The Fury Blogs

Hello all,

We the St James’s allotment society (those strangers that you might have seen around the club or over in the dug up bit beyond the car park) have established a ‘reasonably well’ working allotment society (all members have joined the St James’ Cricket Club as social members in one form or another) – being our first year, we are still learning about the pit falls, the bugs and the birds that destroy our seedlings faster than we can plant them, so please feel fee to harangue us with any tips or horror stories as we are aiming to be a part of St James, not separate!

However, we are enjoying the freedom the children in our group are experiencing and have started a tree house, not finished yet as planting is too important at the moment, well, to some of us anyway – some have been a little slower.

Anyway we are now in a position to welcome the whole of the St James’ Cricket Club and to that end, would like to invite those of you who are interested in joining the allotment society to put forward their names.

We have only seven allotment spaces available so first come first served - Subject to the rules of the society of course.

To submit your name please reply to grove.barclay@ntlworld.com or v.jenkins423@btinternet.com

Alternatively you can normally find one of us at the site over the week end and they can pass it on.

Please also pass on this invite to any member that has no Email that you might know is interested.

The first away win of the season!!!

A slight change for the ones this season in that Bradley (skipper for the day) won the toss and choose to bowl first. This turned out to be the right decision. The day started with the usual warm up including the gay game (thanks must go to pants for the name). The usual high tempo was seen in the field, this has become known as the billingshurst buzz (BB), Im not quite sure were this originates, it may be a reference to the cockspur cup game last year (please don’t quote me on this). The BB proved to be beneficial once again after a poor start saw Middleton race to 73 - 0 before Jack Foreman (Screebs) made the break through, with James Cameron-Dow (Loaf, dont ask!!) taking the first of many catches. Middleton went on to 131 -1 of 30 overs before an inspired bowling change by the skipper saw John Glover aka The angry 12 year old take 5 - 35. Following this Middleton were bowled out for 162 of 44 overs.

Following an avarege tea (not quite nomads), we replied and started strongly with myself and Bradley reaching 40-0 until Bradley chased a wide one and snicked off to the keeper. Loaf joined me in the middle and our partnership was not the most fluent but it the scoreboard kept ticking over. After my LBW Paul Glover who I like to call “senior” flashed agriculturally and seemed to pull his hamstring. At this point the rest of the team were sitting wrapped up like eskimos on the boundary whilst being tempted by the hog roast slowly cooking away behind us. The hog roast took some attention away from the cricket being played which allowed the rest of the team to take their minds off a small collapse. Screebs tried his best to sure up the batting performance but proceeded to play and miss at everything outside his off stump, this only added to the nerves being felt by the rest of the team, the law of averages meant Screebs had to hit one eventually and this he did, providing the winning runs and the victory.

A big well done must go to Pants for his 104 no in the second team win over East Grinstead. I have it on good authority he batted like “Micheal Bevan” providing a mature and structured innings, and at last realising his potential!!

Next week brings Pulborough at home and hopefully fortress St.James will continue.

A DISHWASHER FOR OUR KITCHEN…

WILL COLLECT…

PHONE COLIN O’NEILL

07932159086

SPONSORED BY

HOVE PARK SCAFFOLDING

SENIOR SECTION

Current Stock
Caps £20; 1 XX Shirt £12; 5 Med Hoodies £20; 5 Large Hoodies £20
Orders(including request for items not in stock to John Taylor Senr.

YOUTH SECTION

Current Stock

Shirts; Med ¾ sleeve £15; Small adult long sleeve £16

XS Blue Polo training shirts £12; XS Blue training shortsm £9:

Caps £6

Orders to Cindy Newell

28.11.08

Summary.
There will be new faces on the Management Team for 2009. Roger Green takes over the role of Club Secretary; Jane Howard as Treasurer; Colin O’Neill as the person responsible for the Clubhouse and John Rattle will look after Social Events. Ttwo new roles were created, Barry Green Special Clubhouse and Ground Projects Manager and Mike Roberts as Communications Co-ordinator. All other posts remain in the capable hands of the incumbent

On the playing side Matt Ades will Captain the Saturday First Eleven with Matt Stone as Vice-Captain. John Taylor (Jnr) takes over the Seconds.

