April 2024 Newsletter

How quickly the winter goes and brings another exciting cricket season to us. As we look ahead to the 2024 season there is a lot of updates and news we would like to share with you in this newsletter and also within the coming weeks

It seems as if only yesterday that we were gathered at Rubens Street in November for the new look senior awards evening (fantastically attended by over 50 members) as we looked back at what was one of the best league seasons that the club has seen in the last 20 years.

In 2024 the first XI will look to build on the back of the past two league winning seasons as we play in the 4^th tier of the county’s pyramid as we find ourselves back playing in the Kent Cricket League Division 2 (the first time since the 2015 season). Good luck to club captain Tevin Sterling for what will be his 4^th season in charge.

The 2^nd XI will look to build on their 3^rd place position in division 6 spitfire, after what was a very challenging first year of the new structure for the 2^nd XI coming up against some very strong 1^st XI’s. The team will be looking a little different as Hamza Tahir finally takes a step back from captaincy after leading various sides in the last 8 years. Bill Perera will take the reigns as captain for the 2024 season as the club looks to build on recent success and build the senior leadership with the 2^nd XI into 2025 and future years. Good luck Bill & thankyou Hamza for your dedicated leadership, we are all forever grateful.

After the heartbreak of the final two games of the 2023 season, which saw the weather and an opposition reluctance to “Get the game on” resulted in the 3^rd XI narrowly missing out on promotion by 6 points. The 3^rd XI under Noor Zadran’s guidance look to go one better this season and finish in the top 2 and get out of a league we have been in since 2015.

Richard McCaughin, we thankyou for the years of service as the captain of the 4^th XI as you have made the difficult decision in hanging up your whites and ask someone fresh to take over the reigns of the 4^th XI. Thankyou Richard and we look forward to seeing you around scoring and umpiring. In 2024 the 4^th XI will be lead by Matt Gray who has deputized under Richard during the 2023 season, and we wish you all the best with the future young talent of the club in your league season.

On Sundays we are again entered into the Kent Sunday Development league along with friendly fixtures for both the Sunday 1s & Sunday 2s offering up lots of opportunities for members to play cricket along with midweek T20 friendlies scattered across the year.

After a successful fixture against St Peters college from Adelaide in 2023 the word of the club was passed around by the college and we have been asked to Host Pembroke school from Adelaide in another international fixture this year which will take place on Thursday 4^th July which is due to be another great day of cricket & fun and showcase CCCC across the world!

We’re about to step into one of our most exciting season’s as a junior club. After a long period of winter training at Forest Hill School, our players are ready to step into the competitive environment of North Kent Junior League cricket. More on that in a moment.

As the junior club we aim to build cricketing foundations across three pillars; participation, progress, potential.

Participation - the opportunity to experience the game

Progress - the growth of skills and game time

Potential - the acceleration of talent, dreams and teams

In cricket these things take time and results aren’t always immediate. Bob Woolmer, the great coach, once said it takes 7 years to build a cricketer. I’ve seen players join us with zero cricket skills or knowledge and over 2 years develop cricketing talent. So if it doesn’t feel like it is clicking straightaway, please stick with us. Every week there is a new skill or layer to be added.

What cricketers do need are dedicated, empathetic coaches. This year we’ve recruited 1st team players, international talent, and willing parents (who’ve spent the winter honing their skills and getting accredited) to bolster the coaching numbers. This means dedicated coaching at each age group with high coach to player ratios.

For Friday Night training this year, we’re taking a new approach by splitting out groups further based on their talent or newness to the game. Therefore, we will have:

U7s - Gail Lohan as lead coach

U9-U11 Beginners - Larwood Baker as lead coach

U9-U11 Intermediate/Advanced - Kevin Gifford as lead coach

U13s - Matt BB as lead coach

Girls SB and HB - Dan Miles/Claire Morgan as lead coaches

U15s - Andrew Ifill as lead coach (training on Wednesday)

We are also hosting a season preview to discuss this in more detail and to talk about progression between groups on Tuesday 23rd, please sign up on Teamo, and how we will be structuring training around Kent Cricket recommendations.

