Who run the world? Girls 

                    THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!!!! Our U13 girls team WON THEIR LEAGUE!!!!!!!!! 

Our under 13 girls completed their league campaign by winning the U13 Girls Smash It league (North)

and then......

           

  They went on to finals day and only went and came third.....IN THE WHOLE COUNTY!!! 

Such an amazing effort from all of these young ladies who really are showing up the rest of the club with their success.Well done 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Also a note for their coach, Mark Pratt. Mark has put so much effort in, not just with this team but with so many different teams across the club and we are so much of a richer club for having him on board.

Which brings me on nicely to this weeks topic- volunteering. 

Without without people putting their hands up and dedicating some of their time, sports clubs and other organisations just wouldn't get off of the ground. Most people will know I'm a huge AFC Wimbledon fan and their rise from common to conference and beyond would not have been possible without the sheer amount of volunteers who have made the wheels of the  club turn. Whether it's someone parking cars, operating the turnstile or selling merchandise/shirts in the club shop, every one of those jobs would be something you'd need to pay out for, saving quite ridiculous amount of money which in AFC Wimbledon's case went towards the playing budget or other vital expenditures. 

Club cricket (in this instance) is exactly the same. Whether it's people offering to run a team, coach the colts or take care of all the administration, a club could not survive. A large percentage of any club will turn up at the ground on a match day, play their game, pay their money and leave again not to be seen again until the next weekend and for the most part, that's fine. However, without the volunteers to get everything in place, the community (one in every blog) cricket club simply doesn't function. So the next time you're coming to watch, play or get involved with any club such as ours, maybe spend a second thinking about who has made it possible. 

It wouldn't be fair to pick out a few names of people who volunteer because I'll forget someone who will shout at me. But at least on my part, I know that I'm really grateful for anyone who put a minute of time to help keep the club going (Yes,OK Paddy, you're a great treasurer. I mentioned you, stop sending me Whatsapps) 

Now for something that is a bit close to my heart (and stomach) 

Every Saturday on my way to cricket, I stop at Hooky Street Coffee in Malden Manor to get a coffee and a sweet treat.  I can't emphasise enough, Hooky Street are the best locally by quite some distance. The interesting this is that I don't actually live that close to them, but their coffee is great quality, their selection of baked goods is not only vast but the quality is something else. I'm rather partial to their lemon and raspberry doughnut. They also have a ridiculous selection of ice cream which is amazing. All of those factors are great, but their real beauty is the phenomenal customer service and how they look after their regulars. I made an effort to go there last year when they'd just opened - having had their start delayed by coronavirus. I'm a big believer in supporting independent businesses and i'm glad i made the effort. Their staff have personality and make the effort to remember their regulars.

Lemon Tart, Biscoff Cheesecake Bar and Oreo Doughnuts - just a sample of their amazing sweet treats

Hooky Street have been so kind in donating a £25 voucher as a Mega Raffle Prize and I implore you, if you're passing or 3 miles away, pop in and visit them. They can be found by the entrance of Malden Manor station (and there is parking outside) Give them a follow on Instagram as well @hookystcoffeeco and see just how good their stuff is. 

Since I've just touched on the Mega Raffle, I wanted to draw attention to a pretty large prize we have to offer:

                                     A WEEKEND SPA BREAK FOR TWO!! 

Just one ticket of £2.50 gives you a chance of winning that, the £25 voucher from Hooky Street and 99 other prizes which also include:

- Meal for two with wine from Alexandra in Wimbledon
- Mixed Case of Beer from The Parks Brewery
- Haircut and Beard trim from Globe Trotting Barbers in Kingston
- Meal for 2 from Smokings Kitchen
- Signed copy of Bobby Gould autobiography
- Many bottles of spirits and wine/ champagne 

Plus a load more stuff to let you know about including a couple more big prizes you won't want to miss out on so keep watching the club. Remember there are 101 prizes up for grabs and it's being drawn on 29th August at our 8-a-side competition. Tickets are on sale at the club over the weekend and hopefully there will be online sales opening this week.

and finally, back to the cricket..

                This week our 1s and 4s continue their push towards promotion with both teams second in their league. 2s are pushing for a Europa League Place in their league. 3s and 5s are fighting dogged relegation battles. With a bit of luck we'll have a lot of left-hand drinking going on at the club Saturday night. We also have both Sunday sides going this weekend so there is a lot of activity this weekend once again.

I'll probably write again in a fortnight when I've got something else to prattle on about 😀

                                                              Simon  Bath

                                                    Camptions vice-captain

                               (and man who just wants you to buy some raffle tickets)

    

#WePlayAsOne                                

Colts are the future!

Well, what a couple of weeks we've had and what a couple of weeks we're going into. 

