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AGM 2017

Minutes of the 2017 AGM

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The 68th AGM of the Durham Colleges Staff Cricket Club was held at 7.30pm on Tuesday March 21st 2017 in the SCR, Grey College

Present: Peter Collins (chair), Peter Swift (captain), Ian Boothroyd (Secretary), Stephen Boothroyd (Treasurer), Eckart Wrede (kit man), David Gillespie, Chris Wastell, Rob Powell, Steve Wake, Tony Cleaver
Apologies for absence: Steve English, Stuart Green, Ian Whitfield, Nigel Metcalfe, Ben Smith, James Walton, Paul Langley

  1. Minutes: The minutes of the 2015 meeting were accepted with one minor correction. Peter Collins elected as chairman in 1999, has therefore been in office for 17 years (2016 minutes that said he had been in role for 10 years).

  2. Matters Arising: New player sports cards – sign up when first go to Maiden Castle (nets or matches).
    Euan Squires trophy – follow up on whether engraved. The trophy is at Peter Swift’s house and needs engraving. Tony Cleaver asked whether we can get a trophy cabinet for team photos and club artefacts.
    Adjustable helmet was bought following enquiry last year.
    Asking Vice Chancellor of University to be Honorary President – Peter now can.
    New score board for MC2 – will find out if a new score board purchased by Maiden Castle and if not will investigate options for our own to use on MC2.