I’ve always thought that playing for your club is a privilege and a sign that you’ve worked hard, share the values of the team, and are a good teammate. Those are three simple things that are open to any player whether new or more experienced.

We have a mix of teams at most age groups, with the split simply based on “competitive” v “participative” cricket. This doesn’t mean our “participative” teams can’t be competitive, they will be, but it is also about getting a great experience of the game that creates lifetime memories. Parents we’d ask you to support us in that as the kids that work hard, share values, and are good teammates are very easy to spot. (the opposite is also true)

The North Kent Junior League, as we found out last year, is an incredibly competitive league at all age groups. Our training and selection for teams is therefore geared at the leagues we are in, and coaches will understand what is needed for those teams to show up and play fun, but in yer face cricket. From the U15s down to the U9s we want to play a fun, attacking style of cricket so that when players do eventually step up into the senior teams, they bring flair and the same sense of fun. Once again, please allow the coaches and team managers to select the teams for those games, it is the nature of cricket’s 1-2-1 battles that gametime can’t always be equal.

I wish our teams well at all levels as they embark on a season of team competitions, individual battles, ups and downs. I have so much love for where we are as a club, all the players that come and join us, hearing the thwack of ball on bat (whether wood or plastic), and the dedication of the amazing parents who often take time off from work to support their cricketing star.

I am always open to hearing ideas, thoughts, and questions of our parents or players so feel free to grab me on a Friday after training. I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can.

Thank you,

Matt Bamford-Bowes

Hello everyone, I hope you are all well and rested for what is going to be a great season. It is with a heavy heart that I have informed the committee of my decision to step down as head coach of the junior section. It was a decision which I have been going over the past several months but due to an increase in work and other commitments I am unable to give the required time that the role deserves, and I know the section is in very good hands under the leadership of Matt Bamford-Bowes and the brilliant junior committee who I must thank for their support over the past year. Thankyou Deborah, Pauline, Adrian, Nick, John P & all the coaches who have turned out week after week on a Friday evening.

Over the last 3 years as head coach, I have seen so much progress, growth, smiles and an increase sense of community within the club and so glad I could play some part in making it happen. Seeing the junior section grow from 30 to the size of the section now is incredible and will always be an example of what our great sport can do for the community.

As I take a step back from the junior section, I look forward to seeing the continued growth of the section and look forward to donning the whites of the CCCC with the talented juniors over the coming years as I will continue to be around playing for the senior section and attending junior events when possible. I want to wish everyone the best of luck for the 2024 season and cannot wait to see/hear and share the accomplishments that will come from the juniors this well – well done Catford & Cyphers

-Asher Roberts-

3 years ago, the club was struggling to find someone to step up and take over the reigns of the junior

section, and we didn’t know what direction we were going to be going in until up stepped Asher to take over the mantle of head of the junior section. In 3 short years Asher has led the growth of the junior section working tirelessly within the community to bring more juniors to the club increasing the participation of juniors to over 250 different juniors at training in 2023.

Not only has Asher grown the junior section within the community but has led to multiple publications on websites and newspapers within the UK, which has resulted in not 1 but 2 Australian schools approaching the club to play fixtures against us during their tours of the UK, but he has grown as a coach completing more qualifications and now coaching the coaches. Asher continues to build the clubs reputation not only with the county but also the ECB – Keep your eyes peeled for more information about this soon.

Asher I just want to take this moment to thank you for all of your hard work over the past few years, it has been an absolute pleasure to work with you in growing the club and I wish you all the best with your work endeavours and look forward to celebrating more on field success with you in the future years. THANKYOU!

As I am sure you are aware Catford & Cyphers Cricket Club is part of part of a joint club of Blackheath & Elthamians Hockey Club and Catford & Cyphers Cricket club, with the object of the club being to provide facilities and promote participation in the two sprots the community and wider. As a member’s club, the club premises (including bar) is provided to club members and its guests. With the continued growth of the cricket section during the recent AGM a proposal was put forward Non-Playing Cricket Membership (NPCM) in line with clubs’ constitution, a vote was conducted and the proposal was passed.

