News 2007 | Cobham Avorians Cricket Club

News and Press Releases

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Sunday 19th April 10.30 Cricket Force 2009 at the ground.

We are duly signed up for Nat West Cricket Force 2009. Essentially, this commits us to formalising our ‘clean up the club’ event, with a plan, objectives, proper volunteer forms, health and safety check, etc, and commits us to writing a report afterwards. In return, we get access to significant discounts with some major building supplies merchants and cricket equipment vendors, below is a ‘shopping list’ the Cricket Force offers are advantageous.After the event, when we have submitted our report, we receive 50 free tickets that can be used at L&V Championship matches, Friends Provident matches, or Pro 40 matches.

Deep clean of the Kitchen.
Deep clean of bar front and back
Cleaning and painting of sight screens
Painting of umpires room.
Tidy and clean colts stock room
Club house tables to be polished
Showers to cleaned and disinfected
Cleaning the toilets. (male/female)
Painting the toilets (male/female)
Servicing the toilets (flush systems etc)
PIR lights to be installed 3 in total
Lamps to be replaced where required
Carpet cleaning in clubhouse / changing rooms (hover)
Ladies changing room to be cleared, and tarted up.
Score Box. Cleaned painted kept tidy.
Front windows require new beading / painting / blanking off (home team changing room only)
Plant pots to be filled and planted.
Smoking bins to be filled with sand.
Boundary boards to be put in place.
Play area to be assessed, cleaned, removed / moved to another location.
Roll out Net to be fixed.
Felx pitched to be rolled out and placed at the far end
Tree trimming around out field
Tree trimming in car parks

Required Items please bring along.
Steam cleaner, power washer, white matt paint, wheel barrows, rakes, tools, saws / chainsaws, stiff brooms, paint brushes / rollers,

Chairmans Report 2008

In 2008 the Club continued to prosper, again both on the “field of valour” and on the social front.
The First XI had another good season, finishing higher than before whilst maintain-ing easily their premiership membership. There were disappointing aspects, however, with attending games with less than a full complement. The Second XI maintained their position and it was good to see several Colts now appearing regu-larly in the side. A special mention to Tom Collins who also appeared with the First XI; this augurs well for the future of the As. The Sun-day side is gathering strength and does not have the problems of earlier years when it was difficult to field eleven players. Peter Arksey, sadly, has not had to appear very often. However, I did witness an extraordinary catch such agility!
On sad result was, however, our performance in the Twenty Twenty we were knocked out by lowly Ashford who, however, did go on to win the Surrey Region. Hopefully, 2009 will see us
again reaching the final as we did in 2007.
The Colts had another strong season, again marred by poor weather conditions. We had hoped to field a team of Girls Colts XI but unfortunately, during the winter, the girls seem to have mysteriously disappeared. The coming season will see us with more matches and 2 Elevens also entered into cup competitions.
Thanks must be passed to Andy Bell and his Cricket Committee, and obviously to Peter Arksey for his excellent stew-ardship of the Sunday fixtures one club specifically wrote to thank us for an excellent game played in the true spirit of “village/club” cricket. I understand from Peter that there is a move to run a Second Sun-day XI which I hope is more successful than the expecta-tion that in 2008 we would run a Saturday Third XI.
The Colts have been, as usually, controlled by a combination of Darren Talbot, Peter Worth and the coaches. Thanks also to the Colts Committee.-
I am glad to say that the social life of the Club continues apace with, in addition to the following, we have had a Quiz Night and Ann Summers Night (!) and are now looking to the season starting with a Race Night. We are looking to extend the social night the Chairman is loath to mention the Darts Night as his performance was a disgrace. I am able to say that the social “leader” is now Hayley Arksey. The events of the past year, which were well attended and
for the most part contributed to the Club funding, were as follows:
Grand National Day
Ascot Day
President's Day
Summer Ball
Cricket Week
Firework Night
Christmas Dinner and Casino
Stag Night
We hope in the coming season to add a Golf Day and the 4 dates for this year's Cricket Week, which will incorporate Presidents Day, hopefully, as the first day and the Summer Ball as the last day of the Week. (The success of the events would not be possible without continued excellent teamwork, and the Clubs thanks go to our President, President's lady Sue, Andy and Emma (The Tote), “Guy” Golder, the wonderful family Arskey and “Where's Your Money” Jacobs. As usual, my apologies for any omissions as it is, of course, very much a team effort. As usual, it is important to mention Groundo or he will get very upset and a grumpy Groundo is not to be ignored!
Again, a difficult season with weather and I understand from the League that we had a good ground report well done, John. The amount of work with the ground increases every year with the Surrey Under 12s, the Surrey Over 50s, more Colts games and John needs some help.
As anyone will have seen who has been down to the Club recently, the refurbishment on the Clubhouse has been a great success and we now have a very comfortable environment. As with my comments last year, some good weather will be appre-ciated and the more we use the pavilion the less onerous are the utility bills!
We are still trying desper-ately hard to sort out the nets, but hopefully this sea-son will see an end to our funding efforts and hopefully and, as if by magic, a miracle will happen and we will have the nets in place. It is most important that with the number of games being played on the square that a net facility is in place. Odd pieces of ground equipment have been added to the fa-cilities including the huge cover sheet and a slip cradle.
Whilst we tried very hard to get the 200 Club going, unfortunately it took a back seat. We really must get this in place as it is a wonderful way for the Club members to contribute towards the Clubs activities at a relatively low cost.
Finally, as with last year, a hearty vote of thanks to the Committee for their support and efforts over the last 12 months. The Committee is still understrength and it is sad that the officers tend to be the “old” faces. I am glad to say that we think we have in place a facilities manager who will be responsible for the Clubhouse which will make a big difference to the Club diary.
Lets look forward to a successful 2009.

