We’ve had an extraordinary range of issues to deal with over the season, everything from the fire that destroyed the junior equipment store, decisions over the clubhouse, the disciplinary action and most recently the Travellers incursion - as well of course as sustaining a full junior cricket programme and two strong pushes for promotion!
It’s been quite a summer!

On the pitch…
It was a real disappointment to see the 1st XI fall at the final hurdle but congratulations to everyone involved with the 2nd XI who sealed promotion by just one point.
The 1st XI suffered heartbreak on the final day, missing out on promotion as they lost by four wickets to Ripley. Despite Wandgas’ defeat against Thames Ditton, we remained third in the table, missing out on promotion by the finest of margins tying on points with Wandgas.

The 2nd XI sealed promotion in the most nervous of manners, losing to Teddington Town but earning enough bonus points to ensure we remained in the top two spots in the table. Despite losing by 59 runs, the five bonus points were enough to see us promoted from the 2nd XI Division Three, one point ahead of third placed Morden. We look forward to life in the second division next year. It was particularly pleasing to see how many former juniors were playing in the 2nd team over the season, five on Saturday, and in the 1st team as well.

It’s been another enjoyable year for the Sunday 1st XI with its emphasis on enjoyment and making sure everyone got a game. We won around half the fixtures and had stand-out performances from two new junior players this year (Lawrence and Harry) as well as Hugh who scored a ton and four fifties. Thanks to Mike for his leadership of the side and well done to everyone involved. We look forward to 2019.

Thanks to everyone who has played for all sides. Bearing in mind our situation overall and operating out of temporary accommodation we have performed extremely creditably. A huge thanks to Pam and the bar team who provided the high quality teas that we’ve all enjoyed!

A comment on playing strength…
Through the season we have had added a number of new players and as mentioned seen a number of current and past juniors play with great effect over the season. Each week however, particularly through peak holiday season, it has been a challenge to turn out three sides, but we achieved that! My particular thanks to Uncle who has organised our Sri Lanka contingent really well this season. That group has become a very important part of the club overall. That said we are always on the lookout for new players and if you have those contacts please get them warmed up for nets in the New Year!

Clubhouse
The debate on the rebuild continues, along with much frustration from all parties involved. The CRGT continues to believe the community is best served with an enhanced pavilion and has been particularly successful in raising funds to make this financially feasible. There are however still questions that need to be answered about the lease and who bears the financial risks of a rebuild. However we hope they are nearly there as it’s in everyone’s best
interests to get it resolved as soon as possible.

Longer term view…
As well as making progress on the clubhouse, we hope to use the winter to try and assess some of the elements of how we run as a club. We need to start thinking about our longer term aims and strategy ...what we are… what we want to be...and how we might get there. If you have any comments about the way your club runs, do let us know, as we are intending to spend some of the next committee meeting on this and working out what we can try and achieve in the future. It’s an important piece of work for the Autumn.

Awards evening
Please note that the date for the end of season awards and dinner has been changed to Friday 5th October. Craig is organising this and please let him know ASAP if you are able to attend. We’ll confirm venue when know numbers. We look forward to that! We had our Junior Awards last Sunday, when over a hundred came down for a BBQ and enjoyed the Dads v Lads game as well!

We hope everything goes well for everyone over the next few months...and very soon we’ll be talking about nets for next year! Enjoy the winter…!

Russ and Nigel