We were blessed with better weather this season and only had one session cancelled on Mondays and two on Tuesdays.
We had 83 boys register in 2014 which was the same as last year and 24 girls which was down on last year. This is reflected by the fact that we only conducted Chance to Shine in one primary school as opposed to five due to cut-backs in the budget. Our coach/player ratio was 1/4.44 which is well in excess of ECB minimum requirements. We are very fortunate to have so many dedicated coaches who have taken so much time in obtaining qualifications and as I pointed out last year, we have one ECB Level 3 and one UKCC3 level coach, three UKCC2 level coaches, six UKCC1 level coaches and four ECB level one coaches. On top of this they have all attended first aid and safeguarding children courses and individuals have taken ‘safe hands’ and specific courses relating to teaching people with disabilities and teaching in schools. All in all quite a commitment.

We entered teams in the East Surrey Colts League at u9,11,12,13 and 15 levels, the Surrey County Cup at u15 level, the Capel 6-a-Side at u9 & 11 levels and the girls entered the Surrey Youth Games representing Mole Valley, the Aldershot Charity Festival and the Capel 6-a-Side. We also entered the inaugural NatWest T20 Blast for under 19s.

Dan Jones was the inspiration for our first ever Summer Camp. Assisted by coaches Roger Bailey, John Callcut, Andrew Major, Allan Cooper, Charlie Major, Bill Turner, Barry and Annette Jordan, over 25 boys and girls enjoyed a week of cricket based fun games which culminated in a barbecue and each participant being presented with a certificate and a medal. Many thanks to Ros Bailey who provided refreshments throughout the week and Paul Griffiths for bringing along his speed gun. Also thanks to Constantin Mitran who allowed the use of the table tennis table at the Six Bells.

This actually proved to be a very difficult season as we struggled with availabilities at all levels. It seems that young players are involved in so many activities that cricket does not have the priority that it had in former times.

The following are reports on each section of the coaching department.

John Callcut

Under 7s

As a result of doing Chance to Shine for Y1 & Y2 at Newdigate Infants School we had an influx of young players, some as young as 5 years of age. They were ably coached by Dan Jones, Annette Jordan, Cameron Osborne and Caroline Clark. They had reached a stage in their development that we felt happy to stage a match against Reigate Priory which gave a lot of young people their first experience of a cricket match.

(Our youngest squad)

Under 9s

Won – 1, Lost – 3, Cancelled – 3, Abandoned – 1, Conceded – 1, Opposition Conceded – 2, Position in League – 9th

We finished 9th in the league overall but unfortunately the weather played a major part with four out of eleven fixtures being abandoned or cancelled. Of the four matches played, they were against the stronger teams in the league which meant we only had one memorable win against Horley CC. Despite that, we performed very well and were more competitive than last year and posted scores that could easily have won us the game if we had fielded a little tighter. If the weather had been different I am sure that we would have had a few more wins under our belt and finished much higher in the league. We entered a very young side in the Capel 6-a-Side competition and everyone had an enjoyable day. A big thank you to all the boys and girls who played with great spirit and thanks to the parents as well. There has been a really good improvement in the overall standard of the squad and I hope this leads to a successful season next year.

Simon Capel – Team Manager , Roger Bailey and Stephen Kehl

Under 11s

Won – 1, Lost – 4 , Cancelled – 3, Conceded – 2, Position in the League – 11th

2014 was a challenging year for the u11s, the majority of whom were u10s playing up a year! Of the ten scheduled matches three were rained off and two were conceded due to lack of numbers. Of the five completed matches we just won the one game and that was against Reigate Priory. In June we took part in the annual Capel 6-a-Side tournament. During the group stage the Newdigate team were brilliant in winning all their games against Capel Tens, Capel Tigers, Caterham and Pulborough. The team batted, bowled and fielded their way to the highest qualifying score of the day and were only a couple of runs away from qualifying into the knock out stages. Apart from cricket I was particularly proud of how the team conducted themselves on the day, supporting and playing for each other. In particular, with seven players, we obviously rotated the team….. Not a murmer from any of the players! There were some excellent individual performances. Samuel Clark took wickets in every match and Jamie Harris had a good season behind the stumps. Nathan Ashkuri scored consistently throughout the season but the highlight was against Merstham where he scored a rare six and four 4s.

Mike Ashkuri – Team Manager.