A new position of Club Vice-President was created in recognition of continued and invaluable support to our Club. John Bushell and Bill Smith were elected. Some new Vice-Presidents were also appointed as a thank you for efforts made. Liz O’Neill; Pete Masters; Nigel Cook; Colin O’Neill; Linda Allfrey; Russell Piper and Tim Hutchison. The untimely death of David Knipe a long time enthusiast for our Club and a Vice-President was noted with sorrow.

Annual subscriptions were set at £85 (with a £10 reduction if paid before the 1st April). Juniors Under 16, those in full time education or unemployed £45. Students living outside the County £25

Match Fees for Saturday 1st and 2nd Eleven players were set at £8.
All other teams (Sat, Sun and mid-week) £5. (This will include Junior players). On Sundays there will be no Match Fee if the player has played (and paid the sub) on the previous day (Saturday).

It must be mentioned that attendance of playing Members at the AGM was very disappointing. It is important to realise that the AGM is the time to voice opinions and support preferred options for running our Club.

The youth section had an outstanding season 08 culminating in the awards evening on 12 September attended by some 150/200 people..

The various age groups had varying levels of success but special mention has to be made of the Sussex Junior Cricket Festival results .The under 11 under 13 and under 16 sides all won their finals .Memorable achievements

The managers coaches and officials were all individually thanked at the awards evening but once again grateful thanks to all those who contributed and gave so much of their time. Now we wait eagerly for these talented juniors to progress through to the senior sides .Some already have with striking success.

Out of season much goes on. Winter nets are underway at Downlands school. The pre-Christmas sessions were very well attended-many new faces and post Christmas sessions start on 20 1 09.

The youth section is going to benefit greatly from the new east field. Winter work programmes have been ongoing and the new table laid to the new field looks mighty impressive. Now that the club has Clubmark status it is hoped to apply for E C B funding to extend the pavilion to serve the second ground. Volunteers are more than welcome to assist with the many out of season projects –most Saturday/Sunday mornings.

In recent years the club has been part of the chance to shine initiative taking cricket coaching into schools. We are again involved this year.

As mentioned above there are so many people who have contributed and continue to contribute to the wellbeing of the junior cricket but a special mention to the following.

To Mike Roberts who has resigned from his official position after doing so much down the years to promote youth cricket –dont despair he is still around and involved-including running the new under18 Sunday league side.

To Mo and Lin Allfrey who carry out a prodigious amount of work to ensure the smooth running. Where would we be without them.

Finally to everybody a very happy and successful 2009 cricket season. May the sun always be shining.

Derek Pickering

5TH.ELEVEN REPORT

Playing in the MSL Conference has given us a great opportunity to give our youngster a chance to experience Senior cricket.The 40 over format;win;lose or draw;with no points awards creates a competitive game without too much pressure.

The Season started well with a win over St.Andrews(Burgess Hill) by 65 runs.Outof our total of 200,Tom Howard(37) and Geoff Wiliams(17) had a opening stand of 51 followed by 6thwicket partnership of 88 between Mal Malik(54) and Philip Moss(37).
Josh Woolcott took 3 for 5 and Mal skitttled the last two for only 3 runs.

Another opening stand,this time 201 between Geoff Williams(71)and Richard Griffin(95)backed up by 29 from Jon Holford took us to 282-7 against Forest Row 3.2 wickets by Ryan Older,Kieron Older,Dan Tanner and Morgan Griffin saw our opponents out for 179.

May opened with a Cup win overe Uckfield by 7 runs Mal hit 72 and George Crabbe took 5-44.

Another close game followed with Crawley 3 failing by 5 runs to reach our total of 209-9.Neil Bushell(62)Malik(32) and Captain Ollie Wright hitting 43 featured .Another win over the powerful Hurstpierpoint 2nd XI with a 51 partnership by Richard Griffin(38)and Dan Tanner(30) forming a base for our total of 179-7.Max Gardner(3-41)and James Crabbe(2-12) had helped to restrict Hurst to 176-9 in their alloted overs.

