Hayes (Kent) Cricket Club

Thank you!!
As always we must begin by expressing our sincere thanks to our colleagues on the Committee who have devoted so much time and effort to ensure the smooth running of the Club over the past year. Also to all the other voluntary helpers who have given their valuable time to help with fund-raising, catering, entertainments, publicity, umpiring, scoring etc.

It was a year of change in terms of personnel on Committee, with new appointees in the key positions of President, Chairman and deputy Chairman, and we’d especially like to thank Stuart Whitehead and John Apsley for all the work they’ve done on behalf of the Club, in something like 50 years of combined Committee duties.

We’re here to play cricket - So how did we do?

Seniors
As far as the playing side of things is concerned, not much changed in terms of success in the senior sections. In the Men’s section, the 1st XI just managed to avoid relegation again, the 2nd XI found things much tougher in the Premier last year and were relegated, the 3rd XI toiled hard and finished mid table and the 4th XI had another good season finishing third in the league for the second successive year. The Sunday Development side had a poor season, finishing one off the bottom of the division, only winning two games. The Sunday 2nd XI had another thoroughly enjoyable season, fulfilling 17 fixtures in all, and still remain an important side within the Club, through which we are able to introduce juniors to the longer adult form of cricket, as well as provide some of the ‘old pros’ with a chance to show that they’ve not lost any of their talent and enthusiasm.

The Women’s Section had more success than the Men, with the Hayes Hurricanes 1st XI finishing third in what is a very tough Premier South division and the 2nd XI finishing top of Division 2. So congratulations to all involved.

Colts
The Colts sections in both Men’s and Women’s continue to thrive, with a growing number of members playing league and friendly cricket, as well as coaching on Sunday mornings. A special mention here to the U11a boys, who swept all before them last year, winning every game and finishing top of the league. We also hosted the usual Hayes U12’s Colts Festival, where 6 local sides battled it out for the spoils and I’m pleased to report that the Hayes side were victors for the second year running.

How’s the future looking?
So on the playing side, a varied year in terms of success, with good performances in the Colts sections which bodes well for the future. A good Colts section is essential if we are to develop the kind of players required to fill the senior sides of the future and to underline that point, something like half the current players in the Men’s 1st and 2nd XI’s are products of our Colts system and the ratio is even higher than that in the Women’s section. So we’re doing something right and creating just the sort of breeding ground we need, to be able to build towards more success in future.

As a further illustration, Chris Harden, (still only 18 years old and our Young Player of the Year), scored his maiden senior century for the 1st XI last year, and Connor Byrne (only 14 years old and the Most Improved Player of the Year) was the Club’s leading wicket taker, playing games in the senior sides up to and including the 2nd XI. Both guys are products of our Colts system. And of course, our most famous product of all, Lydia Greenway, who had a fantastic season, scoring her maiden international century for England (125 not out against South Africa) and being recognised with the ECB, England Women’s Cricketer of the Year Award. We are absolutely thrilled for her and incredibly proud to have her as a member of the Club, and look forward to seeing her go from strength to strength next year. With role models like these, we have to expect that more players will make the same sort of progress in the future.

So what do we have to worry about?
As Chairman of the Club I have a number of concerns. On the playing side, the key concern is the success of the senior sides, as that’s how we will be judged in terms of whether we’re a good club or not. It’s great to see the Women continuing to do well, and they are our flagship. The obvious issue though, is the performance of the Men’s 1st XI, who are struggling to fight their way out of Div 2 and we have to address this in the coming year. Hayes is a big club with a long standing reputation and some of the best facilities in the county but we’re just not doing it on the field at the moment. There will be a host of reasons for that but it will be our Chairman of Cricket’s main objective this coming year to engage with the first team skipper and squad and turn the tide in terms of results. I genuinely believe we have the players and resources to gain promotion and we will be investing in making that happen. But that investment has to be matched by an improvement in attitude and commitment from the playing membership, too many of whom think the Club is simply here to provide a means for them to play cricket. That has to change. There’s far more to a cricket club than just playing and the burden of keeping the other aspects going is far too often falling to the same people – the true club members, who put themselves out, day in, day out. As a club, we’re not unique. It’s the same in many other clubs, cricket and other sports/activities, across the country. But I think it’s time we all stood up and recognised this and did our bit (and more) to help make the Club an even greater success and secure the future for another 183 years.

Off the field, the second area of concern is the Club finances. In all senses, we can be compared to a small business. A business with a turnover of around £50k per year. A business that needs to make a profit to survive, needs to attract investment to flourish and needs to give something back to it’s stakeholders. This past year saw us making a loss of around £2700, which was disappointing, although in line with our forecast. On the positive side, we have invested nearly £10k in a new artificial strip and repairs to the scoreboard, which were not included in our original budget. We managed this through grants and donations, for which I am very grateful. These are both good examples of how we have continued to invest and improve facilities at the Club. On the topic of donations, our sincere thanks must go to Tony Stuart for obtaining a new set of covers. Together with the sight-screens he sourced the year before, we are now the envy of every visiting club, with equipment of the highest quality and in the fortunate position of being able to cover both front and back squares. But we still have to continue to push hard on securing more grants and sponsorship (Sue Duke has done another great job in this respect) and to improve our general housekeeping next year. Subscriptions, match fees and fund-raising events are critical cash flow items that have to come in on time and be better supported by the whole club membership. In 2012, we will be applying to register the club as a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC), which will help us benefit from gift-aid and other advantageous tax arrangements. Our President, Garth Cooper, has been leading on this and will explain more about it at the AGM.

We were first!
On the subject of events, we saw a few ‘firsts’ last year. We had our inaugural darts championship, a great ‘televised’ event and one of the highlights of Cricket Week. Congratulations go to the winner, Steve Taylor, but a special mention to the runner-up Lyn Murphy. On a more serious note though, we were proud to be asked to host the first ever Women’s match between the MCC and the CCC, which again underlines our importance and standing in the world of Women’s cricket in the UK. We also held a unique Kent Captains Evening, where Charlotte Edwards and Rob Key came along to present awards and hold a question and answer session. Events such as these help to further raise our profile and attract comment and publicity.

2012 - objectives and priorities
I‘ve already mentioned the need to improve performance on the field, especially in the Men’s section, and continue to develop the Colts to provide the through-put of players for the future. Both will require investment and we are committed to finding ways to fund that. And we have to continue to pay very close attention to our finances and attract the additional funding and sponsorship required to underpin our plans and ambitions. And 2012 will also see the launch of a project to improve the changing room facilities. This will be a major project for the Trust but led by Cricket, involving an extension to the existing changing rooms to create separate changing facilities for the Women and umpires, improve/provide facilities for the disabled, refurbish the existing changing rooms and create an undercover walk-way from the bar to the changing areas/toilets. An ambitious project, for which we have already obtained outline planning permission and held meetings with the KCB on support and funding. It will require a huge fund-raising effort but again demonstrates that we are committed to developing Hayes (Kent) Cricket Club into the future.

Malcolm Couldrey Chairman
Alan Matthews Secretary