Under 12s

Won – 4, Lost – 3, Cancelled – 1, Abandoned – 1, Position in the League – 5th

(Under 12s in action just before a great storm)

Barry Jordan – Team Manager and Paul Griffiths – Coaching Manager

Under 13s

Won – 5, Lost – 4, Cancelled – 2, Position in the League – 5th

2014 proved to be a tough season for the u13s age group both on and off the field. Losing six players from a squad of eighteen and then another two to football injuries meant that welcoming the seven Capel boys across and running two teams was never going to work … and so it proved. On the field, split practicing between Capel and Newdigate gave us regular use of an artificial pitch and notable victories were recorded against Horley & St. Peters (in the Sussex Junior Cricket Festival) while poor batting lead to losses against Portslade (in the Festival) and Caterham. The boys played well in reaching the league cup semi-final. Individually, taking over the captaincy, Morgan Hamilton excelled with the bat retiring in 50% of the matches and amassing 268 runs whilst Harry Holliday took on the opener’s spot with ever growing confidence as demonstrated by his total of 241 runs scored. Adam Moon hit crowd pleasing sixes first ball faced in two league fixtures whilst, in contrast, was out first ball in two league matches! Mike Ching bowled line and length consistently well to claim most wickets (13) despite missing the Festival. Freddie Hague was a great addition to the team and Ben Haynes enjoyed success taking the opportunity presented by George Lee’s forced absence. Arjun Bahra and George Wood shared wicket keeping duties this summer whilst Joe Haynes always fielded with enthusiasm taking most catches (8).

Ross Hamilton – Team & Coaching Manager and Charlie Major

(Under 13 squad)

Under 15s

Won – 5, Lost – 2, Cancelled – 2, Opposition Conceded – 1, Position in the League – 3rd

The under 15s had a good year and did very well despite missing George Warne for the entire season due to an operation on his finger. A position of third place was very commendable so congratulations to the entire side who really pulled together. In the Surrey County Cup we had good wins against Effingham and Stoke d’Abernon and were scheduled to play Reigate Priory in the quarter final. Three key players were not available and we lost by just 17 runs which was very disappointing especially for the players who were really up for the match. Congratulations to Finn Osborne who was selected to play in the Jack Hobbs Trophy at the Oval. We were very pleased to entertain the Centurion Cricket Academy from Mumbai who came with a very young but talented side. We didn’t enter the N.E.C. competition this year due to lack of availabilities.

Dev Patel – Coaching & Team Manager, Richard Callcut & Andy Meads

(Newdigate hosts the Centurion Club of Mumbai)

(The toss)

(Finn Osborne in the Long Room at the Oval)

Under 19s

We entered the inaugural NatWest T20 Blast competition for under 19s. We checked our old registers and contacted about twenty good cricketers who no longer play the game in the hope that this format might bring them back. Together with current players we thought that this would be an excellent opportunity, but we must say that the exercise was only partly successful. We welcomed back Alex Southon, Ivan May-Jones, Kemau Leverock and Henry Warne and we recorded good wins against Oxted & Limpsfield away and East Grinstead at home. Availabilities then became an issue and we only had nine players when we lost to Horley and had to concede the final group match against Reigate Priory.

Girls Under 11s and Under 13s

The girls are coached by Paul Griffiths, Roger Bailey, Andrew Major and John Callcut. Once again we entered a team into the Surrey Youth Games. Girls are invited to come to Tuesday evening training sessions and they can either join the club and take part in matches and competitions or just have seven free sessions and participate in the Surrey Youth Games – most, we are pleased to say, stay on after their free sessions. Newdigate represented Mole Valley in the Surrey Youth Games at the Sports Park at Guildford in June and won the silver medal. We went with the minimum number of players and did well due to maintaining disciplines relating to fielding and running between the wickets. We attended the Aldershot Charity 8 – a -side Festival and again went with just the bare eight players. The girls did exceptionally well and lost in the final, once again maintaining disciplines was the key. We went with a very weak side to the Capel 6-a-Side but everyone enjoyed the day. We played friendlies against Cranleigh and Ashtead but found raising sides very difficult due to availabilities and we were not able to enter a single Surrey Girls Cricket Competition. An issue was raised at the end of the season, as on several occasions there were matches being played, which meant that the girls had to train to the side of the pitch or in the nets. From the coaches perspective this did not affect the session plans but the girls do like to play games on the main pitch, so we must try to keep Tuesdays free. At the end of August a small group of girls went to Lords to watch the England vs India one day international. There was no play due to rain but the girls did get to meet the England captain, Charlotte Edwards.

John Callcut

(Surrey Youth Games at the Sports Park in Guildford)

(Aldershot Charity Festival for Girls)

(Girls with Charlotte Edwards at a rainy Lords)

Schools’ Cricket

Under the Chance to Shine Scheme, I presented courses to the Weald Primary School and to Y1 & 2 at Newdigate Infants School.

We staged the Dorking Schools Kwik Cricket Competition for boys and girls on two separate days. The winners, the Weald (boys) and St. Pauls (girls) then played in the County finals at Epsom College.

John Callcut

The end of the season finished with the traditional coaches versus the colts match which was won by the coaches. This was followed by a very well attended junior awards and a barbecue.