Ashby Hastings Cricket Club

In 2009 we aimed to maintain our Premiership status. This we achieved finishing again in sixth place, but with an improved number of points, and we also enjoyed considerable cup success, the high point, winning the Joe Orton Cup. This represented a real achievement because we were without our skipper for much of the season, we operated without recourse to a county player, and we missed the dominating batting of Byron Ovenstone.  Obviously our success was in no small part due to Matt Ryan’s magnificent haul of wickets, but the progress of Sam Carline with the bat and the ability of others to contribute throughout the batting order and with the ball were significant positive factors. How much better might we have done if we had made more of an effort to field a settled side, and if more thought, both collectively and individually, had gone into building substantial totals with the bat. 

We planned for our 2nd team to gain a second promotion but whilst we batted well at times, results were affected by a lack of penetrative bowling, and the need to bolster the first team squad. Under the circumstances consolidation in Division 4 constitutes an achievement. Regrettably, the absence of regular umpires in this division was again a negative feature, sometimes producing games played in an atmosphere that was unpleasant. 

Of the three teams, perhaps the 3rd team had the hardest time; the travelling was often difficult, too many games were lost to the weather for the team to develop any momentum, and a young group was left too much to its own devices without the spine of experience that is essential to develop young cricketers. We must also be prepared to accelerate the promotion of promising juniors, and also use our development teams constructively. In 2010 we will be playing in the Everards Division 8 and with the likes of Loughborough and Kibworth teams for company this will be tough competition.

At the beginning of the season we anticipated progress in our Junior Cricket programme, and we certainly achieved pleasing levels of participation. However other measures of success are the numbers of promising juniors a club supplies to representative teams or promotes through to its senior sides, and we are found to be lacking against these criteria. Whilst David was successful in providing the LRCB with the necessary documentation to ensure our continuing Clubmark status our coaching structure and linking with schools needs to be a lot sounder, and there is little that your elderly administrators can do about it. Young cricketers want to take as their role models and be coached by players and we need more players to gain their qualifications and be fully active in this area. We currently rely too much on those in our first team squad who are paid to coach. 

In the pavilion we have held our own, and we provide good hospitality. We were pleased, if not a little surprised, to be told by the County that they found our facilities perfectly sufficient for us to be hosting County Second Team cricket. Our bar is well stocked and provides us well with necessary income. Robert Doleman is without peer as a fund raiser, and his knowledge of grant aid is unparalleled. Through his efforts alone we will soon boast a net practice facility that will be the envy of all in North-West Leicestershire at no great cost to the club itself. 

The wish of Leicestershire to bring Second Xl Competition cricket to Ashby tells us what we already knew. Bob and Rogers’ work on the ground places the Bath Grounds in the top four grounds in the county. It is a pity that some of the players fail to show a respect for their efforts by forgetting to help them; they would appreciate you doing your match day tasks as conscientiously as they have done theirs, pre-match. Please also take into account the fact that they have doubled their workload now that they have taken lead responsibility for ground improvements at Western Park where our 3^rd team will play in future. 

Socially the club remains a pleasant place to be, team morale is usually good and recriminations are rare; we have all enjoyed some really good nights, and the Aussie night springs immediately to mind. 

The smaller committee has improved efficiency and communication; we may not always be as cohesive as we might like, but we are all working very hard.

We believe finances to be sound, but we are far from wealthy. We abide strictly by the league rules of no payments for playing, but we are prepared to pay for the transport of an overseas player and provide him with accommodation. We also find it necessary to buy in some of our coaching. Our overarching aims for the short and the medium term remain the same, but there are specific things to be addressed. We need to sit down in teams and set progress targets not just for the team but also for individuals. We need to work together as a club. We need to develop our partnership with Ashby Town, offer them our hospitality and work with them on the improvement of Western Park. We need to work harder at our links with schools and the development of young cricketers making full use of our improved practice facilities. If the opportunity comes that we are looking for to promote girls cricket we should take it positively. We must progress as a club without Matt Ryan who, both as a cricketer and as a clubman has been an example to us all, and has helped us to a level of performance we must not throw away.

Treasurer’s Report
The Chairman advised the meeting that Andy will be standing down as Treasurer due to pressure of work and thanked him for his efforts.

The Treasurer gave an analysis of the accounts, which were proposed, seconded and agreed. Court Action has been taken against our previous Treasurer, with much of the money paid back. Possible further action will be taken to recover the balance. The bar turnover is well up on 2008 and the gross margin has improved to 54%. During the year we have committed to several items of large Capital expenditure – garage, covers, water-hog etc – although the subsequent loss in the accounts is below the original budgeted figure, despite there being 2 lots of ground maintenance invoices paid, due to having 2 different contractors for the respective winter work. Electricity costs remain high and we will need to review the tariffs early in 2010 to try and reduce our charges. It is noted that Ashby Town CC will be paying something towards ground costs for Western Park, once final discussions are held.Taking all the above into account, members were advised that our overall funds could be reduced to as low as £4k soon, in the light of expenditure for the new nets and equipment plus any costs for ground works at Western Park.

Captains’ Reports 
The 1XI had another good season and finished in 6th place in the Premier Division. Tom expressed his thanks to all the players but especially to Sam Carline & Ian Giles, and commented on how good it is to see our youngsters coming through. Recruitment is under way for 2010 and everyone was urged to help with player recruitment ready for the new season. Tom also thanked David Tattersall for acting as 1XI scorer through most of the season. Members were again asked if they know of any potential scorer as our Facilities marks from the League are badly affected if we do not provide a scorer at 1st team games. Also, the 1XI will benefit from having a Team Manager, which DT said he will do at games he attends. Duties will include completing the team card before the match and also collecting match subs (again before the match commences). Tom gave a special thanks to Matt Ryan for over 6-years of total commitment to the Club. He will be sadly missed and good wishes were extended to Matt for a successful future back in Australia.

The 2XI had a fair season in Division 4, although 2010 could be tougher as more 1st teams will be in this Division.

The 3XI suffered from a lack of available senior players on a regular basis, which we hopefully can address when we enter the LCCL Div 8 in 2010. The Sunday XI played very few games, due to either our opponents cancelling games or if Cup ties clashed with dates.