WBCC EXPANSION - MERGER WITH NOTTINGHAM C C - OCTOBER 2008

The Club has recently confirmed an arrangement to merge with Nottingham C C who in 2008 were running one senior team and struggling for survival. This team will retain their position in Division D and be renamed West Bridgfordians 2nd XI. Fixtures will continue to be played at the ground on Adbolton Lane. With 4 Saturday League teams we now become one of the largest clubs in the area, using grounds across West Bridgford and offering members the opportunity to play in a wide range of standards. We extend a warm welcome to all the Nottingham players and everyone associated with the Club.

In 2009 the club will have 4 teams in the Gunn & Moore South Notts Saturday League - Divisions C, D, H and N, plus 1 team in the Newark Alliance Sunday League Div 5.

SENIOR INDOOR PRACTICE 2009 - Friday evenings starting 9 January through to 3 April 2009 - 7:00 to 8:00pm - Trent Bridge Cricket Centre (Radcliffe Road Stand) 2nd Floor - Sobers Hall all 3 lanes. New Members welcome - See you there!

SENIOR OUTDOOR PRACTICE 2009 - Thursday evenings starting 16 April 2009 throughout the season 6:15 to 7:45pm. New members are welcome! Just come along on Thursday evening and have a go!

JUNIOR REGISTRATION EVENING FOR 2009 SEASON - Friday 17 April 2009 at our Stamford Road Ground from 6:00 to 7:30pm. Ages 8 to 15 (school years 3 to 10).

JUNIOR COACHING SESSIONS 2009 - Friday Evenings at our Stamford Road Ground from 6:30 to 8:00pm. Ages 8 to 15 (school years 3 to 10). Starts Friday 24 April through to Friday 24 July 2009.

Club Report 2007

There was an excellent response from local business and 400 people attended. We are hoping that at least £4,000 will have been raised to start the ball rolling – to put the project into perspective we estimate that a further £60,000 to £70,000 will be required to complete.

2nd XI 2007

The 1st XI captained by Jon Sheard had a disappointing season, culminating in relegation to Division C. Unfortunately only 10 of the 18 fixtures were completed due to the terrible weather and key games against teams in the lower half of the table were lost, leaving us to wonder what might have been!? On the penultimate weekend of the season, a losing draw against Gedling & Sherwood who needed a win to secure promotion, sealed our disappointing fate.
The 2nd XI captained by Neil Dudley had a strong team with a good mix of youth and experience. In a closely fought Division K they secured promotion as Runners Up, winning 10 of the 11 games played. Notable performances included Rob Stewart with 110 against Lenton Abbey and “hat tricks” from Paul Garton against Attenborough & Mick Taylor against Lenton Abbey. Mick Taylor took 19 wickets at an average of 9.47 winner of the Divisional Bowling Award.

The Academy XI (3rd XI) captained by Clive Notman had another successful season gaining promotion to Div N – the second promotion in 3 years with a record of played 12, Won 7 lost 5. This team gives an opportunity for the up and coming youth cricketers to play Saturday afternoon cricket and home fixtures are played at the school cricket ground. Notable performers included Stuart Smedley with 102 against Broad Street; Bob Douglas 264 runs at an average of 29.33 winner of the Divisional Batting Award.

In 2007 we started a new Sunday League Team in the Newark Alliance. This was captained by Scott Berridge and with what was primarily and Under 23 age group team they stormed to the Div 6 Championship – winning 10 of the 13 games played.

Sunday 1st XI 2007

Under 10 Hardball Team 2007

In recent years the numbers in the Junior Section have expanded considerably – in 2007 this was again the case and we had an amazing 196 members between the ages of 7 and 16 and 10 Junior / Youth teams were entered in the Nottingham Youth Leagues - three KWIK (softball) including 1 girls team, U/10, U/11, U/12, U/13, U/14, U/15 and U/17 giving an opportunity for many youngsters to take part.

We were Nottingham League Runners Up at U/17 and U/14 - Nottingham South League Runners Up at U/11 and South Notts Champions at KWIK (softball). 7 boys were selected for the Nottingham Youth League Representative Teams at U13 and U15 and 6 boys for the Rushcliffe District Teams at U11 and U/13.

