family and our Life President, Colin Hales, in attendance. For pictures, go to the junior section, then awards since 1993.

Congratulations to Newdigate Football Club who won the Dorking Junior Charity Cup for the FIRST time. They beat Mickleham Old Box Hillians in a nail biting final. Two up with a few minutes to go they conceded two late goals and finally won on penalties. Wicket keeper, Paul Bettesworth is just as safe without the gloves, as he saved two penalties to give his side a memorable victory. Medals were presented in the Social Club on Friday, 22nd May.

Don’t you just love our weather? Wednesday, 13th May the under 15s had an away match against Crawley Down. It rained during the day so the match was abandoned, only for the rain to stop and it was fine enough for the mid-week team to get a game in on the Brocus. Next day, the under 14s were playing Southern Rail and Kenley and bowled really well and had the opposition all out for 92 before the rains set in and to rub salt into the wound on the following day the under 11s had Horley at 251 after their 20 overs and feeling very confident of victory as they were padding up the rains came down and washed that game out as well …. and still it continues. On the Sunday the under 10s travelled to Chipstead, the stumps were put up, and down came the rain and the match was abandoned.

Umpire, William Harmsworth after his operation on his hand (the finger that rises meets its demises !)

After the disappointment of having to cancel the Dorking match it was good to see that we had three teams picked for Sunday, 17th May. Both the Journeymen and Cranleigh St Andrews had to be cancelled due to the poor weather but the lads travelled to Berkshire and had a good win against Pinkneys Green in the nPower Village Knockout Competition. They are now through to the area semi finals and will have to play either Frencham or Rowledge.

Our readers might be interested to know that we are now monitoring the number of visits this website receives as we would hate to be wasting our time if no one was reading it. We are delighted to say that we are averaging 27 visits per day which for a small cricket club like ours isn’t bad.

We had a glorious, sunny day for the exciting league match against East Horsley and plenty of vocal support could be heard. It was good to see Puddy and Anita back at the club.

Congratulations to under 13, Jack Wyllie, who scored his maiden fifty for the Sunday 2nds as he guided his team to an impressive win over Merstham.

We may as well crow whilst we can!!! The Saturday 1st XI are top of the league, the under 11s and 14s are top of their leagues, the Sunday 2nds have won five out of five and the Sunday 1sts are in the area semi final of the nPower Village Cup. Of course there is always another side to the story. The under 13s and 15s have been knocked out of their cups, the Saturday 2nds are languishing at the foot of the league as are the under 9s.

It is with much regret that we have to announce the sad death of Peter Martin who had been a stalwart of Mogador Wanderers for over 60 years. For many years he has been a regular visitor to Newdigate and we’ll miss his cheery presence. A Thanksgiving Service for his life was held on the 29th May at St. John’s Church, Pendleton Road, Redhill at 12 noon.

What a difference a week makes. Saturday 1sts lose to Brockham Green in a tense, low scoring match, Saturday 2nds have a gallant losing draw against Tadworth, the Saturday 3rds lose to Kingston Methodists, the Sunday 1sts lose to an extremely strong Rowledge in the nPower Village Cup are semi-final and the Sunday 2nds lose their unbeaten record to the Bushmen who duly celebrated by bringing their own accordian player who entertained everybody as the sun set behind the trees. Still the under 11s and 14s both had good wins and remain unbeaten.

April 2009

In our endeavour to spread cricket to the local schools we have now concluded an agreement to introduce cricket to St John’s C of E Community School of Dorking. Sessions start on the 29th April and pupils from St Joseph’s will also be participating.

On April 4th forty members were at the club under the Natwest Club Force 2009 banner to get the ground and pavilion ready for the new season. Many hands make light work and the nets were put up, the square fencing removed, the holes in the carpark repaired and numerous other jobs were completed so the ground is now ready for the new season.

NatWest Cricket Force 2009 – 4th April 2009 and we are up and ready for the new season.

The indoor nets at Maidenbower finished on the 5th April. The attendance has been pretty good and we have certainly enjoyed the excellent facilities.

Umpire, William Harmsworth, has to have an operation on his right hand which means he won’t be able to raise the dreaded finger for awhile. However, he has been quick to assure everyone that he is ambidexterous and can also use his left hand so he’ll soon be back in the middle despatching all miscreants to the pavilion.

Emma Miller has just completed a scorers course at Woodmansterne Cricket Club.

