I am extremely pleased to report our outstanding success both on and off the field. 2013 has

been an extraordinary year for the Club and I am very proud to be associated with it.

The Saturday 1st XI won the Premier League of the WPL accumulating a record number of

points and was undefeated during the season; the Saturday 2XI finished runners up; the

Saturday 3XI had its highest finish; the Sunday 1st XI won the league; SCCC also won the WCL

T20 competition; the Walmley Floodlit Cup and the Last Man Stands competition. Several

players represented the League; Aaron Thomason received County and England U17 honours

and the U13 andU17’s were runners up in the County Championship.

My thanks go to our Coaches and senior players who have worked so hard. The work ethic has

been excellent at all levels with a consequent improvement at all levels. Our Captains have

played a major role in player development and my thanks goes to them. Steve and Andy have

played an exceptional part in bringing the Club forward, my thanks goes to them and their

continued involvement is eagerly anticipated.

Mike Mackey has been tireless in improving the Junior Experience, particularly on Friday nights,

which must continue to be the main thrust of the junior section. Coaching in schools and Little

Batters has been an addition to our junior programme and has brought much needed benefit

to the club in the recruitment of junior players, especially in the younger ages.

We must continue to encourage interested parents to get involved with the Club and not let

any mention of interest go unnoticed by positively reinforcing their actions. The number of

players at the U18 level who have played senior age cricket this season has never been higher.

All credit to them for working hard with commitment and enthusiasm.

Our Club sponsor through Gary Lane, has been of immense support this season. The interest

shown in what we do and what has been have achieved, has given the club a great boost. We

extend our wholehearted thanks for this and look forward to their continued support in 2014.

Other people have provided financial support in 2013. The Club President, VPs., Life members

and individuals have dug deep to help us remain solvent and to provide essential kit. Our

appreciation goes to them.

We couldn’t do what we do without the many volunteers who give freely of their time to help

the club in groundwork, gardening, painting and decorating, a variety of odd jobs, routine

maintenance, bar work, refreshments, the organisation of social events, the provision of raffle

prizes, administration, and not least Teas!!!! Without this volunteer army the club would really

struggle. People have been brilliant in their responses, showing kindness in order to help the club

develop and complete the great many tasks that need to be done – all mostly behind the

scenes! Our recognition must go to them!

The Ladies section has progressed in leaps and bounds, and the response to Thursday evening

coaching has been very positive. Genuine progress has been made, mainly due to consistency

in attendance. Becky Batsford scored two centuries and Jessica Wright took a ‘five fer’! We

need to recruit at senior level to establish our independence in the local leagues in both the

eight-a-side and 11-a-side formats. We need to enhance the girls section so that they feed into

the ladies’ teams as they mature. If the commitment continues, then this bodes well for the

future. My thanks go to Kim Harvey for all of her efforts.

The Committee members have worked really hard is year, keeping the welfare of the club and

its membership at the core of decisions made. My thanks go to Steve Russell - a superb

Secretary, John Howard - involved so much as Cricket Chairman, to Jim Hobbis - a treasurer

who has kept the finances in pristine order, to Hugo Russell , Paul Heron , Mike Hepburn (CPO)

and to Robin Wheeler. The Text Link instigated by Mike Mackey has also been a valuable tool in

passing on essential information to members and this will be firmly embedded in our

administration.

The 2013 success must be a springboard for future success. We have a challenging time ahead

of us on our return to the Birmingham & District League and it will be necessary to draw upon

reserves so far untapped to gain further promotion. I have no doubt that we have the quality of

personnel to achieve this but we must continue to work hard and avoid any complacency.

On the agenda is a new five year Development plan which will be ready by January 2014,

SCCC is due another Club Mark Accreditation in 2014 and we need to develop a Social

Calendar which interests all of our membership, thus continuing to raise Club Spirit.

Thank you to everyone for all we have achieved and in anticipation of what is to come.

