Chairman’s Report

What a good season we had had on the pitch!!!!!!

We have finally overcome North Maidenhead and are now the premier club in the town with the 1st XI finishing a creditable 6th on their return to the 1st Division of the Thames Valley League. Although the 2nd XI had to chop and change the team throughout the season they managed to finish 4th in Div. 4. Next season Tommy is looking for promotion to get closer to the 1st’s to help with the flow of players between the teams. The 3rd XI were Champions of Div 6, winning promotion for the 3rd year running. So good luck to Saj for next year. That’s not all, the 4th XI were also Champions of Division 8. Not wanting to steal their thunder, please see the Captains reports below. Many thanks to John Hewitt and Ryan for the coaching and management of the teams during the season and the help they lend to the skippers.

I would just like to thank the Bowler family for their Turner Prize entry for 2010, it encapsulates the athletism found within many of the Bray Teams, the sculptures have been meticulous built to exact proportions by head sculptor James Bowler, to a life like representation of certain Club Members.

Winter nets start Saturday 16th January till 10th April at Herschel Grammar School Sports Hall 2.30-4.30pm. Please take note certain dates are not available 20th Feb, 13th Mar and 27th Mar and 3rd Apr. This will mean 9 indoor sessions running through to the start of the season.

Something of a fallow field, it is time disturb the earth of the blog after a ‘healthy break’ and upset a few apple carts. Actually, I’ve been inspired to write by listening to a vicar on Radio 5 talking about requests for music at funerals he has conducted. He had to turn down one such request for a song entitled ‘I’m not half the man I used to be.’ Apparently, the deceased had been hit by a truck ... Unpleasant.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to Smokey Joes Roadhouse

Maidenhead & Bray Under nines won the annual Finchampstead six-a-side youth tournament winning all five matches.

Bray won all three of their group matches without losing a single wicket and then beat the Finchampstead Royals in the semi-final.

Maidenhead & Bray U13's completed their outstanding season on Sunday at North Maidenhead when they won their Berkshire League Final encounter against Kidmore End to go alongside their earlier triumphs in the County Cup and Julian Cup.

The 1st XI secured the 13 points required to survive another season in the Thames Valley League division 1 with a winning draw over Tring Park. A great achievement when you consider four got relegated from the division.

Maidenhead and Bray 3rd travelled to Harefield in a crucial promotion chasing game. Both teams needing to win to secure the promotion. Bray were asked to bat on a very unpredictable wicket. They were given the perfect start by the opening pair Vish Kumar and Blair King who put on 85 from 16 overs. A bowling change by Harefield brought three quick wickets and Bray were on 89 for 3.

Maidenhead & Bray U13's continued their excellent season when they qualified for the Berkshire League final following their comprehensive defeat of Royal Ascot by 10 wickets on Sunday.

Maidenhead & Bray U13's put aside their disappointment at losing in the ECB National Cup when they defeated Reading by 53 runs in their Berkshire League Quarter Final match at Reading this evening.

At 4.00pm this afternoon in Cheltenham, chasing 96 to win we were 75 for 3 in the 11th over. 10 minutes later we were all out for 78 and had lost by 18 runs - talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory !!!

Maidenhead & Bray U13's achieved probably their most satisfying result of the season so far when they defeated their local rivals Slough by 25 runs in their Berkshire League encounter on Monday evening.

Maidenhead & Bray secured their second cup of the season when they demolished Hurst by 9 wickets in a one sided Julian Cup Final played at North Maidenhead on Monday evening which lasted just under 17 overs.

Yesterday's performance against Slough was one of the best all round performances that I have seen from a M&B colts team. Slough are one of the stronger clubs and when we play them the games are always hard fought, but yesterday's ten wicket victory was an outstanding performance from the whole team.

George Gittens died suddenly on May 20th. He is a great loss to Bray colts and the team of Bray cricket coaches; he coached at the Club on a regular basis since the early '90s and helped out with team management. He was also one of the main Berkshire cricket coaches, looking after the Under 13s and Under 15s East Berks Development Squads. Besides coaching cricket, he was also a tennis coach at Slough. The love and respect in which he was held was very clear at his funeral last month in Slough, where about 700 people attended his funeral service.

Maidenhead & Bray moved through to the quarter final stage in the South & West Region of the National U13 Club Championship when they convincingly beat South Wiltshire by 55 runs on Sunday.

