Welcome to the 2021 cricket season and also to this our new online club brochure that
intends to provide all the details that anyone may need, whether that be fixtures, results,
team news, events, contact details, updates and messages from key personnel and of course
information about our wonderful sponsors. Hard copies will be made available, perhaps
monthly, but the publication will be updated regularly and available online and is very much
a live document. This is a new initiative, feel free to provide feedback and suggestions.
The 2020 season will be one that will live long in the memory and for all the wrong reasons.
The pandemic has touched all of us and changed our lives forever, and cricket hasn’t escaped.
The curtailed 2020 season was short but a welcome distraction, albeit with COVID restrictions
being a reminder of the ongoing situation. The new season is fast approaching but it’s very
different in that we’ve not had any indoor preparation, either senior of junior, and if the
weather doesn’t improve and the ground doesn’t dry out, there may only be chance for one
or two outdoor nets before the senior season kicks off on the 17th April. Not ideal, but the
same for all clubs. If the Government’s roadmap out of COVID restrictions is a success, the
ECB suggests that changing rooms and even teas may be back by the end of June. Until then
the club will ensure the safety of our members by abiding by all of the ECB and the
Government guidelines.
This year Adam Ball will once again be leading our All-Stars programme for 5 to 8 yr. olds, but
also, the new ECB initiative, the Dynamos for youngsters 9 to 11 yrs. old. We’ll be offering
both soft ball and hard ball junior fixtures and can’t wait to get back into it following last
year’s disappointment of very little or no cricket. Whether the sport will bounce back from
the challenges of COVID, I don’t know but I hope it will.
As I write this introduction, there is just under a month to go before the first game. Best of
luck to our senior captains: Rich Thomas (1st XI), Jamie Moss (2nd XI), Kumar (Sunday Tigers
XI) and Iain Green (T20). I would urge any of our playing membership who haven’t yet signed
up to do so as quickly as possible please so that captains can collaborate and work out their
squads, allowing the club to plan accordingly. Despite the COVID situation, our focus is to
ensure that as many members as possible get to play as much cricket as possible. But in
addition to participation, my desire is that our teams, senior and junior, are as balanced and
as competitive as they can be and that promotion for the 1st and 2nd XIs shouldn’t be
something that is unachievable. Only by everyone working together can we succeed, whether
that is winning games, improving as cricketers or simply enjoyment.The executive committee haven’t been idle throughout the winter – my thanks to them – and
there are a number of things happening behind the scenes: the new electronic scoreboard is
likely to be ready for the start of the season, new signage and advertising boards are on the
way, and the club has invested in new helmets for our junior section. Iain Green is our newly
appointed social and fundraising secretary, and as well as his excellent online quizzes, we’ve
got the Super10s sporting predictions now up and running and as restrictions ease later in
the summer, the club is hoping to put on some events and social gatherings, keep an eye out
for those.
Finally, a big thank you to our sponsors, your support is much appreciated – especially in the
difficult times we are living through. As always, thanks also to HASSRA Fylde and CSSC
Blackpool & Fylde.
Yours in Sport,
Ian Davies
Chair – Norcross CC