JUNIOR CRICKET at RAWTENSTALL C.C.

Simon Butterworth - Junior Cricket Chairman / Co-ordinator

Tele - 01706 213657 / 07779630922

Junior Notice Board

Welcome to 2008! As most of you will be aware, our indoor net sessions are now in full flow, and again the turn out so far has been excellent. First of all, many thanks to Nick Westwell, who if some of you don't know, is Rossendale's Cricket Development Officer. Through competitions he has held in the schools at year 4 level, we now have approaching 20 new under 9's players for the new season. Also this year there have been a few changes with the team managers, Geoff Pickup, Gary Holder, Dave Hannam and Dave Wylie are staying with the sides they managed last year, but i have moved up to the under 15's to replace Richard Glover. Dickie, as we all call him apart from his mum that is, has new work commitments, and so he has moved up to the under 17's, where he will help Dave on match nights. On my behalf at least, many thanks to Dickie for all the hours you have put in over the last few years, i,m sure many of the lads who have played for you have great respect for the commitment you have given them! Matt Hussey has agreed to run our new team, under 11's B, and Paul Metcalf has stepped into my shoes and taken over the under 13's B team. Matt, Paul and Geoff are all currently doing there coaching certificates, good luck goes to them.

Last season, although very wet, was still a very successful one, especially for both under 13's sides. Up until the last 2 games of the season the A team were top of the league unbeaten. 2 games to go and Haslingden to play twice, one win enough to win the league! Played on 2 consecutive nights in September both games were lost against a very good Haslingden side, and so runners up we were. Great credit must go to Dave Hannam and his team, who although lost out in the end, got some reward for all their hard work they put in during the season.

The under 13's B team had a very strong side, they were playing in division 3 along with A teams from Todmorden, Burnley, Rishton and Enfield, and Haslingden's B team. Their record of playing 10 games, winning 8,losing 1 and 1 no result was enough to win them the league, a 2nd successive championship and promotion. A fantastic team effort throughout the season, again, just reward for a lot of hard work at practice, great team spirit and a belief in their own abilities. Everyone who played in the team contributed in some way and every person who bowled in the side during the season took at least 1 wicket, with many of the players also having a successful season with the bat too!

Our under 9's had a good opening season in their league, finishing 3rd, and listening to reports coming back from the games they played, there is a lot of talent in that side which can only bode well for the clubs future.

The under 11's came up against some strong sides in there league but still managed to finish in 4th position. The weather certainly seemed to hinder Gary's team as they had to wait until early August to play their first home game, however Gary was full of praise for the lads who didn't let it dampen their spirits, and when the weather was fine, turned up regularly for practice.

In 2006 our under 15's won the Division 2 title, unfortunately in 2007, with a much changed side, they couldn't manage to repeat that performance and only won 1 game! There was certainly no lacking in some of the performances though with a lot of the individual performance prizes for the season going to members of Dickie's team!

Our under 17's just missed out on promotion from Division 2 by finishing in 3rd position. A little bit more consistency in their performances and they maybe could have sneaked into the promotion places. One problem again was the weather, but also a reluctance from some clubs to re-arrange fixtures. Lets hope for better luck this season and maybe they could pick up some silverware that this strong team certainly have the ability to do!

As for this season, hopefully it will be our last one with our current clubhouse. Plans have been drawn up and submitted for a brand new one, situated in the same place but bigger. The club as a whole need to raise as much money towards this as possible and we, the junior section, are committed to helping out as much as we can. Our first fundraiser is to assist shoppers with their bag packing at Asda on Easter Saturday. Its imperative that we get as many of the junior players to help us on the day as it has the potential to raise us quite a lot of money, but as i say, we do need your help. We will be sending out a letter to all parents regarding this shortly, but in the meantime if anyone would like to offer their services you can contact me on 07779630922.

Along with this, we are hoping that each junior age group will do a fundraising event during the season, but that will be sorted out with the captains at the beginning of the season. Please keep an eye on the website for up and coming events this year, your support at some of these would be very welcome and if anyone would like to help out in anyway, please get in touch with me or anyone involved at the club, again, your help would very well received.

Time to sign off now, so lets hope we get a sun soaked summer and everyone can sit back and enjoy a summer of good cricket.

Until next time - Simon

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