This week i want to talk about how Colts (junior) cricket is not only vital to the club and it's forward momentum, but also how it's massively on the rise currently and the swell of our own numbers this season. 

but first, we have to talk about Sami (because he won't forgive me if I don't) 

Second XI Captain Sami Majid made his maiden Old Wimbledonians league hundred last weekend with a quite breathtaking match-winning innings which saw him hit a 6 off the last ball of the game to secure his ton and bring home the points. I've been involved in adult cricket for just over 20 years and this is one of the most exhilarating finishes I've ever come across. Well done, mate.       

Sami

                                                                                            

The scoreboard

                      

                                     

Sadly the 2s were our only win last Saturday with the promotion campaigns of the 3's and 4's dealt a blow. We go again this weekend with all 5 Saturday teams ready to go on Saturday and our two on Sunday. The first week of Wimbledon tennis ALWAYS brings terrible weather and it looks as though some of that moisture found it's way into the pitches on Saturday. As a club, we'll pick ourselves up and go again. 

Colts:

The main theme of this blog though is to talk about the Colts and how they are at the start of the journey towards the senior sides. Every senior cricketer was a colt once. A young bright-eyed and bushy-tailed entity of exuberance, keen to take 5 wickets and score 50 every single week. Colts cricket is where the lifeblood of cricket is located and that must be carefully nurtured in order to bring them through to the adult game. 

Our junior sides start from Under 6 and go all the way though to Under 17. If you visit the club on a Friday or a Sunday you'll see what looks to be fields of kids learning and enjoying the game of cricket.  Run by a fantastic team of coaches and volunteers, the Colts section is pure energy (that was a bit Partridge, i'm sorry). It is important just to note that there is a vast amount of volunteers who put their back into making the colts not only happen, but to keep it moving time and time again. My next blog will focus on volunteers and the difference they make and I will talk more about this in that blog.  

In the last couple of years we have seen the ranks of junior members swell by around 60 junior cricketers. A lot of this is to do with the founding of our two girls' sides who are now going great guns in the Girls Smash IT league. 

The Under 11's are in hot pursuit at the top of their league as you can see:

The Under 13s are poised nicely being second in their league.

    Having girls teams as a newer part of the club is just absolutely tremendous. We've also been able to field girls in our senior weekend teams a couple of times and look forward to being able to do so more in the future. Again, the work that has gone into getting this to be such an asset to the club is phenomenal 

    We're so proud to be able to say that in the last few years we have bought over 30 colts through into adult teams. These include Harry Chappell who is currently taking wickets for fun in the first XI and also occasionally captaining one of our Sunday sides. James Thomas who has been a fixture in the first and second XI for a few years now with several hundreds to his name. C. Topley who is scoring runs and taking wickets at will this season - with some quite wonderful figures and is the top run scorer . We also have the likes of  R. Ireland, J. Featherstone, J. Pratt, G. Burt,  and S. Ryce who are making themselves feature in the adult sides this year and are all names to watch for in the coming year. These are just a few of the names I could have chosen, we have so many coming through and next year we will look to add even more colts to our senior ranks - and that's on ability and not just because some of the senior players don't fancy doing the running in the outfield.

Our colts section are always looking for new players, please get in touch with the club if you have children who you think would benefit and enjoy. 

and now RAFFLE TIME!!!!!

We're delighted to announce that The Alexandra in Wimbledon have kindly donated a meal for two to our raffle. If you haven't heard of the Alex, I'd be very surprised. They are a wonderful, wonderful asset to the community. In addition to their great selection of beers, wines and spirits; their food menu is exceptional -  a big reason why a lot of our guys arrange to meet and eat there. Their community work, spearheaded by landlord Mick Dore, started to get attention with the quite wonderful 'Don't be alone on Christmas Day initiative' where anyone celebrating Christmas alone would be welcomed to come to the Alex.   

 

This was then taken one step further when they announced their 'Meet up Monday' initiative to help combat loneliness in the community. 

We'd really like to thank Mick and the Alexandra for helping us out with this really kind donation and implore you to visit what is a quite wonderful establishment run by some lovely people.

We have many of the featured prizes to announce in the coming weeks. There will be a number of smaller prizes as well such as chocolates, wines and a few other interesting bits. With 101 prizes on offer, the chances of winning a prize are rather good. 

Tickets are on sale at the club all weekend at £2.50 per ticket. As I've said before, the fundraisers we run are absolutely crucial to the club. They go towards paying for the upkeep of the club and the improvement of facilities. 

If you'd also like to sell tickets to your friends, family and neighbours (which we REALLY encourage) please get in touch to organise picking up a book or two. 

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this and also for taking the time to get involved with our cricket club. 

                                                                        Simon 

            (Injured Sunday Campions vice-captain, raffle coordinator and community enthusiast) 

#WePlayAsOne