Bob Bettesworth is in hospital having tests so we have asked Paul to send him ‘best wishes’ from everyone at the club.

With the nice spring weather it was decided to have an inter club game on Easter Sunday. Since then the wind has been coming in from the south west bringing rain (just like last year) and the game had to be cancelled. The ground is actually wetter now than at any time since February!

With the prevailing winds firmly set from the south west, it rained all day on Friday 17th April, but thanks to a herculean effort the ground was made fit so the season got off to a flying start with both home matches being played on Saturday and Sunday. So the 2009 season is now well and truly under way.

The juniors got off to a good start on the 20th April with a beautiful evening for registration and coaching. The ground was full of juniors, coaches and their parents and it was good to see the club come ‘alive’ again after it’s winter slumber.

Fantastic news ! We entered a competition entitled ‘Win a Scrumpy Jack Village Cricket Masterclas for your Club’ run by ‘Scrumpy Jack’ cider, who are one of the sponsors for the nPower Village Knockout Competition. Well we have won the competition and we have just heard that they will be coming (along with samples!) to the Brocus to attend the first round of the competition when we play Wraysbury CC on the 3rd May. Alec Stewart OBE and the nPower girls will also be attending. So come and pick up some tips from Alec and cheer on Newdigate to victory.

The rains came in abundance on Monday, 27th April so junior coaching was cancelled. To make amends it has been decided to run a session on the Bank Holiday Monday although we might be a bit short of coaches. There seems to be an epidemic amongst our young players. Wilfred Hoad has broken his arm, Jacob Purcell his wrist and now Tom Quigley has his finger in a splint. All injuries we might add not caused by cricket.

On the 30th April, Newdigate travelled to the County ground at Horsham and amassed 285-3 but still lost!! Ruky Wickremasinghe scored a personal best of 140 and together with Simon Capel, who also scored a century, they put on a partnership of 215 which is the fourth highest in the history of the club. This was in spite having to face their New Zealand professional, Michael Bates. However Michael had the last laugh as he stroked a beautiful 123 not out and together with veteran Barry Peay steered their team to victory for the loss of six wickets with three overs to spare.

March 2009

Emma Peters will be introducing pilates classes on a Monday evening during junior coaches. Why not take some exercise and then relax with a nice glass of something in Mr Brown’s bar? The cost is £39.00 for a six week course. Contact Emma on 01293 851274 or emmapeters@talktalk.com for further details.

On the 5th March we started our ‘Introduction to Cricket Course’ for Level 5 and 6 students at the Weald Junior School. There were 23 young people for the first session which took place in bright but cold weather.

Our new Social Secretary, Craig Jones has come up with an exciting new venue for the Dinner and Dance. The Russ Hill Hotel on the road to Charlwood is under new ownership and has recently been refurbished. Craig took the Chairman along to look and they were so impressed that they have made a firm booking for the 14th November so put the date in your diary. William Harmsworth has recently attended a dinner there for eighty people and he said that everything was superb, so well done Craig.

Now that we are a Focus Club we have drawn up a contract with the Surrey Cricket Board where both parties agree to perforn certain activities. Part of this agreement is that we have to host several events involving young Surrey players and these dates have now been decided. On the 27th May the Surrey under 13s will be practicing (Midweek players don’t worry as they will be finished by 5.00pm), on the 4th August we will be hosting the Surrey vs Warwickshire under 11 match and on the 5th August the Surrey under 10s will be practicing.

On the 18th March the Chairman hosted a pre-season get together at the Six Bells for parents and coaches. He outlined the plans for the forthcoming season and introduced Annette Jordan, Club Welfare Officer and two new coaches Paul Griffiths and Barry Jordan.

One of our Mums, Faye Tompkins, is a qualified sports massage therapist and she has offered her services to the club. She is also sports first aid qualified and can deal with spinal injury assessment as well as pitchside injuries. So if you have a problem, Faye will be more than happy to help. She will be at the club on Monday evenings during junior coaching.

