Fair Oak's cricketers have been given the go-ahead to play in the second tier of the Southern Premier League next summer - the highest level in which the club has ever competed.
By snatching the Division 2 runners-up spot in a dramatic finale to the past season, Oaks earned an improbable promotion, a remarkable achievement for a team that lost five of its opening six matches.
In total contrast to their woeful start, Fair Oak won their last seven games with a nail biting victory at New Milton on the final day of the season propelling them into second place by just 0.15 of a point after promotion rivals Langley Manor and Portsmouth & Southsea both lost.
Oaks will join runaway champions Hambledon in Division 1 next May and will rub shoulders with the likes of Havant, Hook & Newnham Basics, OTs & Romsey, Sarisbury Athletic and Ventnor on a totally new look fixture list.
Promotion has climaxed exciting times for Fair Oak, whose ground at Lapstone Park is under-going a total revamp, with a brand new square being laid in front of the 1998-built pavilion, which will become fully operational. 
Work has been underway for some time on the project which will see two cricket squares at the ground, alongside a two-lane net practice facility, and a new pitch-side pavilion for the second square, which Oaks first and second teams have been using.
The project has been funded by Eastleigh Borough Council, with the full support of Fair Oak Parish Council and endorsed by the ECB Facilities Team.

The Hampshire Cricket Society will welcome former Middlesex county cricketer Simon Hughes to its sell-out Annual Lunch at the Romsey Golf Club on Wednesday. 
Since he retired in 1993, he has become possibly even more well known in many other fields connected with the game: journalist for The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, and The Times, television punditry, which incorporated his famed role as The Analyst, examining various aspects of players’ techniques whilst test matches were in progress, editor of The Cricketer for seven years, and author of ten books – including the award winning A Lot of Hard Yakka and Yakking Around The World, both of which humorously and occasionally outrageously, described his and others’ experiences during and between seasons. 
In recent years, he has become a notable blogger with his incisive views on the contemporary game; in this field he has reinforced his great imagination and enthusiasm. 
Annie Chave, editor of County Cricket Matters, will be the guest speaker at Dorset's weekly gathering at the Hurn Bridge Social Club on Thursday, 1.45pm

Don't forget Tuesday night's cricket evening at Newclose on the Isle of Wight, when retiring Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove and journalist Ivo Tennant of the Times of London will be speaking about Hampshire Cricket’s amazing transformation over the past 25 years and Ivo’s book ‘Back From The Brink’ tells that story.
Much has happened since the book was published, and to bring you up to date 2024 has been a particularly eventful year for Hampshire Cricket. It was only three two months ago that the club ended a successful County Championship season as runners-up to Surrey. A young side has also just returned from Guyana after participating in the Global Super League.   It's a 7.15pm start and a few seats remain.

​A superb evening well supported by the Island's cricket folk.

​Hursley Park cricket has been saddened by the death of Bryan Loveridge, aged 85 years, a real stalwart on and off the field at The Quarters.
Bryan was in the twilight of his career when he joined from the  Bristol club Thornbury, but was an exceptionally good seam bowler playing in the club's Hampshire League championship winning sides. 
He bowled an economical spell of 2-24 against Welsh winners Marchwiel in the 1984 National Village Cup final at Lords.
"His ability as a bowler was exceptional as he knew what he was going to bowl, He must have been more than useful for Thornbury," reflected long-time clubmate and past captain Chris Westbrook.
"His experience was very useful to me as captain at the time and therefore he was a great asset to the team for his knowledge of the game too.  He also played for the Hampshire Seniors side into his fifties."
Post playing, Bryan continued to support the club as a past Chairman and a junior coach. He  worked tirelessly as part of the  volunteer Hursley Park crew,  willingly turning his hand to most tasks,  until three years ago when, into his eighties, failing health forced him to give up.
Bryan Loveridge also played rugby, finishing his career at that sport for Romsey RFC. 
"A sad loss as a good friend and to the club," Westbrook added.
The funeral is at the Test Valley Romsey Crematorium on Thursday 19 December 2024 at 12 noon and afterwards at the Romsey Golf Club.

​Hambledon, back in the second tier of Southern Premier League cricket after this past summer's Division 2 championship success, are planning for 2025 and have arranged pre-season friendlies against Calmore Sports and Sparsholt at Ridge Meadow on Saturdays 19 and 26 April. 