2nd X1 Report by Ash Golder

Looking back on the way that the season started for the “stiffs” on day one against our friends at Sander-stead, perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised at how things turned out by the end of the season. Last minute team changes on Thursday and Friday, 2 players arriving after the start of play, two players who played their only game for the 2nd team (who were then consigned to play the rest of the season in the first team), Mike Bailey recalled from a decade of inactivity to forge a new ball partnership, last minute stand in keeper Gary Collins taking the first ball of the season on the nose, and skipper Golder injuring himself in the warm up, to then spend May and June watching from the sidelines.
In the second match Peter Worth, down to umpire the match at Bank of England until 10 minutes before the start, was called up for his A's league debut. Iain St John, a new Avorian, played his second and last game of the season due to a back injury.
And so it went on…. Five games in, 3 points in the bank. Rooted to the bottom. The 6th game against Horsley & Send, who were one place above us in the league, saw us field our 27th player of the season for this “must win” game. A victory! The season starts now off the bottom of the table! Not so fast…another bad run 4 games for 3 points and were now well adrift from the rela-tive safety of 8th place, but still a couple of points ahead of Horsley & Send due to some earlier fighting one pointers. Then 4 wins from the next 5 and were starting to
believe that we can avoid the drop, all of the wins coming when batting first. The last match of the season away against already promoted Pyrford, A's needing 4 points to be sure of staying up, saw us do just that in a very inter-esting encounter in the wet. A tense season indeed!
Canny bowling was probably our big-gest asset of the season, as you‟d imagine from us winning 4 times when posting low scores batting first.
Benny Hill (29 at 18 a piece), Baby Joe (31 at 16) and Will Cooper (20 at 22) were the main weapons in the attack for the bulk of the season.
Four under 19s, James McLaughlin, Tom Collins, Joel Bailey and Jonny Tribe, all took useful wickets when they got the chance which must give us hope for the future, and with Will Davis also breaking into the team, there is bowling potential for future years.
Some interesting bowling stats best average Luffy with 4 wickets at 11. Harpo at the rear with 2 at 101 a piece no comment (he averaged 40 with the Bat though)!
Batting not much to shout about. Joe Burnett comfortably the highest run scorer with 381 at an average of 29. Next top run scorer was a resurgent Andy Bell with 234 maybe we‟ll get another season out of him yet!
The classy Tom Collins scored 200, and would have gone past Andy if he had not had the call up to the 1's on a number of occasions.
There were 200 runs or thereabouts from Gib (at 49 but the scorers lost count of how many balls faced) and
Will Cooper, and also very useful contributions from Harpo and Pricey over the course of the season.
With 29 players used in the season the stats are perhaps not surprising. The emergence of the younger play-ers mentioned above are the real bonus, over and above retaining our Division 2 status for another year.
Don't believe your eyes……..
Hopefully well be able to persuade Benny to continue for another season, despite trying to hang up his boots after the Pyrford match! You can't surely be retiring before yore 40 can you?
Without his bowling this season weed probably be playing in division 3 next year.
Massive thanks to Peter and Dominic, who umpired and scored for the bulk of the season, and to Lesley for filling in at the last minute with her tasty bites at tea.
Also to one or two people who regu-larly played at last minute requests Gary Collins and Simon Porter.
and, quick to respond, the Social Committee has ar-ranged an action replay, on 20th February, starting at around 8:00 pm, with provi-sion made for anybody making their way back to the clubhouse from Colts Nets at Burpham.
This is the quiz for all the team finishing with the wooden spoon last time still scored over 100 points so come and join us. Entry is a mere £5, which includes the quiz, prizes, and food (chilli this time, to ward off the cold weather). Further details from Hayley Arksey.
The Cobham Avorians Quiz is back! At the end of last sea-son nearly 70 people, forming eleven teams, crowded into the clubhouse for an evening of gentle interrogation, good food, and not a little alcohol! By common consent, the quiz was one of the best social events of the close season
Next question, please!

