Whitchurch-on-Thames Cricket Club

Averages have been posted and can be found in the usual place.  Many thanks to Lyn for compiling them. Top of the bowlers is Andy Heard , by mere hundredths over Lyn Williams in second place. The batting was dominated by Nick Hill , with an average more than twice that of all-rounder Nick Turner , who leads the rest of the pack. Most catches were taken by Lyn , closely followed by Paul Vaughan ; and Jon Steward was top of the 'keepers. Andy H.

Fixtures for 2014 are uploaded and in the usual place. Thanks to Killer for his work over the dark months.

Pre-Season Nets Indoor Cricket Nets have again been booked for Wednesday evenings at Bradfield Sports Centre.  The first net is next Wednesday 5 March between 9.15pm and 10.15pm and the last on Wednesday 9 April.   Cost this year will be £5 per session; colts and students free. We’ve got 2 nets every evening so there’ll be lots of opportunity to bat and bowl.  Thereby ensuring that you pull and strain every muscle you haven’t used in the last 5months and can’t move for two days after.  Post-net recovery will be in the Greyhound at Tidmarsh. Cricket Club AGM The Cricket Club AGM will take place on Thursday 20 March commencing at 8.00pm .  The meeting will be at David Mattimoe’s house on Hardwicke Road and be followed by a curry in Pangbourne. Pre-Season Work Parties Work parties are being arranged for the weekends of Sat 29 / Sun 30 March and Sat 5 / Sun 6 April .  There is a lot of work to be done – including rebuilding the tea hut!! ...

The letter below was sent to all members of the club to start the 1989 season.  It makes for interesting reading, if only because the club seems like it was a rather different kind of outfit then than it is now.  We were apparently much larger in terms of members, but many of these were probably past their prime; and there was much more structure, with committees for "Ground", "Housing" and "Social". I'm surprised to find that I'm not the first Heard to play for the club, but not surprised to see that a winner of the club's "50 Club" was one M. Butt.   I found the above letter behind a picture of a Mr Ian Yarrow, who seems to have been big in his day.  It also included this letter, which was obviously written in the wake of his demise.

A great evening was had last night at the club's annual dinner, held this year in the cosy restaurant at the Ferryboat. We had the place to ourselves, which was just as well given the noise we made. This year's event was organised once again by Grogie , with Brian Reddecliffe stepping in as Master of Ceremonies - to both gentlemen, many thanks. The centrepiece of the evening were the Awards Ceremonies speeches given by our estimable Saturday and Sunday captains, Alan "Killer" Kilford and Lyn Williams. If I can remember this all correctly (I doubt that I do), prizes were awarded to Paul Vaughan (best Saturday batsman), Nick Turner for his exceptional performance at Greys Green (see previous posts with links to Henley Gazette), your humble correspondent as Bowler of the Year 2013 (thanks, guys!), Satya for best Tea of the Year, and most of the colts (!!) as joint Duckmen of the year - step forward Scooby, Matty and Toby - though we should add that...

Many thanks to all the members of the club who paid their subscriptions this year.  There's a list of who we all are now available by clicking on the Members link in the menu.  Still not too late if you're one of those who still haven't got around to it yet! Andy H

So, we finally reach the season's end, much later than almost everyone else, and all the better for it.  The outcome? Result Matches Won    16 Winning Draw      1 Losing Draw      1 Lost    17 Cancelled by Us      2 Cancelled by Them      2 Cancelled by God      3 Still slightly in deficit, but so much better than last year, when we managed only 7 wins versus 18 losses and 15 cancellations of one sort or another (mostly washed out). Thanks very much to Alan Kilford for arranging the fixtures this year and to the skippers - Lyn, Alan (again!), Jim and Cormac for getting the sides together and organising us on the pitch (harder than it sounds).  Also, of course, to Butty and Jon for preparing some excellent wickets, even towards the end of the season there was no shortage of bounce and carry, despite a little rain. Andy