Maidenhead & Bray U13's qualified for their second cup final this season when they overwhelmed Desborough School in their Julian Cup Semi Final match at Bray on Thursday.

Fresh from their Berkshire County Cup triumph on Friday, Maidenhead & Bray continued their quest for a cup double this season when they travelled to Binfield on Monday to play a quarter final match in the Julian Cup.

Maidenhead & Bray won the final of the U13 Berkshire County Cup, played at Boyne Hill on Friday evening, with an excellent 6 wicket victory over Falkland.

Sir Michael Parkinson will be 'opening' the new nets and dedicating them to George Gittens, and also dedicating a new bench to Martin Wesson on Saturday week, June 27th staring at 6.30pm.

Some of you players and colts will be aware of one or both of these guys, both of whom died suddenly within a week of each other.

After a couple of near misses the U9's squad finally got off to winning ways, beating Royal Ascot by 32 runs with the scores M&BCC 282, with only 5 players out and Royal Ascot 250, for 7 out.

A 10 man Maidenhead & Bray team reached the Final of the Berkshire County Cup with a tremendous 106 run victory over Kidmore End in their semi final encounter played at Oratory School on Thursday evening. With traffic problems delaying the arrival of 4 of the team, Bray had no choice but to bat first.

Maidenhead & Bray reached the Semi Final stage of the Berkshire Cup with an ultimately comfortable 29 run victory over Finchampstead but the victory was not achieved without some alarms along the way. Bray lost the toss and were put into bat by their hosts on a wicket softened by the recent rain. They immediately had their first alarm when Bray opener Sachin Moudgil was caught and bowled from the the very first ball of the match. Brett Herron (30 Retired) joined Oscar Beardmore-Gray (21) at the crease and the pair not only stabilised the innings but scored at a good rate and set the ideal platform for other batsmen to attack the bowling, something which Jamie Odell (28) and Vishal Gossain (25) did with some style. The Bray innings duly closed on a formidable 134 for 7 wickets after their allotted 20 overs.

Maidenhead & Bray reached the Quarter Final stage of the Berkshire Cup with a comprehensive 10 wicket victory over Henley and are now scheduled to travel to meet the winners of the Finchampstead / Hurst tie.

It is with great sadness that I have to announce George Gittens died suddenly yesterday afternoon May 20th. A man who could see sporting potential in every one he meet. A great man, a great coach, will truly be missed.

Maidenhead & Bray cruised into the next round of the Colts Julian Cup when they demolished Pinkney's Green by 138 runs. Bray opted to bat first on winning the toss and got off to an excellent start courtesy of openers Savy Joshi (11) and Sachin Moudgil (34 - Retired), racing to 63 for 1 after 8 overs. This set the perfect platform for Alex Hess (51 - Retired) and Jamie Odell (39 Not Out) to increase the scoring rate to an even higher level as their partnership added 82 runs in just 7 overs. With 16 runs coming from the final over Bray's innings closed on a formidable 161 for 1 after their allotted 16 overs.

The league season got off to a fine start with three wins and a draw.

The First XI back in Division 1 for the first time in eight years managed to escape from High Wycombe with a draw with Najeeb Bashir showing he has the class to score runs at a higher level with a controlled 63.

I am glad to announce that we will be running the colts nets again this year at St Pirans school as usual. Due to the very large numbers of colts attending and the large age split, from 6-17 years old we have decided to try something a little different this year. Instead of all colts coming along from 11-12.15/12.30 I have changed the times and split the children into 2 smaller groups. So.....

Senior winter training starts Saturday 17th January from 2pm to 4pm at Herschel Grammar School Slough, Northampton Av, Slough, SL1 3BW. For the next 11 weeks.

Maidenhead and Bray are recruiting players of all standards for the 2009 season.

The Club runs four teams in the Thames Valley League, the First XI in Division 1, Second XI in Division 4, Third XI in Division 6 and the Fourth XI in Division 8 and don't forget the Ladies team, after a successful first year they have entered a team into the league for the 2009 season

I don't no how appropriate the title is to the announcement that follows but it just seemed right at this time of the year. Following all the industrious and never ending work that Bob Crawley does to achieve and maintain our Clubmark accreditation, the long hours Michael and Maggie Hughes spent dealing with the planning consent and the continued work of Steve Bithrey, Nick Clements and Lynden Baldwin the ECB have finally agreed to the grant and loan for the new nets.

