Shenley Village Cricket Club

By any standard 2009 was a very successful year for the club, both on the field and off it. However like anywhere else there are still many areas where we have room for improvement, and more needs to be done.

Let me start by congratulating Jemile and all concerned with our first eleven, for winning the division 3 title, and doing it with such a strong finish. In relative comparison to the other teams we have measured ourselves against over the last 5-6 years like Cavendish, Rickmansworth, and London Colney we continue to grow stronger, and deeper in our cricketing resources.

We were perhaps a little timid early in the season and lacking in conviction by wanting to bat first as a standard practice, but confidence grew much stronger as the season went on, and with the addition of Rob Laney and Rifkin to the side, and later Charlie Thurston, still only 12 years old, the side finished powerfully sweeping all aside. The overpowering strike force of Wendell Roberts was however the most telling factor in our winning the division, setting a div 3 record with 72 wickets, and scoring 250 runs. As a club we identified the need for a strike bowler after finishing 7th in 2008, and that objective was fully achieved this year. To put Wendell’s performance into context, only 8 persons have ever taken more in a Herts league season, the record being 81.


However,our other senior Saturday teams all need to do much better, and that is the real challenge for the club as a whole, over the coming year. The need for strong Captains and vice captains in all the teams is another area we must address in 2010, both to improve on the field and to assist with the selection and admin processes, which were challenging in all 4 Sat teams.

The Sunday side continued to be a reservoir of our best young talent, with strong individual displays regularly seen. My personal congratulations to Richard Evans for his management of that team, which I would label the best run side in the club, both on and off the field.

Div 2 cricket will be the biggest step taken by the club since I have been playing, with the luxury of panel umpires comes a lot more responsibility which I would urge all concerned to read carefully in the league handbook. For the first time we will be marked on behaviour and hospitality. Facilities marks are needing to be 6.5 minimum average, instead of 6, and it will, in my opinion, require a small management group to get our first eleven machine well tuned and running at our most efficient.

We have moved from being a top 50 club to a top 30 club in Hertfordshire. To continue that status we need to see our second eleven promoted up 2 divisions in the next 2-3 years.

We have identified a need to find more adult players for our 3+4th teams to be stronger, and will put a strategy into place following the ideas generated at last months open meeting discussing the problems for those teams.

Our Junior section targeted 4 teams reaching their semi finals and we achieved just that with the u13’s county champions, the u9’s 2nd, and the 12’s and 11’s both third in the county tables.

I would like to congratulate our junior sub committee, as being the best junior committee in the county in my observation. We have a really great team of volunteers, several of whom will move onto the executive committee in the coming years. We will have 5 level 2 coaches this year, and hope to send up to 3 of them onto a club coach course when the next one is set up. We also have 7 level 1 coaches, with another 2 about to do the course. We anticipate Jemile recruiting enough new players this spring to put out 2 under 9 sides, and a potentially winning team in every age group right up to u14’s, in 2010. Those from 15 upwards will be pushed towards playing senior cricket in our 3rd and 4th teams.

In 2009 we have 2 county players at every age group from 11,12,13,and 14 year old teams, and many sub county players.


Congratulations to James D. for his selection onto the county coaching set up, where he will start as the area assistant coach with the carrot of being the area head coach in the future. He also coached the county u11 girls champions as part of the Herts youth games in May.

To summarise the club’s development plan for 2010 I will highlight the following;

* The club will continue to use the Hatfield indoor school for it’s winter training programe for both the Junior (Sept-March) and senior players.(Jan-March)
* The club will use the Shenley nursery ground for all 1st and 2nd team games, Thurs training, and Junior training on Tues evening and Sunday morning. Junior games will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays.
* The club will use the Napsbury cricket ground for 3rd and 4th team senior games, and Junior games on Tues, Thurs, and Friday evenings.
* The club has 26 volunteers to draw on for all it’s activities, but will be looking for more volunteers for umpiring, scoring and a communications sub committee to develop the website, newsletters and club information dissemination.
* The club will put out 5 senior teams and 7 junior teams in 2010.
* Talented Junior players will be encouraged to take trials for area and county representation.
* The club will promote coaching in schools in 2010, for both public and private schools. We hope to work with 6 primary and 4 secondary schools in 2010.
*Further recruitment will be hoped for by drawing in friends, leafleting Napsbury, and newspaper articles preseason.


Ray McLennan,
Chairman.
18.11.09