2017 Board Summary

Baker Tilly Cronkbourne CC
2017 Board Summary

Can you believe that at the time of writing this report this 2017 season is still not finished..!!

With the weather playing havoc the Tinker Cup Final (hosted at Tromode now Sunday 10th) has yet to be contested between ourselves and Castletown CC.

That said I believe this season (all be it the standard has definitely slipped) we have dominated all competitions which amidst the challenges we have had towards the end of the season in getting 11 players for all matches, is remarkable but…

What a wonderfully successful season full stop. All the teams have performed extremely well and we have definitely shown this season that BTCCC are the flagship cricket club on the island….it’s been a privilege to be a part of it all.

In summary, all too often this season has revolved around the performance of too few senior players. The crop of youngsters we have must surely bode well going forward if we can keep them in cricket. They’ve grown as young men and I am sure we shall see their knowledge of the game benefit from a more mature outlook in the seasons to come.

Congratulations to Max, his leadership has seen us through an enormously successful year in the clubs recent history & his standout performances were comfortably the highlights.

Team selection difficulties still seem to override the preparation for all fixtures although the social media pages have worked well. The new ‘Teamer’ platform too has added to this as we strive to find common ground that we can all communicate regarding availability, results and general notices.

Once again BTCCC can hold our heads up high as we have done everything asked and expected of us by the IOMCA and have I believe lead from the front without any doubt.

As last year we entered four teams into the midweek leagues, ensuring everyone of all ages play cricket regularly, we succeeded!!

Testament to this, our ‘Bacchas’ side who performed with a wonderful spirit, won the Monday evening Forrester Competition. Special thanks to James Harrison who rallied his troops every week to ensure they got on the field and did the business week in week out. Again the ‘Lightnings’ side did well under Nathan’s guidance and the ‘Vikings’ side filled with young men and a young lady will learn hopefully from their experiences.

The Premiership Karran and Cain trophies will this year reside at Tromode and WELL deserved. As mentioned the Tinker Cup will be played this week and we hope that due to the weather and week’s delay we will be able to field a strong side and come out the victors rounding off a wonderful senior season. I sincerely hope our ‘Year End Function’ doesn’t play a role in dampening our spirit but the momentum should firmly be with us.

Our Teams finished as follows:

Cronkbourne Aces Premiership Winners
Cain T20 Winners
(hopefully Tinker Cup Winners)

Cronkbourne Bacchas Forrester T20 Winners
Cronkbourne Lightning Forrester T20 4th
Cronkbourne Vikings Forrester T20 8th

Cronkbourne CC Runner up Blincoe Cup

U15 Cronkbourne Winners
U13 Cronkbourne Vipers 2nd
Cronkbourne Cobras 8th
U11 Cronkbourne Strikers 5th
Cronkbourne Sixers 8th

U9s have done exceptionally well in the Kwik cricket tournaments, winning the majority of games and turning out brilliant numbers of players

What was very pleasing is we had 2 teams in each of 11s/13s leagues and split them up in terms of ability.

The junior awards day takes place on Sunday 09 September then the senior function thereafter.

Training sessions this season have been a joy to watch. Parents sitting in the sun and the sheer numbers (youths) again prove BTCCC has an enormous role in the future of IOM cricket. Congratulations to the wonderful efforts of ALL the coaches who give up their time to get down and spend time with the children this as well as officiating the weekly fixtures the efforts have not gone unnoticed.

A very special word of thanks must go to Les Crellin who assisted us with the preparation of our playing surface and then also later in the season the work of Bill Arthur (William Arthur) who, as a member, has given of his teams time to clean up after the DOE have done their work. This has proven to be more than collecting the grass cuttings left by the DOE but general look and appearance of the club grounds too, long may this continue..!!

Again we must thank our sponsors, without who much of this work, activities, appearance of players & club would CERTAINLY not be possible.

As last year our arrangement with Valkyres CC to utilize the club’s facilities ran through for another year and it continues to work well for both parties.

Thanks to the efforts of James Stokoe again (single handed) secured our Baker Tilly sponsorship. The Lease being secured by same (with the help of our Board) is something enormous and again allows us to look into the future & build the cricket brand and the brand of our mainline sponsor which we carry with pride on our clothing.

We have had a few socials (too few I might add) and this seemed to build spirit of our club and almost breakeven. The venue must be marketed as a favourable destination to corporate and the likes to create traction. We have some good ideas for monthly functions running through to the 2018 season. Our off season training will be up and running at Ballakermeen HS & the use of the indoor facility at the NSC.

Lastly, congratulations to Phil Richardson and his wonderful achievement of surpassing 800 wickets in his career spanning from 1980’s…a wonderful club man!!

Then thanks to the committee for all their efforts throughout the season administering and managing the cricket section. It has been a privilege to be Chairperson of a Club and that it is the flagship on the IOM is very special.

James thank you for always being there for me and long may this continue.

Thank you, God Bless

Carl Mellors
Chairman
Baker Tilly Cronkbourne Cricket Club

05 September 2017