What does this mean – NPCM will be offered to all those who are not playing members such as parents, guardians, friends etc to become officially part of the club and enjoy our wonderful facilities, at Rubens Street including its bar area, hiring of our facilities for private functions and attend AGM meetings (without a voting right). Not only will the introduction of this new membership ensure that we continue to grow our club membership, it ensures that we are in compliance with rules & regulations of the Joint Club & also our bar license but will also bring in additional revenue to the cricket club will which enable us to continue to improve the running of the club, improve our facilities for all of our members to enjoy.

2024 Membership Categories & Fees

Full Senior Playing Membership: £120

Senior under 21 Playing membership £60

Junior Membership (16 & under) - including 1 NPCM for a parent/guardian: £70

Non-Playing Cricket Membership: £10 per annum

Membership for the 2024 season is now live on Teamo and is due with Membership cards being available in the Teamo app and we will be producing physical cards for members to have, which we are hoping will bring other benefits with local partners that work with Catford & Cyphers CC and may be requested to be shown at the request by Committee members or individuals acting on behalf of the joint club.

As our bar facility is a member only bar it is vital therefore a requirement that all patrons be members of either the cricket club, hockey club or the bar social section. At CCCC we do understand that there are some juniors that may not play in fixtures and therefore not believe a full junior membership is fair to be paid and we agree, the committee has agreed that the following membership fees will be due:

-       All Juniors playing in age team league cricket (U11/U13/U15) – Junior membership fees

-       Juniors attending Friday training (U9’s/U7s) – Non-playing cricket membership after 3^rd session

-       Parents/Guardians of juniors (wishing to use club facilities) – non-playing cricket membership

Teamo constantly are making updates to their app which we are taking advantage off which enables the club to run smoother. In 2023 we saw the introduction of the new club website www.catfordcyphers.com which is powered by Teamo enabling integration between the app and website such as results, social events, match reports etc.

So far in 2023 there have been a lot of updates that the club is looking to implement to aid in club administration & offer better user functionality such as play-cricket integration, TeamoLottery, selling of merchandise, TeamoRewards and also enhanced payment facilities. The later being one that has been introduced already – this new function is one the club has introduced.

TEAMO AUTOPAY – Auto pay has now been enabled on the app to debit members automatically for match fees, training fees & fines each month. The monthly limit is £50, if you owe over this limit the extra will be added to your following months statement. Statements will be available on 1^st of each month & will be processed on 5^th of each month, you can find statements in your Payment section. Members will not be automatically enrolled in this but will see options on their teamo accounts as of now to sign up to this function.

This seems a great function for members to ensure they are paying their fees on a regular basis and not accrue large fees due as well as aid the club in collecting all fees due to the club and save on administration time.

As you will all be aware during the 2023 season, we had a massive crowd funding campaign which saw us successfully raise more than £22,000 to improve the facilities at the club to improve cricketing facilities within the borough, for our local community and our members. The plans are still in place to have these works completed this year due to some external issues of the weather we have not been able to start on the Junior square & grass wickets, we have booked this works for the end of the 2024 season to be ready for the 2025 season and the Artificial nets we are working hard on getting everything in place to have this done part way through this season and will share updates as and when we have them

Members of the Junior & Senior committees have been working tirelessly over the winter to secure new sponsors for the club and I am overjoyed to say that we have secured some new sponsors already and will be sharing the details of these to the club in the coming week separately from this newsletter. Having club sponsors is a great & vital way of bringing in additional revenue to the club which enables us to grow and offer even more cricketing opportunities to our members & wider community. If you know of anyone who may want to sponsor the club in any capacity please get in contact with club chair Patrick Fullarton, Treasurer John Purcell, or head of junior cricket Matt Bamford-Bowes

We can not wait to see you all soon down at Rubens street for the start of the 2024 cricket season

                             Patrick Fullarton Catford Cyphers Cricket Club on behalf of the Senior & Junior committee