​Newly promoted Portsmouth have re-signed Mohammad Ashraful to head up next season's ECB Southern Premier Division challenge.
Following a stellar debut season in Portsmouth colours, the former Bangladesh Test captain racked up nearly 761 league runs, including 115 at Waterlooville  and six half-centuries.
Portsmouth took the Division 1 title by a seven-point margin from runners-up Sarisbury Athletic.
If your club has any 'winter news' (new signings, etc.) for this website, please email [email protected] 

​Seventeen year old Finn Gordon has celebrated a run strewn summer by being named ECB Southern Premier League and Dorset Young Cricketer of Year.
The talented left-hand opening batsman played a lead role in the Hampshire Academy's maiden Premier League championship triumph, scoring 651 runs, including four fifties and hitting 128  against Bashley (Rydal)(128) and later taking 105 off the St Cross Symondians bowling attack.
For good measure, his developing spin bowling was rewarded with 18 league wickets.
Gordon, whose elder brother Jacob scored over 600 runs for Bashley (Rydal), also made his mark for Dorset in the National Counties Championships - a top score of 123 against Wales NC at Ebbw Vale in August.
Finn's aggregate 302 runs in six knocks for Dorset took his season's tally to 1,439 in competitive cricket.  He hit three hundreds and nine half-centuries.
He also played regularly for Hampshire Second XI and in August was selected to play in the prestigious ECB Under-18 Elite Player Development regional tournament at Loughborough.

Former Hampshire pace bowler Richard Logan, now National Counties Operations Manager, is guest speaker at the Dorset Cricket Society at Hurn Bridge, Christchurch, on Thursday afternoon, 1.45pm.
He played professional cricket for 12 years and followed that with 4 years in Minor County Cricket with Berkshire and Cheshire. Aside from cricket, Richard has strong business acumen with a background in business development, sponsorship and event management. Those experiences have equipped him well to support the NCCA on their exciting journey, with an emphasis on creating a clear pathway between the National County system and the First Class game. 
If you are free on Thursday afternoon, pop along.  

Bashley (Rydal) and Dorset batsman Jacob Gordon has begun to hit his straps in New Zealand, with some positive knocks in club and provincial T20 cricket.
He scored 78 for his North Island club side MPC against SPC Real Lodge Estate before making handy contributions for Northern Districts A in New Zealand's provincial T20 tournament.
He twice cleared the boundary rope making 34 in the 90-run win over Central Districts and repeated the dose in scoring 42 against Wellington A, a match Northern Districts lost by five wickets.
Bashley teammates James Trodd, who missed a large chunk of this past SPL summer season nursing an elbow injury, is making up for lost time by pending the winter with Berwick, who play in the Dandedong CA Turf League.
Trodd, who has teamed up with Calmore Sports' 199run gun Michael Wallace at Berwick, made a real impact in Berwick's first win, taking 5-41 and later hitting the winning runs as his side snatched a dramatic one-wicket win over Beaconsfield.
Joe Vaughan, the OTs & Romsey spin all-rounder, shone for Bentleigh, who came within a wicket of an outright win over South Bayside League rivals Carnegie.  He made 39 of Bentleigh's 316-7 (they were 115-5 at one point). Vaughan then took six wickets - three in each innings - as Carnegie were dismissed for 105 before hanging on at 119-9 as they followed on. 
An untimely bout of appendicitis delayed the start of the Aussie season for South Wilts and Cadnam raised Luke Evans - but he's back firing again for St Patrick's in the Albury-based competition on the New South Wales/Victoria state border.
He took three Wodonga Rangers wickets before scoring 41* to haul St Patrick's out of desperate trouble at 58-7 and to 138 all out , alas 47 runs behind.  He shone again in cool 37 cel heat, as St Patrick's bounced back from their first defeat by taking 4-30 and later hitting two match winning sixes in the four-wicket win over New City. Evans made 19*.
Across in South Africa, Hambledon's Chris Pratt was homing in on a third successive half-century when Western Province cruised past Durbanville's 91 all out.  Pratt was 36*.

​Fraser Stewart, Head of Cricket at Lord's, is the Dorset Cricket Society's  guest speaker at the Hurn Bridge Sports Club/Christchurch FC on Thursday, 1.45pm.
Fraser, who played his embryo cricket for Compton House and later Sherborne and Dorset, has  a number of roles at Lord's including overseeing the indoor cricket school, MCC’s playing programme, The Laws of Cricket and the MCC World Cricket Committee. In his spare time he is general manager of London Spirit in The Hundred. 
If you fancy an afternoon away from the wet autumn blues, why not pop along ? Tomorrow's session will end with tea/coffee and biscuits at 3.30pm. 