A poor performance;at Horsted Keynes,all out 77,followed(Nadeem Malik top scoring with 24)resulted in a 9 wicket defeat.We lost again to Uckfield3 in the next match.We totalled 130(Nadeem recording a half century)losing by 5 wickets

Our neighbours St Andrews were entertained on our Main Square at Ditchlng a true Home game for once.Two of the Malik family dad Talat(74) and son Nadeem(58) put on 151 for the 3rd wicket.Stephen Moss took 3-26 as our visitors could only reach 131-9 in the allotted 40 overs.A win by147 runs.

One of the things about this team is the opportunity for fathers and sons to play in the Team.The third generation was recorder when Neil Bushell’s son Jeremy,made his debut behind the sticksAll four of the Moss family appeared this year!.

We lost by 40 against Lindfield 4 next match.They hit 213-9.We reached 173 before our last wicket fell.Chris Moss(55) and Mal(24)did put on 53 for the 3rd.wicket.Against Scaynes Hill 3 2 wickets each by Stephen Carrol;Jon Holford and James Crabbe restricted them to 159-9We were going well but our last 5 wickets fell for 17 runs,resulting in a 36 run defeat.

Revenge was in the air when we met St Andrews again in the first week of August.Batting first this time the Burgess Hill side made 182 for the loss of 6 wickets.Despite 73 from Mal we could only muster 176,losing 9 wickets in the process.

Unfortunately we lost the following Cup game against Crawley.Dan Tanner(4-32) and Stephen Moss(3-18)helped dismiss them for 153.However ,with 3 run outs,our batters never got in hunt.107 all out.This ended the League Season.

Two friendlies followed.At Clayton the most exciting Match of the Season resulted in us defeating St Peters 3 by 1 wicket.They posted 159 with the Griffins Richard and Morgan taking 6 between them.Neil Bushell notched 55 but wickets fell regularly until youngsters Max Gardner and Ashley Hills came together for the 9th wicket and despite some hostile bowling took the winning rune for a 2 wicket victory.

The final Match at Lindfield(we shall play at Clayton 2009) Chipstead,Coulsdon and Walcountians 4 were our visitors.Philip Moss(81 n.o)and Richard Griffin(72) started things off with 118 for the 1st wicket.We finally totalled 215-5 off our 40.Even 17 off the last over could not get our opponents passed our total.A win by11 runs.

A great season and our final mention is for Oliver Wright who led the team with great spirit estblishing a fappy atmosphere in keeping with the Club’s aims.Oliver has come through Youth Section and we would say thanky ou Ollie for your efforts.Mal must also richly deserves a mentiion for all the work during the week.

Mike Roberts.
Team Manager.

.

I have been tasked by our Executive Committee to produce a regular News Letter to all the those with an interest in the activities of St. James’s Montefiore cricket Club.

Having sounded out opinions from active members, particularly Tim ‘Hutch’, who devotes a lot of time to maintaining our website, the News Letter will be posted on this website.  Should anybody not have access I will arrange for a copy to be sent by post.
The normal update will be on a quarterly basis but ‘hot news’will be posted more regularly.

Any contributions and comments will be welcomed.

Our intention is to make the Club’s activity and intentions available to all, with the hope that it will bring together all aspects of the Club; Sponsors, Senior Members, the Youth Section, Officials, Vice-Presidents, Social Members, ex-players and friends of the Club.

Mike Roberts

The long drawn out procedure that has enabled us to increase our playing capacities was finally completed last year.
To obtain planning permission to extend our playing area we had to agree on several points.
The Stable Field was a casualty - the district planners made the reverting to previous use (it was a market garden and stables) one of the conditions in granting change of use on the East Field.  In addition we had to undertake an agreement not to build on the new field any structures such as dressing rooms etc.  This obviously made for difficult changing arrangements for last year as the dressing rooms available on the Stable Field were lost.
Plans are being drawn for additional facilities to be made on the Main Ground,   particularly as we have to conform with ECB regulations being a Focus Club and having Club Mark accreditation appertaining to our Youth Section particularly among these are toilet facilities for the disabled; separate changing rooms for female players; and the possibility of legislation that will enforce separate changing facilities for under 18 year olds.
The additional equipment needed to maintain the new ground will also have to be stored somewhere.