Royal Ascot at the Cobham Avorians 2007
Friday June 22nd 2007

Another wonderful afternoon at the A's with more lobster and champagne than is humanly possible to consume. The A's certainly know how to throw a good lunch and with the big screens showing all the races and Andy and Emma ably running the betting, a great time was had by all and well needed funds were raised for the club..

See all the pictures of the Royal Ascot Day at the Cobham Avorians 2007

Press exposure in the nationals
May 16th 2007

It's rewarding to know that we can still command column inches in the nationals. This time it was the Telegraph with the match report on the Dulwich match appearing both in print and headlined on their website.

See the webpage here

See the Telgraph article at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/05/16/scclub216.xml

Double victory
May 13th 2007

This Saturday saw the opening matches of the Surrey Championship played in weather that saw both teams scampering on and off the field as showers followed bright sunshine only to be followed by more showers. The afternoon settled back to sunshine and allowed both teams to set the bar for the season. The Second XI were away to the Bank of England and having been put in to bat, set the Bank a target of 179 for 8 off 45.5 overs. Jamie Lawrence must still be appearing in the nightmares of many of the Bank batsmen as he proceeded to take 9 wickets over the afternoon restricting them to a total of 108 all out in just over 40 overs. Similar form was being displayed by the First XI where a fabulous home match was shaping up against Dulwich. Avorians won the toss and put Dulwich in to bat. Strong bowling and fielding all round and Dulwich finally succumbed after 63 overs. The A's returned to the field needing to beat Dulwich's 267 for 8. Tomlinson and Kingsnorth fell early but mention must go to opening batsman Mark Higgs who scored 95 and set a match winning situation early on before being caught by Shahid just before his century. Robbie Arthur came in and steadied the ship with a worthy 40. Dulwich fought hard all through the game but a late pairing of Smart and Jarvis brought us to within a few runs of the total before Jarvis was caught by Kelly. A nail biting finish saw the A's requiring 6 off the last over with captain Jeremy Hinds taking the field. Congratulations to Jeremy for holding his nerve and scoring the one run required for victory.

Next Saturday sees the First XI off to Sunbury whilst the Second XI play host to Epsom at home.

Our fundrasing for the clubhouse improvements is going well but we still need donations to help us achieve our target. I don't have the updated total at present but will update the total as soon as I do.