  3. Chairman’s Report: Peter noted it was his 51st year as a member. The number of fixtures from 2016 was good, with 42 fixtures and 27 played – tremendous. As we now play from April to August, the fact it has changed to have enough players was terrific. Winning the Euan Squires trophy was noted, while the chairman enquired about our concession in the Doug George trophy. It was noted by the secretary and captain that arrangement of fixtures for the DG Trophy was problematic and we were unlikely to enter again this season. It was noted that Peter was reviving us.
    Peter Collins 21st March 2017
  4. Captain’s Report: Following the very good 2015 season (most successful ever) 2016 was a slightly more mixed bag, in that we won a good number of games but also lost (usually closely) quite a few friendlies. As in 2015, we had 41 games arranged in total and won 16, lost 11 and had 14 called off, mainly due to the weather, a couple of times when the opposition conceded and once when we couldn’t get a team in August! Having said that, until the end of July we regularly had more than 12 available for each game, the maximum beings 21, and it would have been more if we hadn’t quite so many injuries!
    • Winter nets started well with some new players turning up – Will Everett in particular posing a challenge to bowl to turning his arm over rapidly; but also Rob Powell, David Gillespie, Steve Wake and Adrian Hopkins. Two new overseas biologists (Vivek and Anjil) appeared on the scene at the outdoor nets and Gary Beckwith joined in the latter part of the season. We also welcomed Ian Whitfield back from injury (until he got injured again) and Matt Deakin. Two Mildert staff threatened to join but one then got involved in a charity event.
    • Through the season we lost Rob Powell, who has returned for this season and our resident Aussie, Dan Viete, with Will Everett leaving at the end of the year.Student league We won two of our five games. We lost quite badly to a combined Queen’s campus team in our first outing – who remembers the snow on MC2? – with a rare top order batting malfunction. We had previously bowled relatively well but couldn’t dislodge their opener (Uni 2nd teamer) who scored 80 odd out of 150, with two others getting 20 odd each. The following week Grey, who won the division, put on 150 against us again, we batted really well in response, but a slowing in mid-innings meant we had too much to do in the last overs. Hatfield C, or should we say 2 A teamers plus the rest – presented less of a challenge, but their A team bat, who came in it at 5 scored a lot to give them a competitive total. Swift and English failures where corrected by a match winning 70 from Mahavir ably supported by Vivek. Trevs B (moved to the racecourse – frst game there for many years) was an won at a canter by 9 wickets (it should probably have been 10!), and then rain affected the Aidan’s B game who hadn’t won to this point. When it was rearranged they had two of their A teamers playing, andwith a weakened team we got beaten. Overall third in the league was a really good achievement and I think we can do better if we are at full strength more often against the students.
      Friendly Games We gained a couple of new opponents this year, one of whom we couldn’t beat. Kings School Tynemouth beat us in the first game of the season (Sunday) with a couple of their bats scoring heavily. We had difficulty adjusting to their wicket. In the MC fixture, we just couldn’t quite get over the line in the chase. The less said about the return – last minute injuries and people going to the wrong ground – the better. Wolsingham also beat us narrowly both home and away; the away loss was particularly annoying, as despite a poor start chasing a smallish total we got to the stage of needing less than a run a ball but the middle order froze. Of the usual fixtures, we soundly beat Grey SCR in the Squires trophy – their batting being some of the worst ever seen in this fixture at 40 all out; King James beat a weakened team in the evening fixture, but proved no match for us in the Sunday return. Mahavir got another 50 in this, having seen Swift and Everett previously squander their chances with 40’s, and in the process played one of the most outrageous shots I’ve witnessed! In context, early on I had hooked a 6 into the side of the clubhouse, but Mahavir had to go one better, pulling a long-hop miles in the air over the clubhouse with the ball landing in the road, bouncing off a passing car and back into the outfield! Mallards were beaten convincingly at Maiden Castle, but won by 1 run in the return fixture at Riding Mill, with us not travelling at full strength. We joined the Doug George trophy but struggled to get a date for a fixture from the first opposition. They eventually conceded before we struggled to get our second game sorted. Eventually we thought we had – including the use of Bishop Auckland’s ground only for it to rain(!), and at this point we found out that the organisers thought that we had somehow lost to Middleton Tyas, a team who in an earlier friendly in the season had been very poor. Rather than toss a coin to determine the finalist, we pulled out of the finals’ day as due to holidays would have struggled to get a team for this.
      Individual Performances
    • Batting: we only had three 50’s this year, mainly as every friendly game had retirements. Mahvir got two (70* against Hatfield and 50R at King James)) and Stephen English 51R at Kings School. We usually retired at 30, occasionally at 35 in the 20 over games and people who got these scores and retired were Stephen English (6 times), Peter Swift (4), David Gillespie (4), Vivek Verma (2), James Walton (2), Mahavir (2), Ian Whitfield (1) and Robert Powell (1). English topped 450 runs this season with Swift topping 425 and David Gillespie and Vivek Verma getting to the 200 mark. A good number of others made 100+ runs. The best average was Mahavir with 83 followed by English on 51 and James Walton on 47.
    • Bowling: this was shared around again with lots of good performances including many three wicket hauls, the best of which was Jonny Moore’s 3-3 against Middleton Tyas. People who got three wicket hauls were: Ian Boothroyd (5), Stephen Boothroyd (2), Nigel Metcalfe (1), Jonny Moore (1), Mahvir Sharma (1), Mark Roberts (1). Particularly in the early season, the Boothroyds kept trying to outdo each other – but usually Stephen opened and kept it tight before Ian came on and took the wickets, They ended up as leading wicket takers with 29 wickets for Ian and 25 for Stephen, compared to Nigel’s 26 last year. Best average was Mark Roberts at 2.75, but in only a handful of overs. Of bowlers who bowled at least 20 overs, Mahavir had the best average of 9.70 and strike rate 12.00. Stephen Boothroyd had the best economy of 3.75.
    • Fielding: Fielding is improving year on year with a good number of catches being taken. However they aren’t always noted in the book
    • Injuries: Last year we were quite hard by these Paul Langley out most of the season with a back-problem, and now has a daughter playing at county level! David Gillespie was injured twice – including pulling a calf whilst fielding; Tony Cleaver had a dodgy hamstring, Will Everett managed to get whip-lash in a rowing-related incident, and Adrian discovered an old rugby injury! Rob Powell broke a finger fielding and Nigel Metcalfe nearly got annihilated bowling against Littletown. The best on-field injury though has to be Anjil’s nose-butt in the field at King James!
      This Season Winters nets have been successful at Chester-le-Street, but attendance hasn’t been quite as good as last year due to people’s other commitments. We have (hopefully) gained some more new players though a couple haven’t been seen for a few weeks and I am hoping that a few more will come out of the woodwork now we are moving to Maiden Castle. We have a solid fixture base which has allowed us to be a bit more selective about some of our opposition as a couple of teams insist on the 2-overs each rule, with 2 runs for a wide (often part way through a game!) and this is really unfair on our bowlers who don’t get to bat.
      Thanks Firstly to all the players for making this such another really enjoyable season for us all. The team overall this year was stronger than last, but when we lost it was usually down to not playing intelligent cricket – sounds ridiculous for a team of academic staff but … – or poor match-situation awareness. Secondly, to Ian Boothroyd for his excellent fixture organising skills as secretary – which he has continued into the off-season. To his brother for being treasurer. To Eckart for being our kit man and acting as secretary when Ian has been away and to Nigel for the website. Finally to Stephen English, Paul Langley and Jonny Moore for their work as Vice Captains and David Gillespie for helping out when injuries and absences coincided. Chris Wastell and Nigel Metcalfe’s chance to captain got rained-off!
      Peter Swift, 21st March 2017
  5. Secretary’s report: We currently have 21 confirmed fixtures for the upcoming season, including four Sunday fixtures, the first of which starts our season on 23rd April and three are in July. We are arranging home and away 20/20 fixtures against local opposition. We still have to arrange either the home or away fixture against several of the teams currently on our fixture list and there are additional teams that I intend to contact as well. We have seven fixtures arranged on MC1, where the pitch fee will be £60 per game. We have the Euan Squires trophy fixture against Grey SCR on Monday 12th June and we intend to play a second fixture on MC1 against Grey SCR, for which they will pay the pitch fees. We currently have two fixtures on MC2 and additional home fixtures will be on MC2. On the 10 and 12th of April we start our outdoor season with two practice matches on MC2. The following week we have outdoor nets on Thursday April 20th from 17.30 – 19.00. We have indoor nets at Maiden Castle on Thursday 23rd, Tuesday 28th and Thursday 30th March at 18.00-19.30. We are currently waiting for the college league fixtures to be released. Fixtures are likely to be announced over Easter or early in the third term. We should get our fixtures on weekends, Team Durham are aware midweek afternoon fixtures are impractical for us.
    Ian Boothroyd, 21st March 2017

