Avoncroft Cricket Club

Wet winter leaves Croft with a preseason headache by Paul Athey

Heavy and persistent rain has left parts of the outfield completely underwater and led to flooding in the garage resulting in damage to ground equipment. By this point in the year, it is usual for work to have already started on preparing the wickets but soggy conditions are making it impossible to get any equipment onto the cricket square.

Fingers are firmly crossed that spring brings with it an upturn in weather fortunes to reduce the risk of the start of the season being delayed.

Preparations for the 2020 season continue off the ground as well, with the club’s AGM that took place at the end of February where decisions around the appointment of club officers and officials were made. It is anticipated that new captains will be appointed for both the Saturday First XI and the club’s Sunday XI after recent captains Jon Hunter and Dan Elliott decided to stand down.

The AGM will also discuss the continued success of the club’s junior section, which has blossomed to more than 100 members in 2019, as well as receiving a healthy set of club accounts, boosted by recent successes in generating grant income from Bromsgrove District Council and the Worcestershire Cricket Board.

Plans are currently being drawn up around how this income can be used to develop the club’s ageing practice facilities.

Avoncroft CC has also recently received some press interest in relation to dog walking across their grounds. The club have been grateful for the continued support from dog walkers, both in terms of keeping dogs on public footpaths and off the private areas of the ground and also for their vigilance in reporting details of a break-in at the club in 2019, enabling the club to take swift action to ensure the security of the site.

There have however been isolated incidents of dogs damaging the playing area and of dog mess not being cleared up; a concern given the number of children using the facilities. Club officials have reiterated the importance of keeping dogs to public footpaths in order to protect the playing facilities for everyone in the community to use.

To find out more about junior cricket, or to keep up to date with all your Croft news, please check out the club’s website at: www.avoncroftcc.co.uk A fter the wettest winter in recent memory, Avoncroft Cricket Club face a race against time to get their ground prepared for the start of the season less than two months away.