Following another successful year for the Maidenhead & Bray Colts section the Annual Colts Awards took place on Friday September 5th with Sir Michael Parkinson presenting the awards.

Following the arrival of Bobby Khan's third child and Saj Tariq's first child in late summer, congratulations now go to John and Amy Hewitt on the arrival of Emily Rose Hewitt born at noon on the 20th October, the club wishes them all well.

The Sir Michael Parkinson celebrity cricket day was held at the club on Sunday last and it was a great success.

The weather gods stayed their hand and Sir Michael's celebrity guests who included Sir Steven Redgrave, Chris Tarrant, Jason Leonard and Andy Gomarsall entertained a crowd of hundreds in playing for the Mike Gatting and Andy Caddick XIs.

For those of you who do not yet know, the 1st XI and 3rd XI won league titles in their respective divisions on Saturday. The 2nd XI and 4th XI also had sound seasons and as is customary in early September we will be celebrating the Cricket Club's success this Saturday evening (Sept 13th) with a curry and awards presentation evening.The curry being lovingly prepared by one of our sponsors The Emperor of India.

Saturday 6th September was the last day of the 2008 Thames Valley League Season and the highlight of a great year for the 1st and 3rd XIs at M&BCC both of whom gained promotion as Champions of their respective leagues.

After another successful season we have the end of year Awards evening scheduled for Friday 5th September starting at 6.30pm, with the awards being presented by Sir Michael Parkinson.

Maidenhead and Bray Ladies finally got their season started with a convincing win over Ickenham on Sunday. Bray won the toss and opted to bat with Bex Miall and Aamna Ahmed opening the batting in fine style. The opening pair made 75 before Miall (32) was bowled, after some lovely batting. This brought skipper Amy Newman the crease who continued to build on Bray’s good start. The pair put on a partnership of over 100 runs before Ahmed was caught. Newman reached 50 with a pull shot for 4 and continued to bat to the end of the innings scoring 68 not out. Bray finished on 222 for 3 off 35 overs, putting Ickenham under huge pressure to have a good start to their innings.

On Sunday 7th September Club President Sir Michael Parkinson will host a celebrity cricket day at the club.

Last week, Maidenhead & Bray C.C. ran their cricket week for about 30 colts aged 6 to 11, for those who are almost complete novices as well as those already with quite a bit of expertise. Amy Newman, one of the Club’s Level 2 coaches and herself a county cricketer, organized the programme, with 3 other coaches to help. The cricket week took place at Ridgeway School, one of the Claires Court group of schools.

The morning of Sunday 27^th July saw the inaugural Ladies' Single Wicket tournament held at the Maidenhead and Bray Cricket Club, when the M&BCC ladies competed fiercely for the Frances Lindsay Cup.

We’re into August and things at the club are really hotting up…let me bring you up to date with what’s been going on in July and what’s in store for the month to come.

We’re into August and things at the club are really hotting up…let me bring you up to date with what’s been going on in July and what’s in store for the month to come.

Maidenhead and Bray under 9s played some superb cricket on Sunday to win the annual Binfield 6-a-side tournament. Bray, who were runners up last year, were drawn against Emmbrook in the first round and elected to bat. After some fine batting, including a solid performance from Julian Milsom, Bray finished on 265-2. Bray bowled tightly, Arjun Menon 1-1, and Emmbrook fell short of the runs finishing on 247-4.

Inspired by those heroics at Boyne Hill, it's an unwelcome return for that whining voice from the wilderness. Shoveller's implement is firmly planted in the potting shed, his sporting career on hold as he battles injury, mental infirmity and his ongoing and one-sided struggle against mediocrity.

Maidenhead & Bray cricket club are running a Colts Cricket week at Claires Court Holiday Club from Monday 28th July to Friday 1st August between the hours of 10 am and 3pm.(Early start and later finish can be arranged at an additional cost.)

Dear Member,
As we cruise towards the half way point of the season here are a few lines to bring you up to date with our progress and with what's to come.

The form book suggested that Maidenhead & Bray should reach their second final in two years however Wooburn Narkovians pushed them all the way with a valiant team effort.

Bazza has published the stats for the season so far, from the the score cards he has received from the Captains. No surprises with leading run scorer and leading wicket taker!!!!!

Maidenhead & Bray avenged their defeat in last years final with a nail biting win by 1 wicket with one ball to spare.

The season is only six weeks old and already it has been packed with incident both on and off the field which this month’s newsletter will try to encapsulate for you.

