Roving Reporters Cricket Club

Thanks To Tony Rymer For Copying Up These Notes

ROVING REPORTERS CRICKET CLUB

Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday 3^rd November 2009

Those present: R Jones, (President), Mrs J Jenkins (Treasurer), P Jenkins, J Jenkins, P Smith, J Rogan, M Jordan, S Wiggins, D Weist, C Simmons, D Simmons,

T Simmons, C Jones, T Rymer

R Jones was elected as Chairman for the evening

Meeting opened at 7.40pm

Apologies for absence were received from K Pike, J Pike and A Pike

It was agreed that a Secretary’s report was not necessary as the content would be duplicated within the other agenda items.

Captains’ Reports: J Jenkins and P Smith

Jonathon reported that it was a season that started very sadly with Annette passing away.  She was a very special part of the club.  From an RR’s perspective Keith’s speech at her funeral was wonderful and whether it’s my position or not I would like to thank everyone who represented the club at the funeral and memorial service, and Keith especially.  I’d also again like to thank Hertingfordbury and the RRs players who played there for the way in which we remembered Annette on that day.

In terms of cricket we had a season of 3 thirds with an outstanding start, a poor middle (when I was injured) and a good end.  We won twice as many as we lost over the season and this included a fantastic winning streak of 7 back to back wins.

Batting

Other than a couple of spectacular failures, our batting was exceptional this year.  I believe we scored over 200 in just under half our innings which is brilliant but more importantly makes us very competitive.  Tony’s season was remarkable and probably his best for us, whilst Dave Loochin also scored a lot of runs in the first half of the season. It’s been quite a few years since we had 3 different centurions during a season and there were lots of 50s too.

Bowling

The same issues of previous seasons were apparent with our bowling again.  We only bowled sides out 8/9 times this season and the number of wickets that our leading wicket takers take continues to go down season after season.  The reason for this is three-fold.

Firstly, we simply don’t have the bowlers in the squad who are very quick or who turn the ball sharply and that’s a fact.

Secondly, we tend to have 7/8 bowlers in every team so they will tend to bowl fewer overs.

Thirdly, and probably the most importantly I feel we have become quite one-dimensional in terms of bowling and our outlook in the field during 40-over matches.  Quite simply, we look to save runs and consolidate in the last 20 overs rather than try and take wickets at the expense of giving away runs.  It may be worth considering next season conceding more runs in search of wickets especially with our battling seeming to be so strong.

Fielding

We had our usual mix of good and bad fielding performances, and the usual wicket keeping likewise.  There were some excellent catches taken and the usual smattering of drops as well.

Progress

I’ve got a new sub-heading this year named ‘Progress’, which is not something we tend to think about very much but relates to players actually improving as cricketers.  Two individuals that undoubtedly have progressed this year in terms of both batting and bowling are John and Tom.  Well done to those two, they’ve listened to lots of advice from all sorts of people and have become much better cricketers this year.

New Players

Stuart made some excellent contributions with the bat at the top of the order, but as ever we could do with some more new regulars.

Fixtures

We had lots of conference fixtures this year which will no doubt provide lots of discussion.  Personally I think that all of the matches might be worth attempting to keep pending availability of any free dates and existing fixtures.

Jonathon passed on apologies from London Colney regarding the attitude of some of their players.  The committee at Colney sent a letter to all the playing members expressing their disappointment at that match and I had two phone calls apologising as well.  Colney have assured me that the team we play will be of more agreeable characters, and it will be a family day with bbq.

Tour

Another big success.  Despite the injuries the fifth game worked well with the number of players that toured and assuming that a similar number tour next year there’d be no reason to change the format.

Dave Loochin

I was extremely disappointed that a member of the club walked out of a game in the way Dave did.  This incident was perhaps symptomatic of the feeling that both Paul and I have had during the season that some people within the club really are more concerned with themselves rather than the team.

RRs great strength in the past is that the whole has been greater than the sum of its parts but on occasions this year our team spirit has disappointed me.  There have been times this season when both Paul and I have not enjoyed captaining the side.

In terms of keeping wicket, whilst we’ve got a number of players who can keep, we also now obviously need to be quite active in seeking another keeper for next season as well.

Thank you as ever to Roger, Craig and mum for their roles behind the scenes and thank you to Chris and Dave for getting teams on the pitch.  I’d also like to thank Tony, Chris, Craig and Terry for captaining the side when Paul and I were unavailable.

Paul Smith reiterated Jonathon’s sentiment

Treasurer’s Report

Mrs J Jenkins presented the accounts for 2009 to the meeting. 