​The Isle of Wight's cricket ground at Newclose has once again missed out on being chosen as a venue for one of Hampshire's Metro Bank One Day Cup matches.
Island cricket enthusiasts were hoping that, after the success of hosting Nottinghamshire in the County Championship in 2019 and the subsequent Metro Bank ties against Kent and Northants, Newclose might get another chance to host a Hampshire match next year.
But despite attracting excellent crowds for the three county matches, Newclose has not been chosen for a county match in 2025, with all Championship and 'white ball' matches being staged at the Utilita Bowl at West End.
There have been a number of recent changes in the way Newclose is being operated to ensure its long-term sustainability and the venue is no longer able to guarantee pitch quality for professional matches. Unfortunately, this means Hampshire Cricket will not be hosting a match on the Isle of Wight in 2025.
Reflecting on the announcement, senior Newclose official Hugh Griffiths said: "The Newclose members, groundstaff, volunteers, sponsors and supporters are disappointed that our ground will not be hosting a Hampshire match in 2025.
​"We take great satisfaction from having been part of the team that enabled Newclose to host Hampshire county games in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
                                                                                     Newclose view
"Everyone recognises the need to continue to maintain the playing area to support recreational and community cricket, and in particular Newport CC and the Isle of Wight Cricket Board who between them play about 70 days of cricket here each season.
"With the ground’s long-term sustainability in mind, the Newclose trustees will be prioritising the development of a profitable hospitality business via effective marketing of the pavilion and the marquee. "We’ve recently invested in the refurbishment of the pavilion bar and restaurant to support our message that we are ‘More Than Just Cricket’  https://www.newclose.org/
"Like most sporting venues the money made on non-match days is essential to help fund the business and the ground as a whole.
"Everyone at Newclose takes immense satisfaction from having successfully staged six days of Hampshire cricket since the county returned to play on the Island in 2019 after a gap of 57 years. We’ve enjoyed six full days of cricket in near-perfect summer weather with thousands of spectators seeing Hampshire emerge victorious on each visit. If our objective of long-term sustainability is achieved there remains a possibility of county cricket returning in the not too distant future."

South Wilts spin all-rounder Jack Mynott played key roles with bat and ball as his adopted Western Australian Grade club Fremantle scored a 91-run win over Midland Guildford to lift them to fifth place in the WACA log.
Batting at six, Mynott hit 68 (two sixes and five fours) and shared a century sixth-wicket stand with Dan Kennedy after Fremantle had lost their way (and five poles) after a promising start.  They went on to make 301-9 by stumps on day one of the two-day 1st Grade match.
​Mynott, in tandem with Sarisbury Athletic's Kaiden Cookson, later took two wickets to thwart any middle-order comeback by Midland-Guildford, who were eventually dismissed for 210.  Mynott finished with 2-48 off 17 overs, four of which were maidens.

​Havant raised Andy Gorvin has signed a new two-year deal with Glamorgan after his breakthrough 2024 county season when he took 24 first class wickets and also shone in the Metro Bank One Day Cup triumph, taking 19 wickets. The 27-year old won the Most Improved Player of the Season award.
Gorvin attended Portsmouth Grammar School and was part of the team that shocked Sedbergh (England's Harry Brook included) in the 2015 School Sports Magazine U17 natonal cup final. He spent seven seasons with Havant and the Hampshire academy before relocating to attend Cardiff University. He played a lead role in St Fagans winning the ECB South Wales Premier League title in 2019 and 2021. 
He made his List A debut on 25 July 2021, for Glamorgan in the 2021 Royal London One-Day Cup. He made his first-class debut on 5 May 2022, for Glamorgan in the 2022 County Championship.
Last September he produced career-best figures of 8-31 in a County Second XI Championship match at Newport ... against Hampshire ! 

