Thanks to the Vadivale Family for an exceptional evening of South Indian cuisine and culture. A great evening, though I am not sure The Mighty Gibbon will be starting our own Bollywood Troop any time soon, but never the less an evening to be repeated!
…and so to the Year Ahead!
Sunday Nets and Tuesday Bowling Introspective are both underway and it is time to get yourself down the ground for 10.30am every Sunday until the start of the season for full Net practice. Those wanting to give their match bowling a little more focus should attend the Introspective on Tuesday evenings at 6.30pm.
OCA Fixtures are now on the OCA Website and we begin the campaign at Jesus College, Oxford to play Oxenford, on May 4th. (Let’s hope it is drier than last year!) With the exception of Club Day on 18th May its cricket all the way through to 7th September.
Bucks Midweek League will also start in early May and we will get the fixtures after the AGM in mid-April. Not sure on the format yet as proposals are afoot to increase participation and length of the thrash to 15/16 overs – light dependent.
Skipper-Joe is back from the Caribbean and Vice-Vadivale back from Sri Lanka, so we look forward to some new international batting theories which involve scoring runs this year….
New Saturday Format Proposals will be discussed and voted at the OCA Captain’s Meeting on 11th April and these include the number of overs and restrictions per bowler as well as other items – like no Tea!!! These changes may come in for the lower leagues, from 5 down, but not expected at the top end. We shall not be voting for any changes.
New Player Flyers will be going out to surrounding village houses to see if any new residents are interested in joining the World’s greatest Cricket Club! Obviously we pride ourselves on being an inclusive family Club and it may be that there are cricketers new to the area and looking to join a club. Be great if we can attract one or two new players, to add to skipper’s winter signings….
Ground Preparation continues and a Working Party erected most the boundary fencing and portable Net at the start of April. Next we will clean and position the Sightscreens.
The New Covers are nearing completion and will be ready before our first home game on 11th May when we welcome last years League and Cup Double Winners, Witney Swifts. A chance for Joe to get chummy with his ‘Rep-Mates!’
The Square is ready. Football will be finished in April and the outfield is looking good for this time of the year. A little more TLC and all will be sound for May.
We are offering a new flexibility to Annual Subscriptions and Match Fees this year to make it even fair(er) for all. We keep our cricket fees unbelievably low already, but for those that might only play a handful of games paying the £50 annual subscription might be steep. So, instead for those that might not play that often there is no need to pay the Annual Subscription but simply pay an extra fiver per game actually played. That means we keep essential funds coming in and have a level playing field on paying for playing. To make it even better, if you end up playing more games than anticipated and wish to pay your Annual subs, then you get the extra fiver paid back – a sort of rebate, making it cheaper to pay the annual subs and £10 match fee, if you play 10+ times in the year.
Remember each game costs the Club £105 on the day, with Match Ball (£20), Umpire (£35) and Tea (£50), not to mention all the costs of ground rates and upkeep all year round.
You can also support our Fundraising by buying a Square in the Lucky 500 draw. First Prize is £250, 2nd Prize – £50 and all it costs is £2 to own one of the 500 Squares. We shall be selling to visiting Teams and anyone with 2 pound coins to rub together, across the Summer.
So we are almost there….the Bar is Stocked and it’s time to clean off those pads, wash your Horizons and sand the red marks off the edge of your bat, it’s time for the Lord’s game…..
Amen.