The season is only six weeks old and already it has been packed with incident both on and off the field which this month’s newsletter will try to encapsulate for you.

The First XI restricted Windsor to 219 for 9 in their 52 overs with Ollie Birch (101) making the only substantial contribution for Windsor and Vishal Valambhia with yet another 5 wicket haul. Chris Kennedy (31) and Najeeb Bashir (47) gave the Bray side the platform for Karan Kumar (62 not out) to finish the game off with 3 overs to spare.

I am delighted to announce that the M&BCC Under 13s Hurricanes will be sponsored for the 2008 season by Chris Knight’s company floatdene Green.

Floatdene Green are SAP training consultants that provide flexible, customer-focused solutions to some of Europe’s fastest growing blue-chip companies.

I am delighted to announce that the new M&BCC Ladies XI will be sponsored for the 2008 season by Frances Lindsay & Co The Family Law Solicitors based in Maidenhead.

Frances has actually been a supporter of the club for several years but this new level of involvement is a great boost to our Ladies section and well as sponsoring the Ladies in their friendly fixtures this season Frances is also keen to get involved in other ways including a single wicket tournament scheduled for 27th July.

Over a 1000's runs were scored on the first full weekend of cricket at Bray this year, maybe it was the presence of the Vicar of Bray at Fridays Curry Night we will never know but Najeeb Bashir 89, Karan Kumar 57 produced a elegant match wining partnership to bring the side home against the Sunday Barbarians.

If you had carefully read the latest Newsletter you would have seen that Jayne and her staff are now offering a variety of hot and cold bar snacks on weekdays and Saturday evenings. Please come and support this new venture.

The 2008 season is nearly upon us and I want to share with you news of what has been going on in the closed season and what there is to look forward to throughout the summer.

The 2008 season is nearly upon us and I want to share with you news of what has been going on in the closed season and what there is to look forward to throughout the summer.

This is the first social event of the year and an important one to get the club together. We have set our sights high on this season being one of the most successful in the clubs long history (founded in 1798 if you didn't know)! If we going to achieve this then we need to be a club both on and off the field and support for our social nights during the season is an essential part of a thriving club.

With indoor nets now well under way and the first signs of Spring upon us our thoughts have already turned to the prospect of another exciting season of Colts Cricket.

Hi All,
It may be dark, miserable and pouring with rain outside but the cricket season is here, well nearly! Winter nets start this Saturday at 11am for the colts at the usual place, St Piran School. Seniors take over at about 12.30.

I hope you had a good break over Christmas and the New Year! If you don't know me I am the new Captain of Cricket for 2008.

Just a quick reminder that Winter Training starts at St Pirans School on 19th January and runs until 26th April ( with the exception of 15th March).Further information from The Captain of Cricket and the The Colts Manager will be published shortly.

I know your thoughts are more likely to be on a knees up rather than a leg before and a turkey rather than a duck, but allow me to briefly interrupt your seasonal cheer with a few cheery thoughts of a season to come by way of a few juicy appetisers.

I know your thoughts are more likely to be on a knees up rather than a leg before and a turkey rather than a duck, but allow me to briefly interrupt your seasonal cheer with a few cheery thoughts of a season to come by way of a few juicy appetisers.

Following the Thames Valley League A.G.M. last night I would like to give you an update on where we stand for the fixture for the 2008 season.

Hi All, Finally the county have provided the names of the successful applicants at the trials. Of the 35 boys put forward from the club for the County and District trials 25 were selected, not a bad percentage I think.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The last ball has been bowled, the last run scored, the sightscreens hidden away and the bails mothballed.

A collection of pictures from the Colts and Senior Awards evenings have now been posted into the Club's Photo Gallery.

The Firsts took the divisional title on Saturday with another controlled bowling display.They restricted Chiswick and Latymer to 159 for 9 in their 52 overs and after an early setback Faisal Choudhary powered his way to 61 to complete the win in just over 22 overs.

The Annual M&BCC Awards evening is scheduled for 7th September, starting at 7pm. Michael Parkinson has kindly agreed to attend to hand out the trophies. It has been a successful season and we have lots to celebrate.

A huge and heartfelt 'thank you' to all of you guys and gals whose ideas, efforts, and hands-on help made last Friday's Club party a great success. Special extra thanks are due to Team Family Cowell, Warren, Lynden, Angela and James Noakes for the huge amount of time and effort you all put in, with such great success, and to various other helpers on the night such as Warren's mum, Becx, EG, James Bowler, and others whose names and contact details I don't have.

