Welcome Girls to the 2015 Cricket Season

2015 will certainly be the most exciting season yet for Maidenhead & Bray Girls.

After the amazing success of last season, which saw a record number of Girls registered, runners up in the U12 County Championship and U14 County Champions, we are looking to continue our success.

As in the past two seasons, we have entered our U12 Girls (school years 7 and below) into the BYCL U12 Festivals.

The Festivals involve three matches of 9 overs per side, played in a round robin situation. The teams are 6 a-side, with a squad of 9 Girls allowed from each club, for each festival. All the matches are played with a soft ‘incrediball’.

Although I’m still awaiting the full list of clubs taking part, I have listed below the dates proposed for the Festivals. One is still to be confirmed, as are the venues. I believe they are all scheduled for Sunday morning.

Sunday 7 June is confirmed for the Festival at Bray - 10.00 am start.

I’m delighted to announce that Mike Parkinson will be leading the U12 Girls this season. He and Charlie Jacobsen will again be looking after the ‘younger’ Girls on Monday evenings.

The U12 County Finals will be played at Henley on Sunday 6 September.

So, for your diary, dates so far agreed for the Festivals are as follows:

U12 Festivals BYCL and more....

• Monday April 20 - Training starts
• Sunday, May 24, 15 - venue tbc
• Sunday, June 7, 15 - Bray
• Sunday, July 19, 15 - venue tbc
• Sunday, August 2, 15 - venue tbc
• Monday 24 August - Mums v Daughters
• Sunday, September 6, 15 - Finals - Henley

As soon as I know venues, I’ll let you know.

For information, we are also entering Girls teams into the following competitions:

• BYCL - U13 Boys Division 2 East (Our Girls will be U15 and under – they can play 2 years ‘down’ in Boys matches)
• BYCL - U15 Girls
• U13 Lady Taverners Cup
• U15 Lady Taverners Cup

A few other dates.

Monday 20 April – outdoor Girls training starts at Bray – 6.15 – 8.00 p.m. (7.30 for U9s)

Friday 24 April – Colts Registration Evening

Sunday 7 June – U12 Festival at Bray

Monday 6th July – the BIG match – U13 Div.2 East - Bray Boys v Bray Girls. Book early, packed house expected. Sky Sports have been notified.

Sunday 19 July – Club Colts Day at Bray

Monday 24 August – Mums v Daughters – a must after the success of last year’s spectacular!

We also have two ‘Ladies’ matches planned – for Sunday 31st May and Sunday 21st June, both in the afternoon (2.00 p.m. start), on the main Bray pitch.

We plan to pitch our U14 Girls against a ‘Ladies’ team. I honestly don’t think it will be a mismatch or, by any means, daunting for our talented Girls. Opposition yet to be determined, but hopefully one match against North Maidenhead Ladies.

It is hoped that our Girls will become Maidenhead & Bray Ladies team in the near future.

I’m also working with Berkshire Cricket to arrange for an England Women’s Test Cricketer to come down and lead a training session again. They are only available on Tuesdays, but we’ll hopefully work something out.

Finally, parents, we have the Cricket Club AGM on Friday 17 April at 7.30 pm. It is an important meeting for the cricket club and, sadly, tends to be poorly represented by the members. After all, it is your club. The cricket club committee are keen for the club to be successful and, although I am many things, I am not an old fart; nor are my committee colleagues. The Colts are extremely important to our future success, so it would be really good to see some parents at the meeting this year. The clubhouse is certainly not the worst place around to spend an hour or so having a drink on a Friday evening!

I do hope this has given you a flavour of the 2015 Girls season – it truly does look to be extremely exciting for us.

I’m really looking forward to seeing you all – Girls and Parents.

Very best regards,

Huw