Present: Matthew Stevenson, David Peters, Andrew Amor

Apologies: Simon Gooch, Murray Scott, David Banner

Matters Arising From Previous Minutes

·         There has been no further progress on the 2001 subscription debtors: John Cooper, Richard Heath and Matthew Woods.

·         Rahul Punj has paid the £20, which he owed from last season, for a club shirt; Mudo Ahmed still owes £20 for his one.

·         The outstanding £100, from the merger with Sir Ali, has still not been transferred into the club account.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that Michael Burge had agreed to take on the job of cricket representative on the CPSA social committee.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that the colts, teas and bar rota had not, so far, been a great success, with the burden of work still falling too heavily on David Banner and the team captains.  There seems to be an attitude, amongst certain players, that if David Banner is around, he will do all the chores !

·         On the cricket teas, it has become popular to serve baguettes and a cold buffet, rather than sandwiches.  The former are easier to make, but require more clearing up afterwards.  Matthew Stevenson said that it was important for captains to ensure that the teas are cleared up properly; this should include a quick tidy up immediately afterwards, followed by a more thorough clean up after the match.

·         A contract for the management of the ground by Chalfont Turf has now been signed.

·         The soil mounds surrounding the car park have been reseeded.  The longer term plan is to put down a picket fence and, maybe, a beech hedgerow, or something similar.

·         The overseas players, Nouman Habib and his cousin, Adnan Khan, have settled in well on the cricket field, but they have had problems with their accommodation and have not yet found any work.

·         All the team captains now have a back door key.

Treasurer’s Report

·         Matthew Stevenson said that he thought the match fees were pretty well up to date.

·         Nouman Habib has brought 24 cricket balls from Pakistan, and the club has purchased these at a cost of £4 each.  Asif Ahmed has handed over seven of the eighteen cricket balls, which it was agreed that he would buy in Pakistan; it has been agreed that he will be paid when all eighteen balls have been handed over.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that he had distributed some tickets for the Cricket Foundation draw, but had not really started promoting it yet.

Ground Report

·         The outfield is in excellent condition.  The wickets have been playing reasonably well, but the damp weather has meant that the bounce has been slow and low.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that David Banner had placed an order for a bowling machine, and will bear the cost of this, £1200, until the club is in a position to pay him back.

·         The practice area has been cleared, levelled and reseeded, and a new net has been fixed to the existing frame.  The next step is to purchase a new mat, which will cost approximately £500.  Matthew Stevenson said that he had asked the CPSA board to fund this, but had not yet received a reply.

Cricket Report

·         Matthew Stevenson said that he had started sending out a weekly newsletter.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that he would not report results in the minutes any more, because these are listed both on the web page and in the weekly newsletters.  In summary, the 1st XI has been doing very well, in both league and friendly matches, the 2nd XI less so.

·         Following on from the previous point, Matthew Stevenson said that he remained very concerned about the gap in playing ability between the 1st and 2nd XIs.  He said that he thought the club should consider strengthening the 2nd XI at the expense of the 1st XI, in order to try to bridge the gap in playing standards.  This is a controversial idea, and needs to be discussed further, when the full committee is in attendance.

·         Matthew Stevenson also said that he was concerned that the selection meetings do not seem to be taking place on a regular basis.

Any Other Business

·         Matthew Stevenson said that he was trying to keep the club web page up to date, but that it was usually a week or two behind for newsletters and results.  This is because there are two dependencies: firstly, for Matthew Stevenson to get down to the club, and put the updates onto the club computer and, secondly, for Andy Watts to load the changes onto his laptop and upload the web page.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that he had been asked by the CPSA board to make some nominations for new vice presidents.  The committee agreed to nominate Barry Pearse and Mick Ormerod.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that no progress had been made on organising this year’s Annual Dinner Dance.  David Peters said that the CPSA board was considering another marquee event in September.  The possibility of incorporating the cricket dinner into this event was discussed.  It was felt that this would be a better option than taking advantage of the marquee being set up, and staging the cricket dinner on the evening before, or after, the CPSA event.

·         Looking a few months ahead, Matthew Stevenson said that we should start thinking about how to take advantage of the Cricket World Cup, in South Africa, in the spring of 2003.  There is only a two hour time zone difference with South Africa, so the matches could be shown live on the big screen at the clubhouse, and it would seem to be a major opportunity to drum up interest in the build up to the next cricket season.

·         Wednesday, 3rd July, was pencilled in as the provisional date for the next meeting.