    Comments following report:
    • Maiden Castle development – MC1 & MC2 should stay. Building on road side of river but pitches unaffected.
    • Enquiry whether Racecourse available? Peter Swift will talk to Quentin as would be good to play there.
    • Durham School and Cathedral School – Peter will ask about fixtures/Adrian Hopkins.
  6. Treasurer’s report: The overall loss for 2016 was £658.20. This was primarily caused by two factors: The first was particularly high equipment costs. As agreed at the last AGM we have money to spend in the account. With this we spent £555.35 on new equipment for the kit bag. It is unlikely we will need to spend this much again this year. The second was the introduction of fees to MC1. This added an extra £300 to our expenses for 2016, charged at £60 a match. Heading into 2017 the winter nets lost £110. This was down from losses of £140 in 2016. Initially we hired the whole hall for £85 a week but reduced this to 3 lanes for £75 in the final four weeks after numbers dropped slightly, though they did pick up again in the final two weeks. This leaves the account balance at £1,204.89. There is a need to adjust match fees to reduce our losses over the coming season. Last year we charged £4 on MC1 and £2 MC2, with away games free. This year we propose £5 on MC1, which should cover the full pitch cost, introduce a £2 away fee and keep MC2 at £2. The 2016 accounts would be audited after the AGM.
    Accounts for 2016 season
    Stephen Boothroyd, 21st March 2017
  7. Election of Officers:
    • President: Brian Lander agreed to be elected. As our most distinguished ex-player, it was noted that BL played for Durham City and Durham County (when a minor county) and bowled out Yorkshire in the Gillette Cup, the first time a minor county had beaten a major county.
    • Chairman: Peter Collins retained.
    • Secretary : Ian Boothroyd retained.
    • Captain: Peter Swift retained.
    • Vice-Captain: Stephen English, David Gillespie, Rob Powell. SE retained. Paul Langley and Jonny Moore resigned due to commitments. DG and RP elected.
    • Treasurer: Stephen Boothroyd retained.
    • Kit Man: Eckart Wrede retained.
    • Auditor: Nigel Metcalfe retained.
    • Webmaster: Nigel Metcalfe retained.
  8. Fixtures: Match fees: Last year was £4 MC1 and £2 MC2 with away fixtures free, with the thinking being that away fixtures were free due to cost of travel. It was agreed that fees would change to £5 MC1 and £2 for all other fixtures (MC2, away) to cover extra costs of MC1 (£60/game) and kit purchases. Peter Collins asked whether we would get 40 fixtures this season, equivalent to 2016. Ian Boothroyd noted that while it may be lower than 40, there should still be 30+ fixtures. Last year was discussed to have fixtures against Durham School and Cathedral School (Adrian Hopkins was to contact). Peter will talk to Adrian about this. Tony Cleaver suggested an end of season overseas fixture and noted Jet2 fly directly to Alicante. It was agreed Chris Wastell would enquire about the overseas fixture. A university staff tournament – Loweswood? – was enquired about. Peter Collins noted festivals had previously been held at Hull, Leeds and Newcastle, though a team couldn’t be raised for the final in Newcastle as it is harder when having to travel.
  9. Kit: An equipment list was provided by Eckart Wrede. Bats – Grey Nicholls was glued and taped by EW, which worked well. The County bat was noted to be a step down from the GN bat. The Slazenger bat was donated by Ray Pallister and though it has an ok middle, was considered a dud. The decision was made to replace one bat. Pads – Considered fine. Pads, thigh pads, gloves, boxes in good supply and condition. Balls – Three new Reader balls, 9 used match balls, 17 new Romida balls. Dukes were noted to last a long time and it was agreed we should get Dukes for new balls at the end of the season. Score book – The book is OK but a new one will be needed at the end of the season. To do list – Portable scorer, but check Maiden Castle hasn’t already bought a replacement first; Dukes balls; score book; bat.

  10. AOB: Annual Dinner – Friday 15th September, Pennington Suite, 19.00 for 19.30 start. Charged £30 last year and club donated dinner wine. This year, £30.50 was suggested for three courses as need minimum £30 per head. Discussed price of £35 to get cost of wine covered. A price of £32.50 with wine was agreed. Peter will email details when finalised and will chase people at the end of July. Tony Cleaver suggested and honours board/trophy cabinet as the club is decades old. Peter Collins noted the cabinet in Grey SCR. It was enquired whether it was possible to get an honours board on the wall at Grey College.

Ian Boothroyd – 12/04/2017