lhcc.org - News - Newsletter July 2006

AND NOW SOME SAD NEWS<= /span>

Our popular Club Chair= man - Matthew Harman – has sadly decided for personal reasons to resign. Matthew has been doing the job of holding the Club together extremely well since 1996 and he will be a very h= ard act to follow. He has agreed = to stay on until the AGM which as usual will be held in November, so everyone needs to put their thinking caps on and consider who they would like as his replacement.

AND SO ON TO JUNIOR CRICKET

As you will have seen from the title of this newsletter, we were the first cricket club in Bucks to achieve Clubmark accreditation. New juniors and parents may wonder= what this means.

Basically, it means th= at we have proved to the ECB that we are running our club - and in particular our Junior section – in an approved manner which considers all aspects of safety for under 18 year olds (both on and off the pitch) to be paramount.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>

Clubmark accreditation= was very difficult to achieve – it took us 18 months to complete our application – and now that we have it we cannot just sit back and relax. The ECB regulations governing young players are constantly changing and we are required to keep= on top of those changes and ensure that they are implemented by all our coache= s, junior team managers and senior captains at all times.

An example recently oc= curred when we played another club who have Clubmark but who failed to take note of the ECB recommended guidelines for young players, in that they overbowled a= 17 year old bowler and their young wicket keeper did not wear a helmet.

THIS CANNOT HAPPEN AT = LEY HILL.

These guidelines are strictly adhered to at all times and all senior scorebooks have a note of t= hem for the guidance of captains if required.

Now this is the bit of= the newsletter where your Secretary cunningly acquired reports from Coaches and Team Managers so that she did not have to write too much..

IF IT’S MONDAY, IT M= UST BE RAINING!!!

Written by David Brodala

The Monda= y night coaching seems to have been disproportionately affected by rain. Although we have been in the middl= e of a heat wave recently, when Monday comes around the heavens seem to open and we have to miss out.

However, we have still managed to hold a number of excellent sessions full of enthusiastic participation by the children. We have now covered most aspects of the game and have also included a session = in the nets. We finish off with = a game at the end of the evening and this is always competitive, particularly when= the girls are matched against the boys!

I would especially lik= e to mention the conduct of the children, as this has been very good. It certainly makes the coach’= ;s life a lot easier and the children’s safety better when you can focus= on the cricket rather than taking up valuable time trying to maintain control.=

I would also like to t= ake this opportunity to thank the parents for making sure that the children arr= ive on time and are picked up on time – although my wife tells me that the bar being open may have something to do with the latter!<= /p>

David’s mention = of the children’s safety brings to mind the fact that in an effort to stop t= hem running on to the road, we have taken to putting a line of cones along the = road edge and telling the children they must not go past them. We also put out signs every time c= ricket is played warning passing motorists, etc that they must take care to avoid cricketers and be watchful of cricket balls when going past the pitch.=

UNDER 11s NEWS

Written by Bruce Copestick, Team Manager

This was t= he first season the boys played as a team. For some of them it was their introduction to playing matches. They have learnt a lot during this season and have been very enthusiastic about the game and have pulled toget= her well as a team.

The matches have been t= ough and unfortunately we don’t have a win to our name as yet. However as the season progressed t= he margin of defeat reduced. Our= last match against Hawridge & Cholesbury was lost by 2 runs only! This has given us encouragement fo= r next year.

Well done to all the bo= ys who were involved and thanks to all the support from their parents.<= /span>

UNDER 12s NEWS

Written by Ian Partingt= on, Team Manager

This seaso= n the Under 12s have played 7 matches and won 4.= The victories came against Dinton, Chesham B, Chenies & Latimer = and Chiltern Girls U14. Two of th= ese games were won in the final over while the game against Cublington was narr= owly lost by 9 runs.

There have been a numbe= r of notable performances with the bat. The top scorers have been Jamie Lewis (30 n.o. v Chesham B), Ben Woodbridge (28 n.= o. v Dinton), Alex Partington (26 v Chesham B), Michael Morris (20 n.o. v Chesham B), Josh Wright (18 n.o. v Grendon Underwood) and Tom Cullen (18 v Cublingt= on).

With the ball, two bowl= ers have taken 5 wickets in a game – Rory Sore (4-0-9-5 v Cublington) and Alex Partington (3-1-5-5 v Chiltern Girls U14 and 4-0-19-5 v Chesham B). Peter Garland also performed well against Cublington, taking 3 wickets (3-0-14-3).

The fielding has been l= ed by Josh Wright with 7 catches and 3 run outs and Ben Woodbridge, who took 4 catches in the same game against Chenies & Latimer. Other useful contributions have be= en made throughout the season by Alex Humphrey, Tom Jeffery, Richard Deane, <= span lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Ben Teden,= Kieron Hawkins, Toby Deane, Vish Patel, Lewis Thompson

and Joe Collier. Reports on all our games are avail= able on the club website (when updated) along with up to date averages and statistics.

