Summer Sports - Cricket
The Hanley Castle CC volunteer crew l-r: Grant Mathews, Dave Albert, Josh Lewis, Chris Duckworth, Todd Mathews, Will Chambers, Rupert Chambers and Gary Lewis
remarkable is his love of the work at such a young age. How refreshing it would be if the media picked up on stories like these rather than the scaremongering dross they pump out almost daily about “today’s youth”. Todd is clearly part of a caring and encouraging family, and even the cricket club has a ‘family feel’. “The first team includes me, my dad and my two brothers, Rory and Barton. The chairman, Phil Price, and his son Ollie have both played in the first XI, whilst the captain, Chris Duckworth, plays alongside his cousin Will Chambers, and his uncle Rupert Chambers is the club treasurer.” “The second XI also has a family theme,” explains Todd, “with the captain, Gary Lewis, playing alongside his son and nephew, with other fathers
and sons making up the team. We also have a Sunday friendly XI, which is captained by Nick Bentley, and this team is full of fathers and sons which helps to bed in the younger colts, allowing them to get some men’s cricket experience. Due to the small scale of the club - only having forty members - we have a very close relationship; all members get on well together as well as dedicating a lot of time to the club on a voluntary basis. Without them, the club would not be able to run.” Todd goes on to explain that the club runs a ground rota scheme whereby members have to do small, individual jobs, with each work party supervised by the assistant groundsmen - Todd and his father - who run their own sub team as well as organising the other parties’ work. The whole ground rota is
supervised and managed by Dave Albert, the club’s old Head Groundsman, but who now has a more ‘hands-off ’ role. Some volunteers, with limited
experience and knowledge, stick to the simple task of cleaning changing rooms etc., whilst the main work on the square is usually done by our four main groundsmen. Other work parties are led by Phil Price and Rupert Chambers. Additional advice is offered by Roy McClaren, former head groundsman at Worcestershire County Cricket Club, who pays regular visits as part of the quality control inspection programme instigated by the Worcester Cricket League. “We have been advised in the past to work on levelling the square and improving the soil profile,” explains Todd, “but we are only allocated a small budget by the treasurer and chairman. It’s probably in OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013 PC 83
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