CLUB IN FOCUS – Exhall & Wixford CRICKET CLUB

As we look forward to the 2021 season, we will shine the spotlight on a club each week and how they have coped through the pandemic and how they are preparing for the return of cricket. This week it’s the turn of Exhall & Wixford Cricket Club.

I’ve been involved with the club since 2016 when my son decided to have a go at Kwik Cricket. Fortunately, he really enjoyed the experience and caught the cricket “bug”. I was the assistant coach for the U11’s in 2018-2019, then became the Youth Development Officer bringing my passion and enthusiasm to helping juniors develop.

I also tend to be the person doing all the electronic scoring in the Play Cricket App at senior matches, including 1^st XI away matches, as well as club related IT work.

The cricket calendar said the 2020 season had finished but activity at the club continues at pace. We’ve had one or two formal Committee meetings every month via Zoom, which has been quite entertaining to see how people have coped with lockdown haircuts.

We’ve spent considerable time on Creating a Cricket Community, which is all about member retainment, generating a solid link between seniors and juniors, and supporting the club on home match days. The discussions exposed areas where we needed to improve, so considerable planning resulted, and actions have been implemented.

Having our 1^st XI win the Cotswold Hills Premier League, retaining the title won in 2019. We want to provide more opportunities for U15’s playing in senior cricket matches, helping them improve their cricket skills, and generating a strong passion for cricket that will keep them engaged as they get older. Retaining the strong numbers in the U11’s and U13’s, many of whom started at the club in either Kwik Cricket or All Stars.

The big focus for the 2021 season is Creating a Cricket Community. We are fortunate to have so many positive assets such as beautiful grounds in ideal condition, a fantastic clubhouse, well stocked bar sponsored by a local brewery, and high-quality practice nets with plenty of practice gear including Bola bowling machines, all tucked away in the countryside where people can escape the hectic pace of normal life.

What we’ve been missing is a strong link between Seniors and Juniors, getting non-playing members down to the club to watch matches, and a stronger bond with the village. We’ve identified a series of actions to be taken to address these, where we hope the result is a greater level of support for the club where people seek it out as a destination on the weekend.

Keeping members interested in cricket, that it is still fun even with Covid-19 adaptations, and that it can be done safely. Some members opted to play golf in 2020, either because it required less time than a 40 over match or because they felt it was safer from virus transmission. Some members were discouraged by the lack of teas at senior matches and frustrated by some of the Covid-19 adaptations, so they lost a bit of interest.

The other big challenge was revenue stream as the pandemic greatly affected our ability to generate profit through bar sales and BBQ’s. Fortunately, the club is in a strong financial position, but we are looking to get back to making a modest profit in 2021 so that we can fund new initiatives and improvements.

We are active with 5-7 primary schools in the area, attracting All Stars and Dynamos. We also field a village side called “The Dodgers” that play friendly matches on Thursday evenings. The Dodgers squad are mostly villagers, many in their golden years but with a passion for cricket. They play several matches against the club’s juniors, as well as other local village clubs. Many local residents turn up to watch the cricket.

We expect a number of current U11s and U13s staying with the game and playing senior cricket for the club. We expect our 1^st XI to have won a couple more Premier League titles, and the 2^nd XI to move up to Division 2. We want regular home crowds of 50+ members.

Getting people to embrace change and accept new ideas as the game is evolving. T20 and the Hundred are putting pressure on club members that believe in the traditional aspects of the game. Add to that distractions of social media and electronic gaming, and it makes retaining junior players difficult when the elders are resisting adaptations. Trying to strike the right balance is a challenge.

More of an observation than anything, but our 1^st XI are a tight-nit bunch on and off the field. There is no bickering amongst them as they are a very cohesive group, supporting each other when things don’t necessarily go their way.

This is such an easy question for us because our unsung hero is no doubt the club’s President John Canning, commonly known simply as JC. He has been involved with the club for over 40 years, obtaining his senior cap in 1978 and playing for 34 seasons. He has managed the juniors in the past, developing some top-quality players. More recently he has been the groundsman, tirelessly working every day during the season. It is quite common for JC to use a heavy roller on the wicket twice and even three times a day during the season to ensure perfect playing conditions. He has even been known to trailer his home riding mower to the grounds during the off season to give them a quick tidy up. His passion, enthusiasm, and efforts at the club are unmatched, always generating positive feedback from the opposition.