Colin Greetham – Chairman SCCC

View from the Chair Inside This Issue

1 View from the Chair

1 Winter Nets Alert

2 WCL Awards Evening

2 Meet the Chairman

2 AGM Report

3 Jim Troughton Evening

3 Winter Nets’ Details

3 Junior AGM Report

3 BT Challenge

3 SCCC Junior Award Winners

3 Annual Dinner Details

4 SCCC Senior Award Winners

and Pictures

Sutton Coldfield CC Story

ISSUE 13

December 2013

Winter Nets Alert!

Junior Nets start on 14 January

2014 - book now to avoid

disappointment

Senior nets start on 16 January

2014

All sessions will take place over

12 weeks from the above dates.

SCCC is sponsored by Lane

Builders

SUTTON COLDFIELD CC STORY

More than 320 people attended the Warwickshire Cricket league’s Annual Dinner and Awards evening on Friday 25 October in the Tower Suite, at Drayton Manor. Some 25 of the assembled throng were representatives from SCCC. The speaker at the event was Geoff Miller, the ex-England Test player and until recently the Chairman of England’s Cricket Test Selectors, who made an hilarious (clean) speech without reference to copious notes which had the audience (including many ladies) falling about with laughter at Geoff’s cricketing anecdotes. Amongst the long list of winners was SCCC itself (the Premier 1st XI League trophy), the SCCC 2nd XI (the 2nd XI Premier League Runners-up trophy), Graham Clarke the WCL Premier League Leading Bowler (SCCC had three bowlers in the top four positions), and SCCC for the Warwickshire T20 trophy. SCCC’s Lee Thomason was also asked to accept, on behalf of the Warwickshire Cricket league, the three county tournament trophy won by Warwickshire (a result mainly due to Lee’s performances in the tournament). These are a few of the images taken at the Dinner.

WCL Awards Dinner – A night to Remember!

SCCC AGM Report The SCCC AGM took place on Tuesday 12/11/2013 at Rectory, when a relatively small gathering heard the Chairman, Cricket Chairman and the Hon. Secretary of the Club all comment favourably on the successes achieved across the board by all senior and junior playing members of SCCC during the 2013 season. In addition, the plans for 2014 and beyond were discussed with a new five year development plan promised for early in the year. The annual financial statement of SCCC was presented by the Treasurer, Jim Hobbis, with the news that the Club achieved budget during 2013 due to an increase in senior and junior membership, an excellent level of income from advertising in the Fixture Card, invaluable sponsorship for the Lane Group, and the Annual Dinner, together with a great deal of care taken by the Committee in adhering to the Club’s planned expenditure. The Club Chairman’s report and that from the Junior Chairman can be read elsewhere in this Newsletter, but the Cricket Chairman in his round up of on-field matters made particular mention of the fact that the average age of the 1st XI in 2013 was only 20 years, and that a record number of junior players had made their debuts at senior level during 2013. He went on to say that both of these facts bode well for the future of SCCC. At the AGM, the election of Club Officials took place, and for 2014 these are: Chairman – Colin Greetham; Hon. Secretary and Social Secretary – Steve Russell; Cricket Chairman – John Howard; Membership Secretary – Robin Wheeler; Treasurer – Jim Hobbis; Fixture Secretary – Hugo Russell; Fund Raising and Sponsorship – Paul Heron; Grounds Sub Committee- Phil Mist; Ladies Representative – Kim Harvey; Saturday 1

st XI and Club Captain – Graham Clark; Saturday 2

nd XI Captain – Aaron

Evans; Saturday 3rd XI Captain – Andrew Lee Parker; Saturday 4th XI Captain – Bob Mewis; Sunday 1st XI Captain – TBA; Sunday 2nd XI Captain – Aaron Evans.

Meet the Chairman of SCCC

If you are one of the very few people that does not know or recognise SCCC Chairman, Colin Greetham – then read on: Respected by everyone, current SCCC

Chairman Colin Greetham joined SCCC in the

early 90’s. Colin was born in Birmingham In

1944 and attended secondary school at Great

Barr Comprehensive School. For the last two

years of his school career he was appointed

Head Boy and after leaving he attended

Loughborough College of Physical Education

where he studied PE and Science. On leaving

College, Colin became a school teacher taught

in West Bromwich and then Sandwell,

eventually becoming Deputy Head Teacher

before retiring in 1996.