The Girls Cricket section continued its steady development and membership numbers increased to 25 – mainly in the age group 10 to 12. For the first time we entered a team in the NCB KWIK Cricket competition and they performed very creditably. Hayley Orange and Sarah Forsyth took regular coaching sessions at the Club – Chris Howard and Clive Notman did coaching at Abbey Road School.
Our winter practice nets started at the Indoor Cricket Centre at Trent Bridge in January 2008 – run through to mid April. We are running 8 hours per week of Junior coached practice nets for 80 youngsters between the ages of 9 and 15 (all coaching is by club volunteers), plus 3 hours for Seniors.

WBCC Girls Kwik Team at Trent Bridge Test Match

The main fund raising achievements in 2007 culminated in the purchase of new wheeled pitch covers excellent planning in view of the weather - and a new non-turf match pitch (£7,500) that was installed at the Leahurst Road end of the ground for use by the juniors – this allowed us to make maximum usage of the available space and allow two games to be played on the ground simultaneously giving much more flexibility and opportunities. A £ 3,000 grant was received from the Lords Taverners to assist with the purchase of the non-turf pitch.

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The fund raising projects for 2008 are primarily aimed at the refurbishment of the existing Clubhouse, including a new patio and car parking area. Other cricket specific plans include the acquisition of a new motorized tandem pitch roller (urgently needed), replacement of the worn out non-turf match pitch on the square and a new practice bowling machine for use in the nets.

CONGRATULATIONS FOR SUCCESS IN 2007
Saturday 2nd XI - G&M SNCL Div K Runners Up
Saturday 3rd XI - G&M SNCL Promotion
Sunday 1st XI - Newark Alliance Div 6 Champions
KWIK Cricketers - South Notts Champions
Under 17's - NYCL Runners Up
Under 14's - NYCL Runners Up
Under 11's - NYCL League A Runners Up

CLUB AWARDS 2007 (League)
Player of the Year - Henry Straw
Batting - Top Average - Henry Straw (35.50 - 497 runs)
Batting - Most Runs - Stuart Smedley (621 runs)
Bowling - Top Average - Mick Taylor (9.47 - 19 wkts)
Bowling - Most Wickets - Kulvern Kandola (50 wickets)
Bowling - Best Economy - Fraz Chaudhry (2.69 - 86 overs)
Fielding - Most Catches - James Belshaw (15)
Hat Trick - Paul Garton (1); Mick Taylor (1)
Century - Rob Stewart (1) ; Stuart Smedley (1)
Most Ducks - Rob Stewart

ECB CLUBMARK Accreditation Confirmed
August 2006

11 August 2006 - West Bridgfordians Cricket Club received official confirmation from the ECB that they had achieved the prestigious ECB Clubmark Accreditation - one of only a select number of Clubs in England & Wales - confirming their commitment to being a Safe, Effective and Child Friendly Club.

This accreditation recognises that the Club has achieved a position where they can deliver a high quality of community cricket to current and future members and specifically to young cricketers. In 2006 the Club had 152 members between the ages of 8 and 15, including 14 girls.

The Club volunteers have worked extremely hard over a period of the last 15 months to write and implement the required policies and procedures within Clubmark (Child Protection, Health & Safety, Equality, Partnerships with local schools, Codes of Conduct etc). Club members / officials have been CRB checked and have attended official training courses relative to all the areas of development, safety and protection. The Club has an active Junior Committee (est. 2001), Welfare Officer plus 9 ECB qualified Coaches.

The single national standard for Cricket, ECB Clubmark, has helped give structure and direction to the development of the Junior section including the coaching at West Bridgfordians. Having achieved this prestigious “quality” standard this will also help raise the profile of the Club and cricket in the local community - the Club will be listed on the national database and in other sporting directories which will hopefully attract new members / volunteers / coaches / funding etc.

From here we move onwards and upwards!

CLUB REPORT 2006

The Club starts the new season very much on a “high” after last season success - all 3 senior teams secured promotion and the youth teams were Nottingham League Champions at U/13 and U/14, Runners Up at U/15 and U/11 KWIK Area Champions.

