Congratulations to the 4s and captain Peter Wale as they secured a promotion slot from Div 13 following an early morning call from Shenley Village to concede the game.  Its been a somewhat anti-climactic end to the season with one game rained off and 2 conceded by oppositions failing to raise a team but nothing should detract from a string of fine victories which took the team to the top of the league.  The 4s have a chance to win the league next saturday when they go to bottom of the table Sawbridgeworth who will be vying to win to avoid relegation.  This is the final game of the season so fingers crossed for a celebratory drink or two back at the club.      

Mark Lewarne, our very own Colts Manager, received a prestigious OSCA (Outstanding Services to Cricket Award) in the "Behind the Scenes" category. Marke was honoured at a Herts County Cricket Association dinner last night and received his award from the County Development Director.

I am sure everyone in the Club would like to join me in congratulating Mark on his award and thanking him for his outstanding contribution to the Club.

His citation read as follows:
Mark has been the driving force behind the resurgence of the BCC Colts section, seeing its numbers go from no colts four years ago to over 250 now, including 30 girls. He has established 11 squads playing in the Colts Leagues, with managers in place at every level. He has played an active part in helping the Club achieve and renew its Clubmark badge.

As a Level 1 coach himself, he oversees the twenty coaches involved in running the coaching sessions on Sunday mornings and weekday evenings as well as running one of the teams himself. He knows the name of every child and every parent in the entire Colts section. He epitomises our inclusive ethos, welcoming children of all abilities and encouraging them with his enthusiasm and interest in their achievements.

Mark puts in well over 20 hours a week, year round, on the behind the scenes administration, maintaining databases, organising & rescheduling matches, co-ordinating with both the groundsman and clubhouse manager, and organising Autumn and Winter nets. During the summer, he will be found on the field almost every weekday evening umpiring colts’ matches of all ages or managing his own team.

Mark is also a Controller for the Herts U14 Junior Cricket League & an active member of the Dacorum District Cricket sub-committee, which runs the District coaching program. 

Pictures can be found in the galleries section of the website or at this link:



http://www.berkhamstedcc.com/gallery/galleryid_6482/CricketTour2010.aspx

Berkhamsted Cricket Club junior section had their best ever day at County Finals Day on July 18^th.  This is the day that all age groups from U9 to U16 battle it out at various venues across the county for the coveted County Champions title.    At North Mymms CC, Berkhamsted U9’s defeated Harpenden in the semi finals and then beat Hertford by 82 runs in the final.    At Sawbridgeworth CC, the first ever U14B trophy was won by Berkhamsted who defeated St Albans in the semi finals and then Frogmore in a thrilling final whilst at Bishops Stortford CC Berkhamsted U16s completed a hat trick of County titles by defeating Baldock by 10 runs.    These trophies cap a fantastic season for Berkhamsted’s juniors who also won 6 league titles at the various age groups.

Mark Lewarne, our tireless Colts Manager. said: “This is an amazing success story, our colts section only started in 2005 and to win 3 county titles just 5 years later is a tribute to the skill of the boys, the quality of coaching and a great bunch of volunteer managers”.

On a glorious summer morning the colts were able to listen and learn from a former Surrey and Pakistan spin legend talking about cricket and passing on a few tips to all the age groups. Saqlain Mushtaq ,the former test bowler with over 200 wickets at the top level, opened the colts bowlathon and signed a considerable number of autographs during his visit to the club. He talked about his experiences in test cricket and how when he first started playing test cricket he didn’t even know how to set a field. Fortunately Javed Miandad was on hand to help!

The colts bowled in their age groups and in the course of the two hour session, the colts bowled 282.4 overs. I will reveal how many wickets were taken and by what age groups at the end of season award ceremony.

Many thanks to the boys and girls who bowled and many thanks to all the helpers and coaches who assisted in the process.

Some sponsor money has already been received and to all those who sponsored a colt, many thanks. It will be used by the club to further improve coaching especially at the junior level. Sponsor money can be brought to training and there will be a prize for the colt who raises the most sponsorship. There will also be other prizes. All will be revealed on the 12^th September. Remember that after the awards ceremony, the colts v Mums game will start so make sure you don’t give Mum too much practice on the beach this summer.

Please also remember that all colts parents are welcome to attend the end of season dinner and dance. Further details are available on the website but the date is the 11^th September. To be held at the club, the band has been booked and Shane and the crystal balls will be appearing.