​This is your invitation to join us at Newclose on Tuesday 10th December for an evening with Rod Bransgrove and Ivo Tennant. The two of them will be speaking about Hampshire Cricket’s amazing transformation over the past 25 years and Ivo’s book ‘Back From The Brink’ tells that story.
For the very reasonable price of £27 you can enjoy a hot buffet meal, and receive a complimentary copy of the book as well as an unframed Limited Edition Print of Cricket at Newclose signed the artist Jocelyn Galsworthy.
Much has happened since the book was published, and to bring you up to date 2024 has been a particularly eventful year for Hampshire Cricket. It was only two months ago that the club ended a successful County Championship season as runners-up to Surrey.
At about the same time an article by Ivo published in ‘The Times’ revealed:  ‘Rod Bransgrove, the club’s benefactor who owns more than 60 per cent of the shares in Hampshire Sport & Leisure Holdings, has been courting investors for the past two years but has now agreed terms with the Delhi-based GMR Group. 
"Hampshire will become the first county cricket club to be owned by overseas investors after a takeover deal struck with the owners of the IPL franchise Delhi Capitals. …the deal  is worth just under £120million and includes £63million of debt. The assets include the Rose Bowl ground, which will continue to be called the Utilita Bowl, the Hampshire men’s and women’s cricket teams, a hotel and a golf course. Southern Brave will also be included if and when the ECB completes its planned transfer of ownership of the Hundred franchises."
Followers of cricket on either side of the Solent will be asking - ‘What’s in store for the time between now and the Rose Bowl hosting an Ashes Test match in 2027, and how will the Hampshire/Bransgrove/Delhi Capitals deal affect domestic cricket and the other 17 First-Class Counties? For English cricket could this be a Kerry Packer moment?’
The way to find out is to make your booking now by emailing Hugh Griffiths  [email protected] or telephoning his mobile: 07768 552682.

Hampshire Seniors' left-arm bowler Nic Gargaro has flown to Australia with the England Over-60s team which is defending the 'Grey Ashes' in a series of five One-Day Internationals being played at various venues over the next four weeks.
England play a total of 13 matches in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, eager to repeat their past 'Ashes' successes in 2019 and again in 2023.
The two old foes have met 35 times in Over 60s cricket with England winning on 23 occasions, Australia ten, with one draw and one tie. 
Gargaro, who played Southern Premier League cricket for New Milton, previously toured South Africa and played for England seniors against Pakistan this summer.  
Opening the bowling, he took a wicket in England's friendly victory over Queensland City.
* England lost the opening ODI against Australia by eight wickets at the Bradman Oval in Bowral, Gargaro bowling a tidy but wicketless nine-over spell and conceding only 20 runs. 

The ECB Southern Premier League is increasing the points penalties where bans or suspended bans are imposed on offending clubs to take effect from the start of the 2025 cricket season.
A Level 1 offence will now attract a 4 point penalty (increased from one point) with 6 points (currently 2 points) being deducted for a Level 2 offence.
Level 3 and 4 offences will be decided upon by the disciplinary panel, but most likely no lower than 8 or 10 points deduction, respectively. 
League points deductions may, at the League's sole discretion, be applied immediately or at the start of the following League season.
The Premier League handled 15 disciplinary cases this past season, including two Level 4 incidents. 

Next season's ECB Southern Premier League line-up has been confirmed, with Portsmouth back in the top tier for the first time since 2007.
They out-pointed Sarisbury Athletic to win Division 1 this summer and will replace local rivals Havant the top table of local recreational cricket.
It will the first time in 55 seasons Havant have been absent from the top tier of Southern League cricket - their dwindling player numbers worsening with batter/wicketkeeping talent Ben Feeney moving to the Midlands and teenage left-hander Charlie Whitfield joining Waterlooville.
Havant's relegated second team will play Hampshire League Division 2 cricket next summer, the side dropping down two divisions due to a potential lack of strength.
Havant will face 2024 SPL2 champions Hambledon, Sarisbury Athletic and Waterlooville in all 50-over 'white ball' matches next season.
Four fresh faces will compete in Division 2, with relegated pair Andover and Calmore Sports facing inter alia promoted due Fawley and Trojans.
Hampshire League winners Odiham & Greywell are set to make their Division 3 bow.
Next season's Southern Premier League line-up -
ECB Premier Division (mixed format)
Alton, Basingstoke & North Hants, Bashley (Rydal), Bournemouth, Burridge, Hampshire Academy, Lymington, * Portsmouth, South Wilts, St Cross Symondians.
Division 1 (50 overs)
*Fair Oak, * Hambledon, + Havant, Hook & Newnham Basics, Old Tauntonians & Romsey, Rowledge, Sarisbury Athletic, Totton & Eling, Ventnor, Waterlooville.
Division 2 (50 overs)
+ Andover, + Calmore Sports, * Fawley, Hartley Wintney, Langley Manor, Liphook & Ripsley, New Milton, Portsmouth & Southsea, Sway, * Trojans.
Division 3 (50 overs)
* Alton II, Fareham & Crofton, + Gosport Borough, Hook & Newnham Basics II, Hursley Park, * Odiham & Greywell, Parley, Paultons, Sparsholt, + St Cross Symondians II.

