AGM 2019

Minutes of the 2019 AGM

Back to archive
Back to home page

The 70th AGM of the Durham Colleges Staff Cricket Club was held at 6.30pm on Tuesday March 21st 2019 in the SCR, Grey College

Present:Ian Boothroyd, David Gillespie, Stephen Boothroyd, Peter Collins (chair), Peter Swift, Nigel Metcalfe, Tony Cleaver, Rob Powell
Apologies for absence: Eckart Wrede, Stephen English, Ben Smith, Seb Aycock, Jonny Moore, Ian Whitfield, Steve Wake

1. Minutes of 2018 meeting: Accepted.
   
   
2. Matters Arising: New player sports cards – sign up when first go to Maiden Castle (nets or matches). The accounts for 2017 had now been audited by NM. David Hirst passed away 13 January 2019. A lecturer in Earth Sciences from 1960 until his retirement in 1994, David opened the bowling for Staff in the 60s and 70s, taking 6-32 against Leeds University Staff in 1967. David was a regular member when PC played – Peter recollects he opened the bowling and was very economical.
   
   
3. Chairman’s Report: Peter thanked everyone for their hard work during what had been a very successful season. Peter again suggested it was an opportunity for a new chair with more involvement with the club to be elected (it being 13 years since he last played), but once again the opinion from the floor was that he should remain chair until another player retires as the club values a link to the past.
   Peter Collins
   
4. Captain’s Report: I’ve been captain for a whole season now, and what a fantastic season it has been!
   Season summary:
   • Played: 26
   • Won: 22 (85%)
   • Lost: 4
   • Cancelled: 11 – none of these were called off by ourselvesWe finished top of our student league division with 5/5 meaning that we are promoted to the premiership this season! No student team scored more than 85 against us which highlights just how well we bowled and fielded. We finished the season at the Riverside with victory in the Beamish Colliery cup against Knights to cap off the most successful season in the club’s history. Of the 4 teams we lost to (QSCC, King James, Wolsingham and Farmers), we beat 3 of them in the return fixture so only have a negative record against Farmers, who did bring along at least one professional. We beat most of our usual rivals including Kings School Old Boys three times, Mallards and Knights twice, and convincingly beat United Stars who had beaten us a couple of times last year.
     We had a few new players join us last year, two of which will be with us this year:
   • Saidur Rahman – who bowled his quick off-spin consistently throughout the year, went for very few runs and also scored some very important and quick runs to see us home in several games.
   • Andrew Robertson – billed himself as an opening batsman which is a big claim to make, but justified that with some very fluent batting performances.
   • Syed Mashhadi – joined us later in the season and contributed well with both bat and ball – unfortunately Syed left us at the end of last year.Along with Syed, we have unfortunately lost arguably our most talented player of recent years in Mahavir, who has moved on to bigger and better things in Australia. We have also lost Kevin Vincent, who certainly made an impression in his two years playing for the team…
     This year we have had two new members in Seb Aycock and Josh Craggs, plus a number of others that have shown interest. Seb is officially an international cricketer who in 2011 was the youngest player to feature in the European Division Two Championship at just 15 years of age for the Isle of Man.
     Injuries:Nigel – injured from start to finish with his shoulder and later in the season his calf (I do take some of the blame for that after calling him through for a quick single), but still made himself available for the majority of games which is very much appreciated!
     Tony – unfortunately missed a large proportion of the season due to illness, but has made a great recovery and even managed a comeback at the end of this season.
     Various broken fingers – including Rich Root, Stephen BoothroydUnfortunately, we are starting this season with a number of injuries already – hopefully that isn’t a sign of things to come!
     Highlights:
   • Saidur’s brilliant spell of bowling – 4-4-0-2
   • Ian Boothroyd’s 4 wickets in an over
   • Our hat-trick of run outs against Sunderland NAS plus another in the same over
   • Chasing 199 against Hunwick in a 40 over game – 5th highest score and 2nd highest chase ever – particularly sweet as they were quite a ‘boisterous’ team, whose volume gradually quietened as our innings progress …
   • Rob Powell scored the worst 30* ever, being dropped at least 5 times (I counted at least 7)
   • Rob Powell turning up slightly inebriated to a student league game and managing to stump a batsman after dropping the ball and falling over
   • Steve English’s many run outs – none of which were his fault
   • And finally, for those of you that don’t know, our second pitch MC2 has ‘shared’ usage. Last year, despite the University having an actual athletics track, somebody decided to paint a running track which intersected the MC2 pitch. It didn’t go unnoticed that a couple of American Football posts also appeared – one around 20 yards inside the boundary. Special mention to Kevin Vincent who achieved something that I thought was virtually impossible – firstly he managed to hit the ball straight, but secondly, managed to hit the post (which stopped what would have been a huge 6), and was then nearly caught out when the ball rebounded!I’d like to thank a number of people for their work and support this season:
   • Ian Boothroyd for his tireless and proactive work as secretary
   • Stephen Boothroyd as treasurer – the person who is guaranteed to wipe the smiles off everybody’s faces after another win with his signature catchphrase ‘£5 please’
   • Steve English, Rob Powell and Peter Swift for their help and advice as vice-captains especially when I’ve not been around
   • Rob for taking on the role of team statistician
   • Eckart, our resident kit man and permanent taxi driver
   • Anybody else who has provided lifts throughout the year – it really is appreciated
   • Nigel for continuing in his role as webmasterIndividual performances: We decided this year to introduce awards for the top batsman, bowler and the player of the year – these were announced at the end of season dinner in September.
   • Batting: Some very good individual performances, with 50s from Peter, Rich Root and Mujeeb and 30s from Steve English, Rob, Mahavir, Andrew, Phil Nathan, Ben Smith and myself. A number of people scored over 200 across the season – Rob, Steve English, Peter and myself – with Steve ultimately scoring 398 runs to top the batting charts and is therefore our batsmen of the year
   • Bowling: I believe the primary reason why we were so successful this year is because we managed to restrict teams to 20/30 runs less per innings on average than in previous years. There were some great individual performances – nobody managed the elusive 5 wicket haul but there were a number of 4 wicket hauls from Ian Boothroyd, Mike Costello and myself which contributed to that. Special mention to Stephen Boothroyd who never gets the number of wickets he deserves – always opening the bowling against the better batsmen, leaving it to Ian and myself to clean up the tail-enders! The race for top bowler was close for most of the season before Ian surged ahead towards the end of the season. With a total of 30 wickets, bowler of the year is Ian Boothroyd.
   • Fielding: It’s fair to say that fielding was mixed across the season, especially in the last few games! Congratulations to our wicket keepers Eckart and Rob who both look lots of catches, saved countless runs and Rob for a number of excellent stumpings.
   • Player of the Season: Player of the season was opened up to a vote where each person could vote for their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices. The results were:
     • Joint 2nd – Ian Boothroyd and Saidur Rahman (19 points)
     • 1st place with 20 points – David Gillespie
       David Gillespie
       