With Colin’s chosen profession of teaching

and his love of sport, it was inevitable that he

became a coach in his spare time. He played

cricket to a decent club standard initially for

Four Oaks Saints then ultimately joining

SCCC in the early nineties when he rapidly

became Junior Chairman.

His real expertise came to the fore when he

began coaching juniors at SCCC as he was

able to call on all of the experience gained

during his teaching career and his cricketing

prowess.

Having been a well-respected Committee man

for many years and Junior Chairman virtually

since he joined SCCC, Colin became Club

Chairman in 2011/12 with remarkable results!

Having suffered relegation on a couple of

occasions prior to his becoming Chairman, the

Club just missed out on promotion in his first

year which near miss has been followed by

two successive promotions. The turn round in

the Club’s fortunes is due in no small measure

to Colin’s Chairmanship and this success has

been recognised by him being nominated in

2013 in the BBC Community Sports Awards

process in the ‘Unsung Hero’ Class. Watch

this space!

SUTTON COLDFIELD CC STORY

The SCCC Clubhouse was full to capacity on

Friday 29 November when welcoming Jim in aid

of his Benefit. The bar staff had done a great job

in putting up Christmas decorations thereby

adding to the atmosphere in the room which

was very warm and convivial

Three County players Tom Milnes, Tom Lewis and

Paul Best came along to make up a Troughton

team for the Quiz. Brian and Anne Wright made

excellent Quizmasters and Ellie did a sterling job

BT Challenge On Wednesday 4th December 2013, BT sent approximately 20 people from

its BT Challenge programme to SCCC to help carry out a variety of tasks at

the Club. The visitors worked extremely hard on our behalf for several

hours. SCCC offers its sincere thanks to BT for this fabulous gesture.

in relieving everyone of their money for raffle tickets! Our thanks must go to the

people who sponsored the evening, to those who worked hard to organise and serve

food, and to those who generously donated prizes for the Raffle.

Thanks also to the Club members who helped with the organisation and room

preparation and in particular, a special ‘Thank You’ must go to Paul Greetham who

compered the evening, ran the auction and interviewed Jim in the Q&A session. He

did a fantastic job in pulling the whole evening together.

Altogether this was a very pleasant and successful event for the Club and thanks must

also go to everyone who attended the event and supporting SCCC.

2013 Junior AGM Report – A Chance to Shine! Attendance on Friday nights in 2013 saw a massive increase over the previous year, due to better weather, the Chance to Shine programme, our investment in local schools cricket (free cricket coaching) and an improvement in coaching with a number of new coaches. Junior membership is up 55% on 2012 and we hope this will continue and have already received interest from a number of parents and coaches who wish to become part of SCCC next season. Friday night coaching will be further improved with dedicated coaches for each age group including a ‘girl only group’ if possible. Excluding the U15 and U17 age groups, SCCC had nearly 80 youngsters from the age of 9 to 13 attending Friday night training sessions. A Chance to Shine resulted in 23 children attending eight of whom became club members, and Little Batters helped in the recruitment of 18 children aged U9. This latter process was helped by having Sam Sargent at the club on a Sunday morning to provide refreshments, answer questions and help parents and their youngsters. We will continue to extend our links with local Schools and hope to expand our free coaching sessions in the New Year. In 2013, One SCCC junior player represented England at the U17 level; five juniors represented Warwickshire; three the district sides, four juniors made their senior team debuts, and two of our junior teams reached the final of their County Cup competitions. A truly terrific result! All of our age groups need to play more games - we have developed good links with Whittington Four Oaks Saints and Aldridge at various ages, and the junior committee is looking at improvements for next season including better communication with team managers and parents, better contact details and the payment of subscriptions. We do need new members for the committee, drawn from the parents of the younger age groups who have an interest in the junior section. Malcolm Roper has expressed an interest in joining the Junior Committee and Phil Mist has agreed to act as Junior Secretary for 2014. The Teachers 2 Parents text service has helped keeping junior members abreast of social events and training cancellations and has eased pressure on coaches. Subscriptions, match fees, winter nets and Friday night coaching costs will not be increased. These are: the membership fee remains at £40 (Siblings £15), match fees at £3 per person per match (U9’s £2), U9’s membership at £20, Friday night training at £4 per member (siblings £3), and junior winter nets at £60 for 12 sessions. There are a number of vacancies for Coaches and Team Managers for 2014 namely: U10 Boys; U14 Boys; U17 Boys; and U13 Girls (if we run a team). Finally, we received many positive comments from parents about our Friday night sessions, on the improvements made to the coaching sessions and on our administration, with many also approving of the bar facility and the BBQ, but especially on the friendly atmosphere in our club together with our welcoming policy for the youngsters who attended. Mike Mackey – SCCC Junior Chairman