Peter Mason is the guest at this Thursday's Dorset Cricket Society meeting (Hurn Bridge, 1.45pm) to talk about his essential biography of Sir Clyde Walcott, a West Indies cricketing great, exploring his achievements as a player, manager and political activist.
His ground-breaking biography of Sir Clyde Walcott explores the extraordinary life and achievements of a man who was both an important activist and one of the greatest cricketers of all time.  In the 1950s Walcott was part of the legendary ‘three Ws’ batting triumvirate with Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell that helped give West Indies cricket a new identity distinct from its colonial past. 
After test cricket he became a prominent administrator and advocate of Black consciousness, managing the great West Indies teams that dominated the sport in the 1980s. A vocal supporter of using cricket to apply pressure to the South African apartheid regime, in 1992 he became chairman of the International Cricket Council – the first Black man in that influential role.
Shining a light on Walcott’s largely ignored part in effecting change through the vehicle of cricket, Mason's book also shows how he contributed to dramatic social transformation in Guyana as cricket and social organiser for the country’s sugar estates from 1954 to 1970, bringing about improvements in the living conditions and self-esteem of plantation workers while promoting the emergence of several world-class cricketers from a previously neglected corner of the Caribbean.

​Calmore Sports, backed by near neighbours Old Tauntonians & Romsey, are asking Tuesday evening's Southern Premier League AGM "to remove the need for captains’ pitch and outfield marks across all divisions, leaving the umpires to be the sole contributors for the pitch and outfield marks."
The justification is to stop the disparity between the average from captains (tends to be lower) and the average from the umpires who are the one's on the field for the duration of a game.
The Premier League Management Committee is ​not supporting the proposal.

Calmore Sports' proposal was lost by 22 votes to 15.

Management Report 2024 : 2024 Season Review 

Poor weather conditions during the first few months of 2024 made the ever so vital pitch preparation sporadic and extremely tricky. This led to the SPCL Management Committee reaching out to member clubs to gauge their thoughts as to whether they would be able to prepare an SPCL quality pitch for the start of the season or whether it would be best to reschedule week 1. The responses were mixed and didn’t provide the level of consensus required and therefore week 1 began on Saturday 4th May 2024. 6 out of 20 matches ended up being cancelled on week 1.It should never not be said that we owe a great deal to those that attend to our pitches and grounds, so many thanks and congratulations to the groundsmen and support staff for their hard graft.

​
Awards

Ground of the year: Norman Edwards Ground, Sparsholt 
Most improved ground: Allotment Road, Sarisbury Athletic
Premier Division: Hampshire Academy
Time Pennant: Bashley (Rydal) 
50 Over Pennant: Hampshire Academy
Division One: Portsmouth 
Division Two: Hambledon 
Division Three: Trojans 
Unfortunately, the 2024 T20 Final was rained off and will be rescheduled for early 2025 season.  A landmark record was set during the season with Tom Morton (Sarisbury Athletic) reaching an SPCL career 10,000 runs and he was recognised with a special award at the recent dinner.

The Disciplinary team had to handle 15 incidents, which include two LEVEL 4 incidents. This as an disappointing increase from 2023 and the League are looking to toughen player discipline and as such are proposing increasing the point deductions levy.
In October, we welcomed around 200 players, officials and guests to The Novotel in Southampton for our annual presentation awards dinner with guest speaker Paul Nixon. Whilst giving us the opportunity to present awards to the best batters, bowlers and fielders, we were pleased to present the 2024 “Unsung Hero” TONY BAKER AWARD to Caroline Palmer of Bournemouth CC.