Nick Crawford has been going down a bomb at The Post in Banstead where he is playing to packed audiences with his group The Angi Barton Trio. Give Nick a call and book a table as it is a great night out and you can see Nick using his fingers on a keyboard rather than sticking his digit in the air inviting you back to the pavilion. Check them out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW8G3-7uiEg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsites%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2Fsite%2Fsurreyjazz%2FHome%2Fvideos&feature=player_embedded

We have recently had an e-mail from Tom Jenkins of Newdigate Cricket Club. Well, we did not know that we had a member by that name but he is from Newdigate Cricket Club in Warwickshire and we have arranged for them to enter a team in the Six-a-Side on the 30th August. It would be nice if we could accommodate them locally so if anyone has a spare room please call John Callcut on 01306 631148. The Newdigate family left the village in the late 1500s and moved to Harefield in Middlesex. They then moved to Arbury near Nuneaton in Warwickshire where the family still live on their estate to this day.

Have you seen the pre-season newsletter? It has all the news for the forthcoming season and thanks must go to James Scowen for putting this masterpiece together.

Peter Pople is working in Spain erecting Eurotents and will miss the start of the season.

Fast bowler, Martin Clabby, has once again been quick off the mark and he has now downloaded all the 2009 fixtures and you can still see all last season’s reports by clicking on to ‘previous seasons’ and then 2008 fixtures/reports. Likewise the junior reports from 2008 can be seen in their own section. So on a wet evening you can now relive your past glories. How about some midweek reports?

The 2009 fixture cards have now gone to Mark Shopland for printing and we are once again indebted to Tony Ivey of Addstore who has again agreed to pay for the printing. We would again urge everyone to support all our sponsors.

Congratulations to Newdigate Football Club who have reached the Dorking Charity Cup Final after a tense win against Westcott (1935). Sam Slade scores with a ‘fantastic header’, Matt Jee ‘frustrated the Westcott attack and was outstanding throughout the game’, Darren Drew ‘created more chances’ and Chris Fox ‘played well in the wing back position’. All quotes from the Dorking Advertiser but what about Paul Bettesworth’s ‘ outstanding reflex save to keep the scores level’ and yes there is more ,’Bettesworth produced heroics between the posts to put his side into the final’. Let’s hope the boys bring this sort of form on to the cricket pitch in a months time!

February 2009

Winter nets started on the 1st February at the Maidenbower Sports Centre at the Oriel School. There was a pretty good turnout especially from the Sunday seconds and plenty of stiff joints in the following week. On the 9th we have a dedicated net for an under 14 group.

Paul Bettesworth has now updated all the statistics since 1983. See how you are getting on in the statistics section. For details of last season go to the Play Cricket site from our home page.

Saul Gabriel is off on his travels to Singapore, New Zealand and Australia and he should be back for the start of the cricket season. How can he bare to leave this wonderful weather?

You may have seen that there has been a lot of tree pruning and shrub clearing around the pavilion and scout hut. A number of branches were impinging upon the buildings so they have been cut back and the oak and the beech tree have now been ‘lifted’ which should encourage healthy growth. Peter Gibbs has very kindly arranged for this work to be done for which we thank him.

Our Chairman, Andrew Major has agreed to stand on the committee of the Mole Valley Sports Council.

The nets continue to be well supported and here are a few pictures showing some of the players in action.

Two juniors up and ready to go

Jose De Castro bowling to Des Harris with Jordan Morris bowling to Jack Bowley

An exhausted Richard Callcut watching Jack and Jordan

We have a bye in the first round of the nPower Village Cup but are due to play Wraysbury CC at home on the 3rd May.

We will be opening the club on the 4th April starting at 10.00am. There are all the normal jobs to be done but we also have scalpings to be spread on the car park to fill the holes and a 45m long fence to be erected adjacent to the road. Please all make an effort to come along so that we can get everything done by the early afternoon. Once again we will be doing the work under the NatWest Cricket Force 2009 banner and will be supplying free t-shirts. You can find out more about it on the link on our home page.

Our umpire, Richard Constance, has advised us that there have been some changes in the laws concerning cricket bats. With new technology being introduced by the manufacturers the M.C.C. (the Guardians of the Laws of Cricket) feel that id the bat becomes too powerful then this will upset the balance between bat and ball. The new law is specific towards the handle and all new bats will be graded. No limit is being set with regards to weight, depth or width of the side edges. For more information go to the Lord’s website at http:// www.lords.org/laws-and-spirit/

The Russell Haigh Bursary started on the 23rd February at the Surrey Cricket Centre in Burpham. James Bennett, Tom Quigley, Andrew Kehl, Will Roberts, Alex Miller, Dylan Peters, Matt Clarke and Jose de Castro are the beneficiaries.