In the Under 12s, Alex Partington, Lewis Thompson and Ben Woodbridge were in the District squad for winter training and Alex and Lewis were in the 16 man District Squad for matches this summer. Josh Wri= ght, Alex Humphrey and Michael Morris all had District trials.=

WELL PLAYED UNDER 13s

By Mandy Thompson, Team Manager

Well played to all those who played for the U13s. We have finished third in the league. We beat Penn & Ty= lers Green, Stokenchurch and Winchmore Hill, lost to Ballinger, Cublington and Hawridge & Cholesbury, and the matches between Chesham A and Wooburn we= re rained off.

We have played really w= ell as a team and I hope the juniors have enjoyed this season as much as Rob and I have. A BIG THANK YOU to the parents who help out at the matches – couldn’t do without you!!= ! We have a few more friendlies line= d up and I know that these will be played in the manner all our games have so far! Well done U13s.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE GIRLIES G= ONE

All this year’s new registrations were boys. Are we not getting through to pare= nts that cricket at Ley Hill is open to GIRLS aged 6 to 18 as well???

LEY HILL GIRLS TEAM <= /b>by Robin Carr & Andy Rennard

On 23^rd June, Ley Hill U13 Girls won the Lady Taverners 8-A-Side cricket tournament and as County Champions now go on to the Region= al Finals later this summer. The= event was hosted by Ley Hill and the large crowd were treated to six exciting, well-played matches.

Our team produced a fantastic performance for the Hill as they beat teams from Ballinger, Chesham and Gerrards Cross to finish the tournament w= ith a 100% record. The team is ma= naged and coached by Andy Rennard.

Ley Hill Girls played a 12 A Side Barrington rules game against Hemel Hempstead Girls on Wednesday 14^th June = at Ley Hill.

Ley Hill won the toss a= nd asked Hemel to bat first. Und= er the Barrington rules agreed for this match, each team started with 200 runs and the girls batted= in pairs for a maximum of 4 overs each.&nbs= p; If

a wicket was lost, 5 ru= ns were deducted from the total and if the fielding team bowled a wide or a no ball, 2 runs were added to the total.

Hemel scored a total of= 234 off their 24 overs thanks largely to some good bowling and tight fielding.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> In reply Ley Hill scored 292 off t= heir 24 overs, resulting in a comfortable win for the Hill!

However, it should be p= ointed out that the Hemel girls have not been together as a squad for very long and this was the first competitive game that any of them had played in.

Congratulations to all = our girls and we are hoping to arrange a return fixture in the very near future= .

UNDER-15s Report

By Kate Morris, Team Manager

            The Under 15s season set off to a fine start as we won the first round Cup match against Stoke Green, but hopes of glory were firmly dashed at the next roun= d as we lost to a very competitive and closely fought match in the noisy surroundings of Stokenchurch.

In the league, we had o= ne win and one loss at the beginning of the season before being hit by the monsoon conditions of late May, which meant two abandoned matches against Hawridge & Cholesbury and Chesham.

Following resumption of activities we had a poor run, losing to Aston Clinton, Wendover and Balling= er in quick succession. This was disappointing as we all thought we could beat Aston Clinton and Wendover. However things improved towards th= e end of the season with wins against Winslow and Amersham Hill. Overall in the league we were plac= ed 5^th out of 8 teams wit= h a total of 9 points.

As in previous years, j= ust as the team starts to really get together and perform well, the Juniors season comes to an end but the good news is that many of the U15s are playing regularly in adult matches and so will continue to play throughout the summ= er.

Congratulations and tha= nks to everyone who has played in the team this year, and to parents for transport, umpiring and scoring.

And now the UNDER-17s

By Ian Walter, Coach/Team Manager

With no sh= ortage of talent for the Under 17 age group this season, we entered one and a half teams in the Kookaburra Mid-Bucks 20/20 Competition. The other half of our second side = came from Tring Park and thus “Tring Hill= 221; was born!

= ;

Each side played in pre= liminary “round robin” groups of 5 and unfortunately our own Ley Hill la= ds were drawn in the “group of death” along side Amersham, Tring Park, Chenies & Latimer and Bovingdon. Also the weather intervened badly in May but we were able to complete all games except Amersham, which was abandoned after we had become the first ever side to bowl them out – and for less than 200! (This Amersham side were national runners-up as U 15s in 2004 and I suspect half of them had not been called<= /span> <= span lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>upon to bat before).

