Hi everyone, welcome to the beginning of the WSG cricket season. The sun has been shining for the last few days and, by the barest of margins, it is beginning to feel like summer is on the way. I wouldn’t like to give the impression that we are we are all cricket obsessed but there is a feasance of excitement amongst the coaches about the season ahead.

Our objective as a club is to have fun whilst playing cricket. We want to ensure we are inclusive and that everyone is getting an opportunity to improve in a safe environment. Please speak to the lead coaches with any feedback you may have so we can ensure we achieve our aims.

In order to get on the front foot, so to speak, we have some admin points:

Dates: Friday practices will run from 22nd April to 15th July with two weeks off for half term in May.

Times:

Age Group	Start	Finish	Venue
Years 1 & 2	4:45	5:30pm	Shamley Green
Years 3 & 4	5:45	7:00pm	Shamley Green
Years 5 & 6	5:30	7:00pm	Wonersh
Years 7 - 9	6:15	7:45pm	Wonersh

Please arrive a few minutes early to have time to sign in and to enable the sessions to start promptly.

Parking: Please park with consideration for others. This is especially important at Shamley Green as parking is limited. Please do not obstruct the footpath on Hullmead as this is used for wheelchair access.

WhatsApp: Please ensure you are on the WhatsApp group for your coaching group as this is how urgent messages, such as changes due to inclement weather, are communicated. Speak to your age group lead coach about this if you are not already in the group.

Kit: All players should wear comfortable clothing for participating in sport – no need for whites. All kit will be provided for the younger age groups at Shamley Green. For those participating in hard ball cricket at Wonersh please bring your hard ball kit to training. If you have any questions about what you need feel free to get in touch with your groups lead coach.

Weather: Cricket is weather dependant and as I am optimistic that we will have a long hot sunny summer please ensure that players have applied sun cream and wear hats as appropriate. Please also ensure they bring a water bottle.

Matches: These will generally be on Sunday mornings and the teams will be coordinated by your age group lead coach. The details of all matches should be in Pitchero (please ask if you are not acquainted with this app)

Availability: please take the time to go onto Pitchero and update your availability for matches (if your age group has them) and training. We realise things change so please try and keep this update to date as it will be used to select teams.

Friday evenings: We all love having parents and siblings down at cricket on Friday evenings but would ask that whilst enjoying each others company (a treat we haven’t had for a while) please be aware of the dangers of flying cricket balls and the close proximity of the roads. This is especially important at Shamley Green

Volunteers: We are always looking for volunteers to help with all aspects of providing cricket from scoring to helping to coach. We are keen to train people up as coaches so if you are interested in this please let you age group lead coach know. You do not need any previous cricket experience.

Just to wet the appetite for the cricket ahead we thought it would be good to share some of the highlights from England’s world cup final over the winter:

https://www.ecb.co.uk/video/2560511/highlights-sciver-century-cant-prevent-england-from-defeat-in-cwc22-final?tagNames=Content-Feed,England,Women

Go well

Paul and Jono