The new senior league season starts on 29 April 2006 – we are focusing on new challenges to move the Club forward and targeting further success in 2006. We have a few changes in personnel -

•   1st XI - Jon Sheard takes over as 1st XI Captain – Andy McCarroll as Vice
•   2nd XI - Neil Dudley Captain – Paul Garton as Vice
•   3rd XI - Clive Notman Captain and Craig James as Vice

You will all be interested to hear that we have a new Sunday Club XI for 2006 – this will be Captained by Rob Stewart with Stuart Smedley as Vice. Stuart joined the Club this year after captaining another local club's 2nd XI for the past five years and is very keen to be actively involved with the new Sunday XI and helping bring through our young cricketers.

To date we have 11 confirmed fixtures for the Sunday Club XI starting on 23 April (Gedling Colliery, Broadgate, Attenborough, Meridian, Stanton-by-Dale, Eastwood Town, Unity Casuals, Bahrain Camels, U/19 XI v Coaches etc). The 7 other available dates are being filled as we speak.

The Club continues its policy to ensure that we give a regular opportunity to the increasing number of talented younger players coming through our Junior Section to play both Saturday and Sunday afternoon cricket. Last year we certainly saw the fruits of our youth policy coming through into the senior teams – this is the future of the Club.

As one of the leading Club’s in Nottinghamshire, we need to ensure that we can provide seniors and the increasing number of youngsters with a safe environment in which to learn / improve their cricketing skills – the new facility will give us yet further scope to continue our development.

The New 3 Bay Nets Facilty

Construction of the £330,000 New Changing Room Facility (Sport England National Lottery Funding) is now well underway and scheduled for completion in June 2006. This is a separate building with four large changing rooms, each with their own toilet and shower facilities, two umpire / referees rooms with en-suite facilities, storage areas etc. With the best changing facilities in the area we will then be embarking on refurbishing the existing clubroom – a refit is currently being negotiated with the brewery and is anticipated that this will start after the new building is completed.

2005 SEASON - SUCCESS AT ALL LEVELS FOR WEST BRIDGFORDIANS
September 2005

The Club has made considerable strides forward in recent years and in particular the flow of talent from the youth section has strengthened all the teams. In the 2005 season, all three Senior teams gained promotion and the Juniors won League titles at U/11, U/13, U/14 and U/15 age groups

Captained by Tony Orange the 1st XI had an excellent season, winning 11 of their 15 matches and gaining promotion as Champions of the Gunn & Moore South Notts Cricket League Division C. This is the first League Championship for the Club since 1977 – a long time coming, but celebrated in good style at the League Presentation Evening in November. A 35 seater coach was hired for the excursion to Cotgrave – it became very obvious on the journey back that the chances of the teams doubling up by winning a “male voice choir” competition were very remote!

The 1st XI regularly fielded 5 players under the age of 19 which bodes well for the future.

1st XI - Division C Champions
League Presentation Evening 2005
Back Row (L-R): P Garton, P Turner (Umpire), N Bell, O Straw, R Leddie, H Straw, R Stewart, A McLaughlin
Front Row (L-R): D Green, K Kandola, G Gooche (League), A Orange (Capt), C Spragg, A McCarroll

League Presentation Evening 2005
Andy McCarroll receiving the Division C Wicket Keeping Award 2005 from Geoff Gooche

The 2nd XI gained promotion from Division L finishing as League runners-up, winning 12 of their 16 games. The team was captained by Neil Dudley and had an amazing second half of the season winning the final 8 games to secure promotion to Division P for the 2006 season.

Notable performers included Paul Garton with 288 runs at an average of 48.00, including 108 against Stoke Bardolph, Neil Dudley (captain) with 360 runs, Mick Taylor 28 wkts and Fraz Chaudhry (16) 19 wkts. Tom Dowsett (16) won the League wicket keepers award with 16 victims

The success of the Club development programme over the past 8 years is reflected in the expansion at senior level, where the Academy XI (3rd XI) Captained by Clive Notman is now well established in the G & M South Notts Cricket League and successfully gained promotion to Division P – winning 10 of their 15 matches. This team gives a regular opportunity for the up and coming youth cricketers to play Saturday afternoon cricket and has also served to further develop the links between the Club and the West Bridgford School – the Club use the school cricket ground for their 3rd XI Saturday fixtures.

