The Captains Column

As always, I start to get excited around this time as its only a few months until the season starts, and hopefully we can get back to Parsonage Meadow and here the sound of leather on willow. Its been a difficult year with the dreaded Corona Virus and I hope and pray that the vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel we have all been waiting for, and we can get back to be the social animals that we are meant to be.

Cricket is not just a great sport, but is also has a fantastic social side and it was incredible to see so many faces (new and old) at the ground last year, it was also amazing to see so many youngsters enjoying cricket, this younger generation is the future of the club, and it has been a dream of mine for many years to have a youth set up, so a big thanks to the volunteers and parents that have got involved with this.

This coming season holds a number of firsts and really demonstrates what a long way the club has come in the last few years, from a point of nearly folding.

· Under 11’s playing hard ball cricket

· The Saturday 11 being in County 4 (not a first, but it is for a long time)

· Electricity being available in the pavilions

· The club having covers

All of this demonstrate the drive of the committee and members in making the club sustainable and watch this space because there is more to come.

As club captain my goal for the season as always is to ensure that we all have fun, whether we are playing, umpiring, scoring or just sat in the sun with a cold beverage enjoying the atmosphere and watching some cricket. I have never been too concerned over winning or losing as long as we are competitive, in my view if you focus on winning then the enjoyment goes out of the game, but we will as always give it our best to try and continue up the cricketing ladder and see if we can get to the dizzy heights of County 3, I will even try and catch a few this season behind the stumps.

I look forward to seeing you all again in the spring, whether its walking your dog when I am cutting the grass, whist watching the game or hopefully as part of the team.

Martyn

Whitchurch CC

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