In an unguarded moment rthe Chairman agreed to host a pre-season get together for parents and coaches. It will be at the Six Bells on the 18th March from 7.30pm and wine and nibbles will be provided. This will give us an opportunity to outline our plans for the new season and introduce our new coaches.

January 2009

On the 2nd January, Andy Meads had a serious operation on his right shoulder as the tendon had come away from the ball joint. It has now been stitched back into place and he will be in a sling for 6/8 weeks and then he will have to have physiotherapy for some time in order to get full movement again. It is a very painful process so we wish Andy all the best and let’s hope that he will be fit in time for the cricket season.

John and Tina Callcut visited David and Sue Harris at their beautiful farmhouse at Hopley’s Green in the depths of deepest Herefordshire. David is involved with the coaching at Kington who several years ago reached the final of the Village Knockout competition and played at Lords. They send their best wishes to all their friends at the cricket club and looks forward to seeing everyone at the Jenny Chamberlain match in August. Sorry about the blurred picture but it was raining hard at the time!

Sue and David Harris outside their home – 12th January 2009

A coaches meeting was held at the Six Bells on the 12th January and there was a really good turn out. It was agreed to enter junior teams in the East Surrey Colts League at under 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 and 15 levels so it will be all ‘hands on deck’ to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Grant applications have been made to the Surrey Community Foundation and the Mole Valley Sports Council to provide funding for additional coaching assistance.

Our application to the Surrey Community Foundation has been refused because our turnover exceeds the figure allowed.

On the morning of the 18th January the Probationary Service brought a group of people along who have to do work in the community. They have cleared the leaves from the outfield so this should allow for good grass growth. In the evening we held our AGM at the Six Bells. Most of the committee was re-elected along with Annette Jordan as Club Welfare Officer, Craig Jones as Social Secretary, James Bettesworth as Membership Secretary and Barry Jordan as Pavilion/Net Manager. The captains are the same as last year with Mike Quigley in charge of the 3rd XI and Ruky Wickremasinghe the Surrey Trust Development League. Subscriptions are being increased as follows: Playing Members -£60, Unemployed and Students – £35, Social – £15, Juniors – £35 and £25 for additional family members. Match fees remain the same. This still makes us one of the cheapest clubs around. The treasurer reported a small deficit but considering the poor weather he felt that the result was satisfactory, indeed if we hadn’t had to pay a penalty for rearranging the fireworks (again due to appalling weather) we would have had a surplus. Simon Capel hopes to expand the 6-a-side next year to twelve teams by utilising the Flicx wicket on the football pitch and having a social event in the evening. The date was fixed for the Sunday Bank Holiday on the 30th August. The meeting was given an update on the pavilion development. Now that we have achieved the Focus Club Accreditation, which opens us up to many funding opportunities, preliminary work will proceed. Peter Gibbs has agreed to do some major tree surgery and shrub clearing around the pavilion and scout hut and when this has been completed William Harmsworth will do some initial drawings for submission to Mole Valley District Council with the aim of obtaining outline planning permission. Once this has been achieved then more detailed drawings will be required so that estimates can be made…… then will come a major fund raising initiative. Start up date is aimed for September 2010 and we will be working very closely with the scouts so as to make it a joint venture whilst still maintaining our independence. Cricket conversation continued in the pub long after the meeting had finished.

The Surrey Downs League fixtures can now be found on the league’s website – take the link from our home page. The matches start on the 2nd May when the 1st XI will be away to Holmbury St Mary and the 2nd XI will be at home to Salfords. We are the only 2nd XI in the second division, every other team is a first eleven, so the going will be tough.

On the 27th January, John Callcut attended a course at Challow and Childrey Cricket Club near Wantage in Oxfordshire and he is now a Clubmark Nominated Officer which means he can officially assist other clubs achieve Clubmark and help Sharon Eyers with site inspections. That evening Richard Hall (Surrey Community Coach) came to Newdigate and supervised a number of CRB applications. He has offered to conduct two bowling ‘master classes’ for the juniors next season.

We are very pleased to welcome Matt Jee, Chris Fox and Michael White to the coaching team and they will join Barry Jordan and Matt Dilger as new coaches. Before the start of the season they will have attended a number of courses, including an introduction to cricket coaching course, and if they enjoy working with our juniors then they will take the UKCC1 course. Barry has already booked into this course.