Notable performances from some of the older 3rd XI members included a career best score of 91 by Guy Dibley and 107 by Bob Douglas against Edingley. At the other end of the age scale, Chris Watkins (14) 91 n.o, Stuart Teare (16) 72, Sonny Sohail (18) 20 wkts and Owen Leddie (16) 13 wkts.

Captained by Chris Howard, the Evening League team finished in mid table in Division 1, the highlight being the passage through to the final of the Nottingham Evening League Plate competition where they were narrowly defeated.

The Club has made a strong commitment to promoting the development of cricket in the local community as this is inextricably linked to survival. In recent years the numbers in the junior section have expanded considerably – 105 members between the ages of 7 and 16 in 2005; 7 youth teams entered in the Nottingham Youth Leagues - two KWIK (softball), U/11, U/12, U/13, U/14 and U/15 giving an opportunity for almost all youngsters to take part.

We are now looking to build upon the successes of 2005, when both the Under 13 and Under 14 teams won their respective Nottingham Youth League Championships; the Under 15’s won the South Nottingham League but narrowly lost in the Champion of Champions play-off final; the Under 11 KWIK team were Rushcliffe Area Champions. Five boys regularly represented the County Youth Cricket teams and a further 8 boys played for the Nottingham League Representative teams

The Club survives on the enthusiasm and commitment of a relatively few unpaid volunteers (club members, parents & others) who are also coaching the youngsters to help them learn and develop the skills of cricket. We are registered and working towards the prestigious ECB Club Mark Standard and if all goes well this will be achieved during 2006.

LEAGUE INSPECTION CONFIRMS PREMIER CATEGORY
GROUND FACILITIES AT STAMFORD ROAD
August 2004

The Leagues official ground inspection took place at Stamford Road on 2 August 2004. The Committee received the Ground Inspection Report on 9 August 2004, confirming West Bridgfordians Cricket Club facilities as PREMIER Category. This is excellent news for the Club as it pursues plans for advancement up the League in forthcoming seasons.

As background, the Gunn & Moore South Nottinghamshire Cricket League has adopted a Ground Specification Categorisation system to set and maintain standards within the League. This exists to ensure that Club’s playing at the various levels can expect to enjoy the benefits of facilities similar to their own and to encourage Club’s to improve facilities. As Club’s move up the League there are demands for higher standard facilities and if this is not achieved then the opportunities for promotion can be restricted.

Premier category is required to play in the Premier / Divisions A & B; Advanced for Divisions C, D & E: Basic for Divisions F and below.

West Bridgfordians 1^st XI had an excellent performance against a strong Southwell team on 21 August 2004 and this was marked by Henry Straw’s (14 years old) memorable maiden fifty for the Club’s senior team - records confirm that he is the youngest player in the Clubs 75 year history to score a fifty for the 1^st XI.

Bridgfordians won the toss and inserted Southwell on what looked to be a good batting track. They progressed steadily in the face of tight bowling by Bridgfordians, reaching a total of 167 for 6 (Andrew Haynes 50*, Sam Ogrizovic 27) off their 45 overs. Notable bowling performances came from Bridgfordians youngsters - Oliver Straw (18 yrs) 10 overs 2 for 26, Kulvern Kandola (16 yrs) 7 overs 2 for 26, Ryan Leddie (17yrs) 6 overs for 12 runs.

In reply Bridgfordians started slowly in the face of hostile bowling from the Southwell opening pair of Mark Foster (11 overs 1 for 32) and Oliver Murphy (10 overs 2 for 29) both of whom have regularly played for their 1^st XI in the Premier League this season, and after 20 overs had only scored 40 for the loss of one wicket.

However patience was to be rewarded as Rob Stewart gained fluency in partnership with Henry Straw (14 yrs) to put on 82 runs, taking the score to 88 before Stewart was out for 41 in the 32^nd over. Left hander, Andy McCarroll came to the wicket to join the youngster and together they took the total on to 137 before Henry Straw was bowled for 52 in the 40^th over.

At this point Andy McCarroll (41*) launched a fierce attack on the Southwell bowling dispatching it to all parts of the ground, to see Bridgfordians overhaul the Southwell total in the 43^rd over (170 for 4) for the loss of 4 wickets.