5. Secretary’s report: We currently have 23 fixtures arranged, but plenty of gaps with most weeks currently only having one mid-week game, so I need to try and get some more fixtures to plug the gaps. I am waiting to find out if Wolsingham and Sanctuary Knockers want home and away matches, and if Grey SCR want a second fixture. We have seven matches on MC1, including against Revesby CC, a touring side from Lincolnshire. We might also host a second touring side, Lord Mostyn’s XI (Carmel & District CC) in August but are struggling to find a venue. We have 3 fixtures on MC2 and all further fixtures (bar the possible tour match) will be arranged for MC2 as we can only realistically afford to hold 7 matches on MC1 at the cost of £60/match. Fixtures for the College League are still being arranged, as Maiden Castle are currently working out which teams are participating. Currently we seem to be in the Premiership against Collingwood A, Hatfield A, Josephine Butler A, Hild-Bede B, and University A (I hope that’s Castle!) Five our our games are 40 over Sunday matches.
   Ian Boothroyd
   
   PC noted that Durham University used to have five grass wickets, including Littletown.
   
6. Treasurer’s report: In 2018 we spent £316 on equipment, had match fees of £545 (7 pitches at £60 each, 1 at £90 for MC1, £35 contribution to United Stars Cowgate) umpire fees of £36 and College League fees of £48. The club dinner made a loss of £24.95. The 2018 winter nets made a loss of £192.5 . Match subs collected were £924.2 .
   With all other costs, the club made a loss in 2018 of £403.52. This is compared to a profit of £17.22 in 2017. This can be explained by higher equipment fees (£106.65 in 2017 compared to £351 this year), one off extras such as the new club trophies (£85.73), higher losses at winter nets, and a larger cost on pitches (£420 in 2017, £545 in 2018).
   Moving into 2018 the winter nets made an overall loss of £60. This is better than in 2018, despite losses from the first two weeks when attendance was down. Since then we moved to two nets, which has worked well and meant we’ve managed to recover some of this back.
   This leaves the account balance at £869.96, of which £150 is held in cash.
   Going forward it is important that we have enough matches on MC2 / away to recover the cost of fees for matches on MC1, so we can return the club to profit for the season. The £5 for MC1 (and Racecourse matches) and £3 fees for MC2 and away matches seem fair. Do we want to adjust the fees at all, or bring in a fee for practice matches / nets? For 2019 hopefully we can use the University’s new cricket facility for winter nets. We need to find out if that’s possible, and if it will be free. If so that will help us make more money in 2019. If not I would also recommend starting winter nets with two lanes, to ensure we don’t lose money in the initial weeks.
   