Sunday's fixture and the Colts Academy news will be updated during the week.

2007 Pre-Season Report
April 12th 2007

The Cobham Avorians are looking forward to an exciting season after gaining promotion to the Surrey Championship Premier division, the top level of club cricket. Many changes are being made to the club including the re-building of the clubhouse by, friend of the club Andrew Beaumont’s business, Runnymede Homes and the proposed laying of two artificial surface nets. Many local businesses have been approached seeking support towards funding these projects.

The club once again has wonderful support from major sponsors but is still looking for any company that is interested in becoming involved in one of Surrey’s emerging community conscious cricket clubs. If you are interested contact Steve Lewis on (e-mail). On the field it’s a massive year for the club with both First and Second X1’s gaining promotion last season. Cricket Chairman, Andy Bell, believes “We have a strong squad but probably lack a bit of depth. Any local young players who believe they could play at this level but may not achieve it where they are currently should look at The A’s. There are definitely a couple of spots up for grabs.”

This year’s First X1 captain will again be Jeremy Hinds . After last years exiting and successful campaign Australian Mark Higgs of Canberra Comets has been invited back as the overseas player and the nucleus of last years side are staying together. Hinds commented that “Higgsie has been over twice before and each year we have gained promotion to the top division and he has topped the division run scorers each time. We know we are guaranteed a serious amount of runs at over a run a ball and he has the ability to take important wickets.” Higgs had many seasons with New South Wales and South Australia and has a couple of full Australia One Day caps.

In support of last years leading batters, Auri Basu, Paul Pritchard and bowler Scott Jarvis, the 2006 Player of the Year, are seasoned all rounder’s Graham Crawford, Robbie Arthur and Andy Umpleby. Hind added “We have a stronger side than last season and are delighted to have brought to the club Berkshire Minor Counties star Steve Naylor and young wicketkeeper Ben Kingsnorth who has just returned from a winter playing down under. The league season starts on the 12 th of May against Dulwich and we will be ready.”

Two year’s ago the colt’s section was formed with great success, Colts academy manager Darren Talbot will be holding coaching sessions again this season every Friday evening with the help of his coaching staff and first and second team members. The colts will again be sponsored by “Fuel for Kids” and the club will continue to have the sponsorship of among others, Chantry Estates, Invesco Perpetual, Skandia Life, Melon and Norwich Union.

Any one interested in joining Cobham Avorians as a player or supporter should simply contact the club. Details are on the website which includes all fixture lists, results and general information about your local club.

Local planning update
February 2007

Needless to say, the planning meeting approved the extension to the club's facilities..

Local planning objections
February 2007

The Cobham Avorians cricket club was shocked this week when it found out a local Residents association had objected to a planning application applied for with Elmbridge borough Council. The ground in Convent Lane Cobham has applications in for a small extension to the club house changing rooms, these alterations have to be made to bring the facilities up to the standard required by the cricketing authorities. The Avorians gained promotion to the premier Division last season and are working hard to get new sponsors for the coming season.

Work was due to start in the next few weeks but the objection from Hersham Residents association was not expected. Elmbridge planning department have no objection and a spokesman for the office said they had recommended the application and could not understand why they have objected. They are the only ones to have objected and it would now have to go to the committee although they could see no reason for a refusal.

The Cobham Avorians have worked hard over the past few years to get the club back on its feet and have done an amazing job to get into the top division of the Surrey Championship they have a colts section and are encouraging children of all ages to join the club. Girls now want to play cricket and have to have ladies toilets and changing rooms, these would be part of the new clubhouse facilities.

The club will have to wait for the result of the planning committee in February before any work can commence, they are concerned that if the work is not completed by the start of the season they could be in trouble from the league.

A spokesman for the club said “ After all the hard work we did last season to get into the Premier division this has come as a great shock, we have met all other requirements of the league. We now have a successful colts section up and running encouraging children to take part in sport and to be treated like this by a local residents association is unfair and time wasting. It’s not as if we want to put houses on the ground, we just want to make the changing rooms bigger and improve the facilities of the club”.

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