As the new season slowly approaches us, just a quick update on a few things.
Outdoor Practice
We will train outside tomorrow night (Thursday 21st). We have finally had a few dry days which should allow us to get some form of practice. Tim & John are going to try and get us a wicket cut to practice on at the end of the square. The areas around the square are still very boggy and wet, especially the bowlers run ups. Training will start from 5:30pm onwards, hopefully we can get as much in as possible and have a beer afterwards.
Subs
All the shirts that people ordered have now been delivered to the club, however to get your shirt you need to pay your annual subs. This is £50 (£25 concessions) which is payable to Tim, either cash, cheque or online transfer (contact Tim for details - he has already sent out e-mail about it). Really important as we complete the work on the driveway that we help early season cashflow by paying annual subs as soon as possible.
Games
Unfortunately our first two games have already been called off (Whitchurch last Sunday, Waltham on Saturday). We are playing Berkshire Ladies 1st XI on Sunday, which will be a great event for the club to host. The girls are playing in coloured kit and using white cricket balls as they prepare for their summer. Should be an interesting afternoon. There is no Saturday games now until the 7th May, there is one more "pre-season" game lined up against Earley on Thursday 5th May at Bradfield.
Availability
We already have 18 players marked as available for the 7th May game, which is fantastic two weeks before the game. For players who have not updated availability then please can you do so as soon as possible. It takes a couple of minutes and it helps us see any problems in advance. This year we are anticipating having some selection issues some weeks, so we don't want to be guessing on players whereabouts when there are already 22 players marked as available. As you know we have Sunday games lined up all the way through the season, so if you are to miss out one Saturday you will be given priority on the Sunday selection. All the fixtures for the season are now uploaded on the website, so please mark availability as far as you know. You can always change it at a later date if your plans change.
Work Parties
There is still plenty of work to be done at the club. Lots of you will have seen that the drive work is 50% complete. Another 40 tonnes of materials are being delivered for the Saturday 30th April work party to finish of the driveway. There will also be work ongoing this Saturday morning, so please if you were down to play and now without plans etc.. then please pop up to the club and help where possible. Dave will be sending out an e-mail about the 30th April work party with more information next week.
Bar
Conrad has now taken over the running of the bar, we have added some Tutts Clump Cider to our West Berkshire Ale both available on tap. As part of Conrad's new regime, there is a "tab" available to all. All you have to do is add £30 credit, when you do so you will get your first pint free. Afterwards you have the option to go up to £30 in debt (so £60 bar spend from your initial £30 upfront). The limit on tabs is now £30, I think only Dave ever went below that anyway (he only carries £50 notes).
League Meetings
In the last two weeks we have hosted two Berkshire Cricket League captain & umpires meetings, which saw over 100 people attend the club from all the different teams in the league. The league were very thankful to the club and a lot of people who had not attended Bradfield before were very impressed with our facilities. It definitely made a good impression on the league committee and the other clubs.
Last night Dave Keighley was presented with his "Club Umpire Of The Year" by the league for the 2015 season. Well done Dave - much deserved, lets hope for a lot of LBWS (in our favour) this year!
Kind Regards,
Jack Byrne
Director of Cricket