Tim Buckley

Well done to our U11 team who clinched the league title last night with a close win against Dunstable.  Congratulations to manager Gary Macey and the boys who have performed superbly this season, winning 8 of their 10 games.  They now progress to the quarter finals next week which will be a home game, date and opposition to be announced.     

The sun shone on our Annual Funday at the club and 135 boys and girls turned out to participate in the 10 events.  It was a close run thing with South Africa and England girls looking likely winners until Australia, captained by Harvey Lewis came through with a late surge to take the medals.    Well done to Maddie Bentley and Madhav Khrishnan who won individual prizes for best girl and boy players on the day.   Many thanks to our coaches, U14 & U16 & parent helpers, and of course Niki for compiling the scores amidst the madness.  A lot of fun was had by all with my personal favourite being Fish bowled by a slow bouncer.   

Congratulations to our U13 boys managed by Simon Atkins.  We decided to move them into the newly created B leagues this year and the boys have responded with a 100% record, 10 wins out of 10!    They now go to Finals Day on Sunday 18th July at Datchworth to see if they can lift the County title.   Good luck lads and no matter whether you win or lose on the day you will be promoted back into the A leagues for U14s next year!    

We’ve all done it. Turned up at the start of a cricket match and taken for granted the fact that the pitch is prepared with the stumps standing ready for the toss and the game to start. But of course, someone had to make it happen. So for those that have never given it a moment’s thought, here’s how that wicket was prepared by Puddles at Berkhamsted….

Countdown to the match:

End of the previous season – this is when it actually all starts, when the square is “put to bed”. This involves about £800 of cricket wicket dressing, fertiliser and turf tonic being added to the surface and raked in. Every other year or so, a deep scrape is performed to remove the thatch and previous dressings to open up the ground ready for the new dressing. Without this the square would gradually end up higher than the surrounding area – something you see at grounds that haven’t done the scrape.

Two months prior to the start of the new season – The heavy roller is taken over every inch of the square every day for about two months – taking about 3 hours a day per square. Tedious but essential to provide that even bounce essential to a “good track”. Should the groundsman be a batsman (which he is), you might find a few extra hours go into the square’s rolling at every opportunity. A good pre-season rolling effort will amount to around 200 hours of rolling.

Start of the season – Mark Lewarne, our colts manager, gives Puddles a list of all the colts matches to go with the weekend adult fixtures and the myriad of County, Area and District matches that will be hosted by Berkhamsted to enable him to plan how the squares will be used. With something over 100 matches to fit onto each square of 10 or 14 wicket strips, it’s a tough juggling act to keep the wear even as the weather, Cup games, rearranged fixtures all conspire to disrupt the best of plans. First XI fixtures tend to be played on the middle strips (creating an even-sided boundary) and colts’ matches use wickets of differing lengths depending upon the age group just to add to the complexity.

Early season – the square is cut twice or three times a week during the vigorous growing season – and the rolling programme continues. Each week, the outfield is mowed, usually by Ian Campbell. Other work goes on, including worm treatments, weed-killing and, in the outfield, repair of rabbit damage, litter picking, nettle strimming and so on.

One week before the match – each day now the wicket strip to be used is cut shorter than the rest of the square.

The day of the match – the wicket strip is cut one last time, rolled a final time and then marked up with the creases. The stump holes are drilled and the stumps inserted. The teams arrive and the skippers wander out to the pitch, prod it, say things along the lines of “looks bouncy” and “it will come through well on that” and toss up.

The day after the match – the pitch is swept, bowlers foot marks repaired and worn areas are reseeded. If dry, the square is watered. And did I mention that rolling continues throughout the season, until it is put to bed…?

Our groundsman, Ian Putman, works almost full time on the two squares at Berkhamsted and the extra square at Cow Roast. (He also does Abbots Langley and Hemel’s squares with the help of Derek Pratt). The Club employs him year round and provides the array of mowers, rollers, gang mowers, tractors, scarifiers and other strange looking devices for the mysterious art of groundsmanship. Plus of course, pays for the petrol, diesel and servicing and maintenance costs for all of equipment.

So, next time you are watching or playing a cricket match on our beautiful grounds, you’ll know how the Club managed to make that happen. And having  witnessed some nightmare pitches this year around the county we should say we have one of the best pitches in Herts - despite the slope!