SCCC Junior Award Winners At the recent SCCC Awards Evening the

following presentations were made to junior

players – these youngsters are the future stars of

SCCC:

U9 Batsman – Jack Hurrell Woodward

U9 Bowler – Felix Haines

U9 All Rounder – Jack Hurrell Woodward

U10 Batsman – Harry Cook

U10 Bowler – Troy Mukhergee

U10 Most improved player – Rohan Ram

U11 Batsman – Lewis Sturdy

U11 Bowler – Manraj Chohan

U11 Clubman – Luke O’Brien

U12 Batsman – Stan Pigott

U12 Bowler – Ashrit Chohan

U12 Coach’s Award – Archie and Sam Bogle

U13 Batsman – James Lunn

U13 Bowling – Ashrit Chohan

U13 Fielding – Joseph Hewston

U14 Batsman – James Lunn

U14 Bowling – Spencer Gray Nimmo

U14 Coach’s Award – Connor Greaves

U15 Batsman – James Lunn

U15 Bowler – Raul Ram

U15 Clubman – Isaac Mackey

U17 Batsman – Joe Berry

U17 Bowler – Jon Sargent

U17 Clubman – Jamie Humpage

Congratulations to all of the above young

players!

Annual Dinner! The SCCC Annual Dinner will take place at Moor

Hall Golf Club on February 7th 2014 at 7.00pm.

Following the Ashes series in Australia, Sutton

Coldfield CC presents an ENGLAND themed

Annual Dinner. Guest Speakers will include

England star Chris Woakes, plus further guests to

be announced (hopefully including a returning

Ashes player!). Menu will be announced in due

course. Smart dress only please!

Tickets £30 for adults and £20 for juniors

Order tickets from Paul on 07792794427 or

herons83@btinternet.com; John on 07846 697521

or john.howard@blueyonder.co.uk;

or Aaron on 07825554838 or

aaron@envirotechltd.co.uk

(NB. Some content may not be suitable for

younger juniors).

SCCC is sponsored by Lane Builders

Jim Troughton’s Benefit Evening

SUTTON COLDFIELD CC STORY

SCCC Awards – A Veritable Cornucopia!

These are just some of the images taken during the recent SCCC Awards Evening

SCCC is sponsored by Lane Builders

SCCC Awards Evening Winners! On Friday 11 October, more than 120 people crowded into the

Clubhouse to celebrate the fantastic 2013 season just experienced

by SCCC.

On this page are just a few of the photographs taken on the night.

Both Junior and Senior players received their awards which were

presented by Gary Lane from Lane Builders, the Club’s 2013 and

2014 sponsor.

The Senior Winners list comprised:

1st XI Saturday Batsman Lee Thomason

1st XI Saturday Bowler Mark Guest

Special Batting Awards: Jack Smith, Lee Thomason, Mark Guest

Special Bowling Awards: Mark Guest, Graham Clark, James Hunt

2nd

XI Saturday Batsman Kamran Fazal

2nd

XI Saturday Bowler Martin Ball

Special Batting Award: Kamran Fazal Special Bowling Awards: Martin Ball, Sam Sargent

3rd

XI Saturday Batsman Steve Russell

3rd

XI Saturday Bowler James Lunn

Special Bowling Awards: James Lunn, Jack Holland

1st XI Sunday Batsman Tom Wright

1st XI Sunday Bowler Raul Ram

2nd

XI Sunday Batsman Jamie Humpage

2nd

XI Sunday Bowler Tom Wheeler

Special Batting Award: Jamie Humpage

Special Bowling Awards: Harry Wright, James Lunn, Tom

Wheeler