Our league campaign was however a disappointing one which never really recovered from being 11 R= 11; 8 half an hour into the first game at Tring! A comfortable win over Chenies was followed by a narrow defeat at Bovingdon and we finished 4^th of = the 5 sides in the group. In the = Cup we went out at the quarter-final stage against Tring Park but at least put up an infinitely better performance than in the league and= <= span lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>before a l= ate clatter of wickets, at one time it looked as though we might even win.=

Tring Hill meanwhile ha= d an interesting season which at least allowed many other boys from both clubs experience of 20/20 cricket. = Never quite sure of what sort of team would be available, we were thrashed at Hughenden Valley (16 all out!), lost narrowl= y to Chiltern Wanderers (a similar mix of Wendover and Great Kingshill) but thra= shed Taplow by 10 wickets. Our gam= e at Stokenchurch was rained off. = With an excellent run rate due to our 10 wicket triumph, we finished a creditabl= e 3^rd out of 5. In the Cup we lost to Tring Park (but at least had the satisfaction of playing on “the” pitch) a= nd were pipped in the Plate Competition by Chiltern in an extraordinary matc= h.

Whilst the boys would b= e the first to admit that in some of the games they could have done much better, particularly in the batting department, on the very positive side no less t= han 11 Ley Hill boys represented Tring Hill and a separate 13 played for our fu= ll side. Of these 24 (at the tim= e of writing) 18 have already represented the Club’s senior sides this sea= son.

I have deliberately not mentioned any of the lads by name, but will mention Robin Carr (umpire), Eleanor Phillips (scorer) and Nigel Hill, who have given up precious evenin= gs to assist, together of course with the parents who have provided lifts. Also Paul Green for always being t= here as “mine host” and Nick Lee and Bill Phillips for allowing the = use of our hallowed turf because at this level, artificial wickets are forbidden for competitive games. Thank = you all.

And lastly, let’s not forget our newest venture

Kwik Cricket for 6 to 8 ye= ar olds

Written by Anne Lee

            We are ve= ry proud to announce the success of the U-8s Kwik Cricket sessions this season. Having seen the pleasure the older children get from attending training sessions, local parents were keen to g= et the kids started even younger and various kind volunteer Mums and Dads have turned out each week to run a Kwik Cricket session on Monday evenings.=

The mini cricketers ha= ve had a great time through downpours and heatwaves enjoying themselves whilst gai= ning experience with bat and ball. It has been a steep learning curve for the parent helpers but it has been good= fun and the quality of the sessions improved over time. Hopefully the children will have acquired a taste for cricket and have learnt some basic skills for when they move up to the next group.

Thanks go to parents w= ho have turned out and to Holly Barrett for being a great role model. We intend to continue through the = summer for any children not on holiday and any helpers are welcome.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

So what does the remainder of th= e season have in store?

SUMMER<= /span> CRICKET ACADEMY

FOR JUNIORS

There are still places available (for 8 to 10 year olds and 14 to 16 year olds) on the 3 Day Alan Rance Memorial Cricket Academy to be held a= t Dr Challoner’s Grammar School, Amersham on Monday 14^th to Wednesday 16^th August betw= een 10 am and 4 pm. You may have = seen this advertised in the local press and a number of Ley Hill Juniors are alr= eady signed up for it. (Unfortunat= ely the course for 11-13 year olds is already full).

The course is being run by Chris Cowdrey, a former England= Captain and a full team of qualified coaches.   The normal cost is £12= 0 but £45 towards each place is being funded by the Alan Rance Memorial Foundation and the cost is therefore £75. Alan was a well known local cricke= ter who sadly died at a very young age.

If you are interested, Kathy Rance would be delighted to hear fr= om you on 01494 722439. All leve= ls of ability are welcomed.

SIX A SIDES – =

Bank Holiday Monday 28th August

8 Teams needed to comp= ete against each other in a tournament starting at 10 am. Entry £24 per team. First come – first served &#= 8211; entries to Paul Green., 07817 138859.

Lots of helpers needed= on the day for running the bar, barbecue, umpiring and scoring. Offers of assistance to Paul Green please.

JUNIORS PRESENTATION NIGHT – Friday 1^st
September

This is the Junior Section’s special night when awards are presented to those players who have not only succeeded in doing well, but also tried their hardest to do w= ell.

Further information ab= out starting time nearer the date – watch the website – but there w= ill be a barbecue.

This newsletter is written and distributed by the Secretary of = Ley Hill Cricket Club – Eleanor Phillips of 20 West View, Chesham, Bucks,= HP5 3DE. Telephone 01494 775400.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mobile 07799 121361. E-mail EleanorPhi@aol.com .&nbs= p; Your contact details are held on a computer database solely for the internal use of Ley Hill Cricket Club and will not be released to third parties. If you object to your details being electronically stored or wish to inspect your entry, please contact the Secretary.

Sponsored by Paul Empson Tree Care and TopHat Marquees

PAST EVENTS

BATSMEN

BOWLERS

FIELDING

AND SO ON TO JUNIOR CRICKET

UNDER 11s NEWS

UNDER 12s NEWS

UNDER-15s Report

And now the UNDER-17s