The club’s financial position is still healthy. 

Extra revenue (£432.57) was generated from subscriptions (23 games played) although this was almost counter-balanced by the accumulation of costs incurred (£411.84) from a range of activities (nets, balls, scorebook, kit, CCC fees etc) when compared with 2008.

True figure carried forward to the 2010 season of £729.86 after costs associated with the annual dinner have been discounted.  The accounts were reviewed by the members present and R Jones gave a vote of thanks to Mrs J Jenkins.

Election of Officers for 2010

Availability

It was noted that availability of players has been tricky this year with a total of 41 players used.  It has been difficult to select a team from those available whilst trying to retain a good balance of youth / experience and batsmen/bowlers. 

Please note that Martin has a wish to become a bowler in anticipation of his pending retirement from wicket keeping!

Stuart Wiggins is going to see if his friend Matt will attend the net sessions and hopefully continue into the 2010 season for RR’s.

Equipment

The kit bag has acquired some additional gloves and wicket keeping pads although it is not clear from whence they came.

It was suggested that the well travelled and well used kit bag is retired and a new more modern lightweight version is purchased.  This would make it easier for the equipment officer and players to transfer kit between games.  A vote was taken with a YES majority to change the bag.

In order to promote the clubs investment in people (especially the youth) it was proposed that the Vice Captain for the 2010 season John Rogan should captain at least one game in the forthcoming season. All those present agreed.

Subscriptions

It was unanimously agreed that these will remain the same for the 2010 season as £10 for adults and £5 for students/juniors.

Please be aware that any guest players must pay the subscription and it is the responsibility of the individual who invited the guest to play to ensure payment is made.  There were two or three occasions last season when guests did not pay.

Fixtures

As ever there was much debate on this subject.  There was overall agreement to try and retain the new fixtures with County Hall, Hertford and Aldenham.  Try and keep the fixtures with Wheathamstead, Old Owens and Roxbourne. The Roxbourne game raised discussions around their impersonal ground and a strange ‘team’ however they were sociable in the bar.

It was felt that we would continue to be bumped by Langleybury if they progressed in the cup competition and we would never know if the fixture would stand until the previous week.  It was therefore agreed not to try and retain Langleybury.  The game with Preston lacked any form of competition as they were very weak and it was agreed that we would not try to retain the fixture.

It was agreed not to try and retain the fixture with Hatfield Hyde. 

Pacific have shown an interest in arranging a fixture for next season however Craig was not sure if it would be possible to fit it in based upon the existing and proposed new fixtures. 

It was difficult to get teams out for the 20/twenty games and one game had to be cancelled.  It was proposed to reduce the number of these but keep the fixture on 2^nd July.

Tour

Peter and Jackie Jenkins have again successfully negotiated to retain the same prices as 2008.  Everyone agreed that we should try and keep the extra fixture. 

There was a discussion regarding team selection and availability for tour games as it was felt we should look be more competitive against Stow as we hadn’t managed to win there for the last few occasions.  It was recognised that team selection on tour is an extremely tricky role and consideration is given to all involved.  It was agreed that selection for the Stow game would consider this request.

AOB

There was a discussion around Presidents Day.  Presidents Day games in 2007 and 2008 at Shenley Park have been well attended by players and family, with entertaining games in lovely surroundings using superb facilities.  There was a feeling amongst a few players that the catering element of the day had imposed constraints on the game and the game had to work around over running lunches and teas.  The catering team at Shenley did their best but they did appear to struggle with our timing requirements.

It was felt that it was time for a change and there was a unanimous decision to return to Cockfosters for 2010.  A discussion was held around the preferred time of year with the May school half term week (w/c 24^th May) being the preferred time.  R Jones agreed to open discussions with Cockfosters to try and book either the Wed 26^th or Thurs 27^th May.

Consideration would also be given to starting the game earlier then 11.00am to allow adequate time for both teams to contribute fully to the 20/twenty and timed game format.

Cricket Nets

These will be booked from 7^th Jan through to 22^nd April for time slot 7-8pm on Thursdays.

Dave Loochin

There was a detailed discussion around the events that occurred at the Little Berkhamstead fixture involving Dave. Individuals at the meeting voiced strong opinions and concerns regarding Dave’s behaviour on the day.  No one at the club had spoken to Dave since the event took place and no one had received any verbal or written explanation with an apology from Dave. 

It was felt that at this point in time unless Dave provided an explanation and apology to those personally involved he would not be called invited to play for the club.

 The meeting closed at 10.35pm