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The 2004 season had its ups
and downs. On a positive note, the square played much better than in
previous seasons, we made some encouraging progress with fund-raising events
and the junior section continued to develop steadily. However, we did not do
especially well on the field of play and the ongoing financial problems of
Chalfont Park Sports Association remain, especially re the hockey Astroturf
project.
The 1st XI finished 7th out of 10 in Division 2B of the Thames Valley
League. We had a very good start to the season, but injuries and the
departure of one key player slowly took its toll, and in the end we were
glad to avoid relegation. Zamir Khan once again did a terrific job as
captain, but he needs more support from other players in the team, on and
off the field, if we are going to improve our performance in 2005. The 2nd
XI continued where it had left off the previous season, punching above its
weight and fighting hard for every point; sadly, however, it was not enough,
and we were relegated at the end of the season after finishing 9th out of 10
in Division 4B. There was one notable personal achievement in the 2nd XI,
though – Asif Raza took 37 wickets and won the Division 4 bowling award.
David Peters once again did a fantastic job as captain.
The Sunday 1st XI had an enjoyable season, with some very closely fought
matches in the Maidenhead Advertiser Sunday League. Unfortunately, however,
we lost more matches than we won and eventually finished 10th out of 12.
Rahul Punj did a great job as captain and both he and Justin Weller had
excellent seasons on the field. The Sunday 2nd XI was unable to match the
outstanding results of the 2003 season, not least because they had a tougher
fixture list, but nonetheless had another good season under the leadership
of Dan Webb. We played a couple of Saturday 3rd XI matches in the 2004
season, but this team did not develop as much as we had hoped after the 2003
season. Last year, I said that finding a 3rd XI ground and establishing a
3rd XI infrastructure was vital if the cricket section was to develop; this
remains the case, but little progress was made on this front during 2004.
Phil Noot did a superb job again with the juniors, helped by Keith Neave.
There are still not enough volunteers to help out with the juniors and,
given that they are the future of the club, this is worrying. Next season,
we are planning to have an ECB qualified coach at the club on Saturday
mornings.
Shabir Ahmed, helped by David Banner, did a superb job on the square and it
played much better than in 2003. The outfield also remained in immaculate
condition and this is a credit to David Banner. Some new (second hand)
machinery, purchased from Gerrards Cross Golf Club, helped enormously with
both the square and the outfield.
The teas in 2004 were provided by Taylormade, CPSA’s bar and teas
contractor. The quality of the food was very good, and it was a great relief
to all the captains to have one less thing to worry about. It was also very
nice to be able to stage our end of season dinner in the clubhouse; once
again, Taylormade provided a very good three course meal. There will always
be those who think that we could reduce our overheads by doing our own
catering and manning the bar ourselves, but these people need to remember
that volunteers have to be forthcoming for all this work, including
compliance with Health and Safety regulations.
Zamir Khan organised fixture booklets for the 2004 season and, by selling
advertising space, this yielded a significant profit fro the club;
hopefully, we will be able to build on this and make even more money in 2005
and beyond. Other fund raising events, like the ECB raffle, also generated
useful funds. Last year I expressed the hope that cricket could make itself
self-funding within the CPSA organisation; I think that we have made good
progress on this objective, but we need to continue the good work.
Matthew Stevenson
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