2022 season - Ep 1 - Choose your Captain

                   Ep 1 - Choose your Captain 

Ben Stokes. An English cricketing marvel. Dependable seamer, fantastic fielder, and box office batsman.

 
Simon Bath. Right arm medium (If there is a decent breeze with a downhill slope) and wayward seamer, solid pair of hands, can hold a bat according to a dictionary definition. 

The comparison between these two men is there for all to see, most of all this season will be their first time they take control of their team as a full-time captain. The stakes might be slightly different between a 4th XI and the captain of the English Test side but both of us have a responsibility to our players to lead by example.

 

After a winter that seemed to last longer than a Leonard Cohen song and watching my beloved AFC Wimbledon get relegated to League Two after not winning for over 20 games, it's safe to say that I am glad the cricket season is here and in full-swing.

Much has changed at the club since last season. With the 1s and 2s both enjoying promotions, more off-field responsibilities and requirement have come to the forefront. We have a new overseas pro, we have black sightscreen covers for the 1s white ball endeavours and second team skipper Sami finally grew to 5ft 1.  

Club Captain and legend Trevor (seen below) led from the front in terms of getting the club ready for the season with his horticultural endeavours. These tasks are so vital in making sure that everything is ready to go and that cricket can happen.

The social side of the club is also in full swing with a well-attended quiz night already in the book (the 4th team being truly dominant victors) and huge scope to get another organised in the not too distant future. The bar prices have finally been amended so that drinking at the club doesn't cost an arm and a leg - meaning that hopefully the social side of things can regain it's strength.  

Speaking of social side we have a number of things in the pipeline for the season including a summer social on June 25th (save the date) and also the return of the Bowl Off. 

Elsewhere in the club, we managed, for the first time, to have all 4 girls age group teams playing with  wins a draw and a loss. It's quite a brilliant thing that the girls teams are becoming such an asset to the club. A huge well done needs to go out to the volunteers and coaches who have helped to make this possible.



I started this off talking about captaincy and leadership ahead of my first full season as a team captain. Whilst I've captained a cricket side many times, I've never had the pleasure task of taking one through the whole season. The admin alone is something that I knew was a fair ask, but I never really understood just how big the ask was. The job is a weekly cycle starting from Monday asking your squad who is available. Tuesday evenings is selection -  a meeting that starts with the best intentions before breaking down into anarchy. Wednesday is continued negotiation following selection before sending a team, various members of which then remind you that they cannot drive and in fact require transport to the game. Thursday and Fridays are spent hoping to whatever gods may be watching that no one drops out of the team. Then we finally come to Saturday, the reason that the week-long sacrifice is worthwhile. The day is spent generally making sure that everyone has everything they need, are padded up at the correct time and that there is someone to score and also umpire. Oh and drinks. And are all the cones collected. Did I get a photo of the oppositions scorebook?  

Sunday morning is spent making sure the Play Cricket website is right (which can sometimes take a lot longer than you'd appreciate). Monday is then spent chasing up outstanding subs from the weekend which need to be paid into the club account and then the cycle starts again. 

I knew coming into captaincy that there was a lot of additional admin that went with it, but I must admit I didn't quite realise how much.

As for my team, the first couple of games have really laid out the kind of season I might have as captain. We started with a wonderful run chase away at Addiscombe bagging maximum points but sadly falling short last week. 

 I'm lucky that I have such a wonderful backbone of seasoned pros around me who are always pushy keen to share their opinion and help me. I also have a couple of talented youngsters who I look forward to giving a platform to develop over the season. 

With 16 more games to go we still have a wonderful chance to achieve well this season although going back to my comparison with Ben Stokes we share a struggle with our teams ability to hold catches!!!!!

Until next time, sports fans

Simon