   Accounts for 2018 season
   
   Stephen Boothroyd
   
   Dicussion of finances: question was raised if will we need new balls this year? Student games can bring in £250 if all on MC1, but there were several cancellations by the students last year. PS will ask Quentin about the new MC nets (When open? Access? Will it be free?). Given last year’s large loss, there was discussion of how to raise money. Question was asked whether there would be serious resistance to a big increase in fees to play on MC1 not MC2? PS noted in past we had an allocation of 7-8 matches from Maiden Castle for use of MC1. PC/TC noted loss of £400 with only £800 in the kitty is not sustainable so need action. NM, supported by TC, suggested a flat fee of £5 for all matches, irrespective of MC1/2/home/away. PS noted that fees went down in past, but then £200 spent on dinner etc. so we need to stop that and have a clear fee. SB estimated that if we keep the same fee we will break even this coming year, but with an increase we can make a profit.
   • It was agreed by members present to increase match fees to a £5 flat fee.
     
7. Election of Officers:
   • President: Brian Lander retained. NM noted that he never attends these meetings. PC stated he is our most distinguished player so should keep him as club president.
   • Hon. President: Vice-Chancellor of Durham University, Stuart Corbridge retained – PS will send captain’s request. PC noted that honorary president should be first on the website.
   • Chairman: Peter Collins retained.
   • Secretary : Ian Boothroyd retained.
   • Captain: David Gillespie retained, but likely to leave during the season, probably during May/June. DG happy to carry on until he leaves but wondered whether it was fairer to appoint a new captain, so they have a full season. Main issue is who will organise teams. It was agreed the vice-captains would share the role..
   • Vice-Captains: Stephen English retained, Rob Powell retained. Peter Swift (on pitch, but no organisation as already organising Durham City 2nd XI this season and wouldn’t be fair anyway given he had already served a long stint as captain) retained, Ian Whitfield elected as fourth VC.
   • Treasurer: Stephen Boothroyd retained.
   • Kit Man: Eckart Wrede retained.
   • Auditor: Nigel Metcalfe retained. NM willing to continue but asked do we know a proper accountant? Suggested John White (former player). DG noted that John White voted three times for Tony Cleaver as player of the season!
   • Webmaster: Nigel Metcalfe retained.
8. Fixture discussion: Could a NE university staff tournament be arranged? Do people know of other teams/who to contact? PC notes that Leeds & Hull had teams, NM suggests Newcastle have gone off the radar. NE Teesside and Sunderland, Northumberland are the obvious choices. DG noted it was an opportunity to make money if £90 to book MC1 all day and we had five teams at e.g. £50 entry fee. TC will ask Mallards about Newcastle.
   College League: days/times of fixtures – suggested by PS to email Frazer in college sport and state when we can play – Saturday afternoons a no-no given club games. PS noted we need our best XI for Premier League and need to know when the best XI can play. Noted evenings may work too.
   TC stated that Mallards have a September tour to Malaga. If there is interest, TC can find out details for 2020 season for a staff team to take a tour? TC fully recommends the tour. DG thought we wouldn’t get a full team (maybe 7-8) but could get others from another local team?
   
9. Kit: EW had provided an inventory. New bat required, another one broke during winter nets. Given the number of bat breakages and new purchases in recent seasons, should we undertake bat maintenance during the close season – e.g. oiling etc. to help protect the bats?
   
10. AOB:
    Club dinner PS noted problematic due to refurbishment. PS will organise but may need to go to Collingwood (rest of Grey College including Kitchens being refurbished). Only date at Grey that would work is Friday 20th September, but it is also an Open Day on the Friday and Saturday.
    DG noted we have been asked by Beamish Museum to send a few representatives to attend on 8th April for promotional photos of the tournament and to be pictured with the Cricket World Cup.
    TC suggested we invite Brian Lander to the Euan-Squires match against Grey SCR.

Ian Boothroyd May 2019