All’s well that ends well ?
End of season report
The curtain comes down on a mixed season at Dinting Cricket Club both on and off the field. As reported in earlier updates, there have been some huge positives that I will focus on rather than the negatives. The first team finished 6th but some more application in the last few games could have easily improved this and, as is normally the case when you aren’t competing for trophies, it is sometimes difficult to stay motivated in the last few games. I am hoping the ‘Senior Cricket Plan’ I have written will eliminate this and give the senior teams a boost in following this. I’d like to thank outgoing 1st XI captain Phil Jones who always tried to get the team motivated in difficult circumstances with several injuries to key personnel to contend with alongside availability issues. The bowling of Ryan Stringer who, at times, was back to his unplayable best and Alfie Joy in his debut senior season took 21 wickets is testament to his ability and mental strength required to make the step up from junior cricket to senior.
The 2nd team finished a while back and although it looks like a poor season on paper, with just one division, the seeding of the teams we played was always going to be tough. There were some commendable contributions from the juniors where they batted and bowled beyond their years to really make an impact on the team and the games, they were involved in. The highlight of the season must be the game the game at home to Pott Shrigley where a fantastic century from Glen Draper made it possible for captain, Matt Blood to use no less than four 12-year-old juniors (Zack Winterbottom, Alex Matthews, Will Matthews, & Riley Knight) who each took a wicket and 14-year-old Charlie Clarke taking 3. This is what the 2nd should be used for and will continue to be used for in the future. The junior season finished a long time back too but thanks to the foresight of our Junior Co-ordinator, Matt Parker, who followed through with my idea about running our own league we managed to extend the season with more fixtures for the under 13’s and under 15’s. Covid isolations disrupted the fixtures massively but we still managed to successfully host both finals days last weekend and the under 13’s won their finals day but the under 15’s were beaten by a strong Whaley Bridge team in their final. A week earlier the under 13’s were beaten in their finals day by Hayfield in the semi-final. This was always on the cards having had Hayfield in huge trouble halfway through the original game before the weather intervened.
I’d like to thank all the volunteers who helped with parking, making sandwiches, DJ-ing, cleaning for all 3 of these finals. Without you guys, we wouldn’t put on such a great show!!! All 3 age groups (Under 11’s, 13’s & 15’s) of our juniors won their leagues and appeared at finals day, but junior cricket should not be judged on trophies won but development of team juniors. Having seen a lot of the junior sides this year, I can honestly say, the development seen has been unbelievable and this is thanks to Matt Parker and his team of managers and coaches who we are extremely grateful to for giving up their time to help with this development. Our junior training nights were filled up by 40+ Allstars and Dynamos cricketers who were introduced to the game by our enthusiastic volunteers. We had some great summer evenings on Friday nights which saw families, friends, boys, and girls of all ages enjoying our facilities and that’s the reason we all put the work in that we do. We hosted our sponsors and dignitaries during our last game of the season on the 4th September. This was expertly planned by Dan Carter and Vicky Harrison catered the event to an extremely high standard and we had some very pleasing feedback from our guests on the day and will certainly be doing this again in the future. The end of season ‘do’ followed this and was a fantastic night where we were entertained by fabulous vocalist, Sophie Valentine. A great night was had by all and I apologise for my dancing throughout! The club has a long list of winter renovation jobs and our facilities manager Jon Matthews will be heading these with a view to having everything looking ‘top class’ for the beginning of next season. The committee have worked hard to ensure that the club is the most financially stable it has ever been and with plenty of functions booked in over the winter months, this will only improve.
Our winter social calendar is filling up nicely with key dates already planned in for:
• Comedy Night (8th October)
• Special General Meeting (19th October)
• Bonfire Night (5th November)
• Club presentation dinner (20th November)
We will also be looking to host quiz nights where we have gaps in the function calendar so keep your eyes peeled for these on our social media platforms. We are planning a ‘Boot camp’ for those who want to lose some weight and start getting fit for next season, details will be released soon. We hope to see you all at our one or all our winter functions we have planned. Stay safe and winter well.
Martyn Knight Chairman Dinting Cricket Club