For the first time this season all four sides won on Saturday. The First continue their march on the title with a tight bowling display to restrict Thatcham to 198 for 9 in their 52 overs, then Vishal Arjan and John Hewitt both scored 50's to record a six wicket victory.

Bray U11's narrowly failed to win the Berkshire Cup when they were defeated by 9 runs by a strong Finchampstead team at Windsor CC on Friday evening. Bray captain Jamie Odell opted to bowl first on winning the toss and led from the front with a tremendous bowling performance which saw him clean bowl all of the much vaunted top 3 Finchampstead batsmen. He finished his 3 over stint with the remarkable figures of 3 wickets for 1 run and with good support from Adam Barratt (1 for 10 from his 3 overs) and a run out had Finchampstead reeling at 14 for 5.

0700 Monday - up all night again - it's those two dropped catches at Thatcham on Saturday - been unable to sleep since. No, it's another overnight shift. It's been a busy one, but I tell you what, in those odd idle moments, when the guard drops and the mind wanders, there's nothing like a leisurely read of the Thames Valley League website. Good, mindless fun, seeing how Newbury II's got on in Div 5b, discovering if Kidmore End 3's finally got off the mark (they didn't). Felt sorry for that NPL Teddington bloke called Laghari on Saturday, scoring 158 in his side's 218 all out against North Maids in Div I. I know exactly how he feels.

Bray U11's overcame their toughest opposition so far this season when they defeated Wokingham by 10 runs in their Semi Final encounter at Bray on Friday evening. On losing the toss Bray were put into bat and for the first time this season lost early wickets with Alex Hess and Jamie Odell both departing before the score had reached 30. Tom Harrison (22) continued his excellent form from the previous week and with the help of Oscar Beardmore-Gray (19) stabilised the innings and gave the later batsmen a solid platform to attack the bowling. This was done to the extent that 49 runs came from the last 6 overs with Vishal Gossain striking a rapid 15 and the Bray innings closed on 106 for 5 after their allotted 20 overs.

Maidenhead and Bray under 9s continued their fine form this season by brushing aside Reading in the quarter finals of the Berkshire League Cup. Bray batted first and after a shakey first few overs Ben Hooper, who only turned 7 this season, took control with some fine shots that included a 6.

0420 hours. Sunday July 8, 2007. It's been a long dark night of the soul ... dwelling on that preposterous dismissal against North Maids (rarely, I repeat, rarely have I been out ‘fair-and-square') ... or maybe it was that conversation with Tank (I never knew he keeps bees) that troubled my communion with Morpheus. Sadly, the real reason is much more mundane - my darling daughter having a little ‘accident'.

Maidenhead & Bray U13's Julian Cup team triumphed last night in a very polished display of good cricket at Cookham Dean.

Yet another outstanding performance from the U9s side in the Binfield six a side tournament. We entered two sides in the tournament for the first time ,which represents the strength of squad we have at U9s this year. The Arrows were a less experienced side but did extremely well against strong opposition from Henley, Emmbrook and Binfield. Unfortunately they failed to make last nights finals but I think this years experience bears well for next year.

Bray U11's moved into the semi finals of the Berkshire League KO Cup in some style when they convincingly defeated Hurst by 10 wickets on Friday evening in their quarter final encounter.

Just a quick note to advertise the clubs fortunes so far in their leagues.

James Coyne 7 for 28 was enough to see the First to their third victory of the season. However; he was out bowled by Vishal Vallumbia who took 7 for 9 in fifteen overs on his debut for the club to secure an easy win for the Fourths.

After a couple of League games we have had some encouraging results. The 1stXI have won both of their games and are sitting very comfortably at the top of their division. The other three sides are doing O.K. but not yet enjoying quite the success of the 1’s.and currently they are placed around the middle of their respective divisions….it’s early days yet.

An opening stand of 176 between two colts Mat Botha (89) and Karan Kumar (76) saw the Fourths home by 10 wickets.

It’s your old mate 'Cuddles' here … no more the ‘Shoveller’ as my girth rapidly heads in the direction of Coyney/Wildthing-type proportions after a winter of sitting on my backside. Of wintering badly, Reaper.

On a really, really cheerful note ... all hail LD Basson!!!!

On Friday (25/05/07)week the Club is holding a race night, similar to the successful one which Charlie organised about a year ago.  It will start at 7:30. A Chinese meal will be provided, (probably) at half time. Cost of tickets per head will be £10.

