President's Message
It seems to me that we live in
extraordinary times. As far as cricket is concerned, during the last
winter the western world seemed to have been controlled by the Texan $
whilst the eastern world seemed to be controlled by the Rupee. I wonder to
what extent cricket in the long term will benefit from all the money. In
recent days the Texan $ element has gone walkabout. Will the Rupee go the
same way soon? Maybe only then we can get back to cricketers’ names being
on the sports page of our newspapers instead of the names of the “sugar
daddies”.
Rumour
has it that our groundsman, Sam Cook, will not be able to spend as much
time on the square and outfield as in previous seasons. Is he off the
Antigua or just Cardiff? In
Antigua the experts build a Test ground but could not lay a suitable
outfield on which to play a Test Match. In Cardiff the experts build a
Test ground but …. Surely not! The Chairman sounds confident it will be
ready in time for the Test Match so that is OK then. Sam must have been a
batsman in his former life judging from how true the wicket has played in
recent years. The current bowlers hope that his successor was at least an
all rounder. Thanks for all your hard work and good luck for the future
Sam.
This season The President’s Lunch has
been moved from early June to 9th August. There are two reasons
for this. Firstly, it gives those on holiday in early June each year no
excuse this summer and secondly the long range weather forecast is poor in
early June 2009 but expects a perfect summer’s day on 9th
August. We have been very lucky with the weather for the past three years
so let’s hope this year will be no different.
I understand that last year the Annual
Dinner, President’s Lunch and the Lady Members Supper were almost “sell
outs” whereas the Golf Day struggled to fill all the Tee times and the End
of Season Ball had to be cancelled through lack of support. This is
disappointing and does not auger well for the future. For the Club to
remain successful it needs a strong “sub 40’s” element off the field as
well as on it. I am sure the committee are giving appropriate thought to
correcting this temporary problem. We must all remember that you have to
put in, in order to take out.
Elsewhere in his publication reference
is made to the death of Vic Vaughan but I cannot let this moment pass
without adding my tribute to him. Week in week out, almost without
exception, he would be seen on a Saturday walking around the boundary
sometime during a match. He always had a quiet, encouraging word for the
players never criticising and never interfering. Understandably I always
felt better after a short chat with Vic. I will miss his smile and kind
words this summer.
May I finish by wishing good luck to the
newly elected and re-elected captains and coaches. I hope you all have a
most enjoyable season.
Richard Smart
President