Graham Johnson, Derek Pickering & Clive Voller, who were very involved in the lengthy planning negotiations (we are grateful for the hours they spent on the Club’s behalf) are now taking on the task of planning the additions required to cover the requirements of the East Field.  Notice will be given to all concerned of the opportunity to view provisional plans in the near future.

The financing of the East Field project needed considerable efforts and a grant was obtained from the Spen Cama Trust as a base together with some very generous gifts of £500 tranches by friends of the Club. The renewal of our Club Mark, on which Roger Green spent many an hour, has opened up the possibility of ECB funding. So it seems that all is set fair financially.

However a lot of ground work has still to be carried out to bring the new ground up to standard. So everyone is asked to ensure that that they help wherever possible with the WORK PARTIES THAT ARE BEING ARRANGED AND DETAILED ELSEWHERE ON OUR Web Site. Barry Green, who is now our project manager, tasked with carrying through all the jobs that need to be done on our site will be looking for people to help.

This year we will still be using the non-turf pitch for games on the East Field .The grass square has now been approved by the committee but needs to settle. It could be possible to play on a grass wicket there towards the end of 09, but league games must always be played on the same surface throughout the year in most leagues.

Finally you may wish to know that both our Main Ground and East Field are the property of the Club Trust but not the Stable Field which has always been leased from the owner.  The Trust holds the ground on the understanding that the usage (if the Club fails for some reason) must always be restricted to the Sport. This may not be understood in some areas, as it has been said that our Club is a financial profit making organisation. A look at our accounts will soon prove this a misnomer.

Our Club is certain that before long we can offer some of the best and most picturesque playing facilities in the County.

Just thought I would let you know how I was getting on over here at the Darren Lehmann Academy in Adelaide.

I’ve had a bit of a rocky start, as when I arrived I was put straight into the first A grade game for the Southern District Cricket Club and opened the bowling, I didnt bowl to badly (1-10 off 7) but I injured my back again and couldnt finish the match.

Therefore I had to go and have a few scans to see what the problem was and make sure I didn’t have another stress fracture. Luckily it was a problem with one of my discs that had got inflammed.

As the academy is based at the Adelaide oval I was lucky enough to get treatment from the physio of the South Australian Redback squad. My treatment was continued by the academys physio/strength coach who is Andrew Leipus (India’s physio for 4 years, current Calcutta Knightriders physio). For the past 2 months I’ve worked closely with him in regards to getting me alot stronger in places where I was weak and that because of certain things about my body, I need to compensate in strength.

However, I havent just been in the gym, I’ve been able to do batting and fielding still. The coaches that I’ve been able to work with are fantastic (Darren Lehmann, Greg Blewett, Peter Sleep and Andrew Zesers). Luckily, as there are only 7 of us at the academy at the moment, I have been able to use the one to one sessions that we recieve fully and my batting has improved 3 fold. Fielding sessions are improving my technique and they are constantly testing us under pressure situations and different scenarios, the same is for batting.

I am now about to start playing again as I have begun to bowl again. The improvement in how I feel from all the gym work, recovery techniques and so on is incredible. Physically, I am improving each week.

So overall im happy with how everything has started over here, as the injury has allowed me to be able to spend alot of time on my batting, fielding and most importantly allow me to realise how much I need to take care of my body.

I am in very good hands over here and I feel that I’ve improved alot over the last 2 months and will continue for the next 3.

Clubwise, there is a massive difference in the approach to the games over here, the one main difference is the training. They train more and play less over here. Even though the matches are a different set up to ours, the guys who play in the teams are in no different situations than people at our club (e.g work commitments) they still turn up for training, trying to make themselves better and ready for the next match to make the team do the best they possibly can. This is just the general ethos of all club in the grade competition and so it raises the standard of the whole league. There are of course some big players in the league that play that come from the South Australian state side (Shaun Tait, Younis Khan) they also help make the league better!

It would be a big improvement to our club if we could get even an eighth closer to how clubs over here operate, ON AND OFF the field!!.

I will report back later with how I am going in games and so on.

Lewis