First of all, a quick thank you to all who attended our start of season curry night the other week. It was a great turnout and a number of you asked who made the curry. It was from Shazzad's restaurant, the Kinara in Langley (can be found on Google or Yellow Pages).

A good name for a song? anyway I digress, lets get back to the important issue of the first round of league matches.

Maidenhead & Bray achieved the double over their local rivals Datchet this weekend (5/5/07) to start the season off to a flyer.

Welcome to the new Cricket season which starts in just two weeks time. We take over from the Hockey section on Wednesday 18th April and we shall be open for business from Friday 20th when the bar will be open from 5.30 pm. Our proposed bar opening times are given later in this newsletter. We start our Senior games on Saturday and Sunday 28th and 29th April with two home friendly games against the Sunday Barbarians and Kensington. The following weekend Saturday 5th May the 1st XI are away to Datchet and the 2nds are at home to Datchet. On Sunday 6th we entertain the Kiwis. The Thames Valley Cricket League starts in earnest on Sat. May 12th.

Further to Richards E mail this is to confirm that myself and Tony Davies will be managing and coaching the U11s during the forthcoming season. To introduce ourselves, our sons are Jamie Odell and Michael Davies who joined the club at the start of last season.

With the beginning of the season fast approaching (5 weeks ish) it is concerning that the attendance at the nets session has been so low. Although some of you on this mailing list have been to the sessions the majority have not! Please make a conscious effort to get to the sessions as I do not want to start this season cold. We were so close last year and the year before that this year must be our year!

We have now had two years of Winter Nets at St. Piran’s School and Steve Bithrey has again secured two slots for us every Saturday (apart from Saturday 17th March) from 27th January until 21st April in their Sports Hall.

Finish your breakfasts up boys and girls - sorry Mr.Dobson, there's a cornflake attached to your jowls; Qureshi, that is fried egg on your tie - here's your latest cartload of dross from Bray's twilight zone. That place stalked by the talented young, the talentless old .... cricketing life's hard luck stories.

They've been naïve enough, misguided enough, reckless enough to be beguiled by the literary twitchings of Bray's answer to Shane McGowan/Les Patterson/a sort of Luke Dobson with big words.

I must tender my apologies ahead of this Sunday. I am otherwise occupied, putting the finishing touches to ghostwriting "Me and other East Berkshire Cricketing Legends of the late 20th Century - The Lee Owens Story." It's a brief work. Should I dispose of that piece of detritus in good time, I've been booked to direct a fitness video featuring Geri Halliwell and our very own Dave Mason.

First of all we hope you had a good Christmas and should like to wish you all a happy and peaceful New Year.

We have now had two years of Winter Nets at St. Piran’s School and Steve Bithrey has again secured two slots for us every Saturday (apart from Saturday 17th March) from 27th January until 21st April in their Sports Hall. Make a note of the dates and times and we hope to see as many seniors and colts there as possible.

Another good win last Saturday for the 1st XI increased their lead at the top of the table and they remain unbeaten. The 2nd XI who were promoted at the beginning of the season are doing well and are placed 4th in their division and our 3rd XI have been involved in some high scoring games and are currently lying 5th . Our newly formed 4th XI are holding their own in their division and as the team is made up largely of Colts there have been some very encouraging signs. Particularly worthy of a mention is Karen Kumar (under 13 years old) who scored 80 not out in his first senior game for the 4th XI and last Saturday the 3rds opposition asked for his name as his bowling was so good they wanted to lay claim to having played with him when he plays for England in 10 years or so!

Welcome to the new cricket season which starts at the end of April. The handover date from Hockey is Wednesday 23th April and we shall be 'open for business' from Friday 28th.

First of all we hope you had a good Christmas and should like to wish you a happy and peaceful new year.

After the success of last year's winter nets at St. Pirans School, Steve Bithrey has again secured two slots for us every Saturday from January 21st until April 15th and I know that all seniors and Colts who attended the nets last year will agree that St. Pirans offers very professional facilities.

With just three league matches remaining we can reflect on a pretty satisfactory season. The 1stXI are doing well and are in 5th position in their league. The 2nds have had a brilliant season and are 29 points clear at the top of their table. Hopefully we can look forward to their promotion. The 3rdXI have now pulled out of the 'drop zone' and were unlucky to have their last match, which they had a very good chance of winning, abandoned due to rain.