Ground, facilities & Youth – League Accreditation 

As I made you aware earlier this year, Chris Westbrook retired, and Martin Livermore decided it was time to stand down. This has left the committee, and League, short of two large roles and to date, Martin’s position of Chair of Accreditation remains vacant. Please, if you are interested in the role, then please do speak with either Steve, Darren or me at any point. 
In the absence of a chair of accreditation, I drew up the report with the help of Stephen G Jones and presented it to the Management Committee where it was unanimously adopted.
Congratulations to both Sparsholt , who are awarded the George Winkles Memorial Award ground of the year, and to Sarisbury Athletic, who are awarded the Paul Thompson Memorial Trophy for the most improved ground.
The report itself is provided separately as part of the AGM paperwork, but we would like to highlight the following –

• 1st Pitch warnings are given to: Bournemouth & Gosport Borough 
• 2nd Pitch warnings are given to: Burridge, Lymington, South Wilts, St Cross Symondians & New Milton 
• 3rd and final pitch warning given to: Langley Manor 
  
• 1st Outfield warning given to: Lymington 
  
• 1st Pitch warning rescinded for: Alton, Calmore Sports, Waterlooville and Portsmouth & Southsea
• Final pitch warning rescinded for: Old Tauntonians & Romsey (2nd warning retained)

It must also be noted that clubs were issued their pitch, and outfield marks after each home match which we hope helped to monitor progress.

Promotions and Relegations 

In accepting the recommendations contained within the Accreditation Report, the Management Committee confirm the following promotions and relegations that, subject to your adoption of this report, will take effect for the 2025 season.

• Portsmouth are promoted into the Premier Division with Havant being relegated to Division 1.
• Hambledon & Fair Oak being promoted into Division 1 with Andover and Calmore Sports 

relegated to Division 2;

• Trojans & Fawley being promoted into Division 2;
  
• St Cross Symondians 2nd XI; and Gosport Borough relegated to Division 3.
• Havant 2nd XI and South Wilts 2nd XI are demoted into Hampshire League Division 1.

We welcome for the first time Odiham & Greywell and welcome back Alton 2nd XI into Division 3 having secured promotion as Hampshire League runners-up.

Acknowledgments 

On behalf of the management committee, we would like to thank all those who give up their time to ensure 440 players can compete every week for 4 months of the English “summer”.
Particular thanks must go to Stephen G Jones who thoroughly checks results on a weekly basis, monitors ground marks and provides all the stats come the end of the season. Without his Southern Premier Cricket League | W: www.southernpremierleague.com dedication, the League would not operate as smoothly as it does. Please, do try to get those results in accurately and on time so we don’t burn him out!
We’d like to acknowledge the South Coast Panel of Cricketing Officials for their dedication of standing for 100 or even 120 overs each week. They do put up with some disgruntled players, so hopefully these proposed increased penalties are voted in and give them some extra much needed support.

Closing Note from Chairman 

As always, I would like to thank our General Secretary for all his hard work in putting this report together. At the same time, I owe every single member of the Management Committee a debt of gratitude for the enormous amount of work that they do on your behalf which continues to make me proud to lead an organization such as this. This year, for reasons that I do not wish to revisit, a number of us have been put under immense and unfair personal stress as a direct consequence of carrying out our responsibilities as officers of the league. I am pleased to report that the issues have been resolved but it is worth reminding everyone involved in the SPCL that there is not a queue of people waiting to take on our roles. We will continue to support you, accept challenge and respond to your questions, but if lines are crossed volunteers can easily walk away.
On a more positive yet sombre note I want to acknowledge the huge amount of work that our outgoing President Jeff Levick has put into cricket around Hampshire over the years and, in particular, for agreeing to serve as our president when I took on the chair several years ago. There are not many people in our league, especially those in the Winchester area who don’t know Jeff and indeed what he has done for so many people in our league through the years.I am delighted to report that the Management Committee have asked Vice President Adrian Poole, one of our previous Treasurers to succeed Jeff and that he has accepted this honour. We are therefore delighted to include his name on the nomination papers for your ratification. 
This year has presented a number of life challenges to members of the management committee and as such we have not been able to move forward as quickly as we would have liked with some of our strategic issues, one of them being the guidance on the payment of players. This working group will be picked up once again during the winter months.
At the end of the season, we fulfilled our commitment to you by carrying out our now biannual players survey. I am sorry to report that the response rate, despite multiple deadline extensions was extremely poor with only 4 teams submitted more than 7 responses and 13 teams not responding at all. The player voice is really important to us, but on the basis of such a low response rate we have not tabled any player driven suggestions at this years AGM. We plan to release another survey at the end of the 2026 season.
Congratulations to all of the clubs and individuals that won an award this year – any achievement made within a league with such high standards as ours deserves much recognition indeed.

Promising Bournemouth left-hander Ben Rogers celebrated his 20th birthday in style with his highest score yet on Australian soil - and his immediate family didn't miss a single run of his knock, even though they were over 10,000 miles away in Totton!
There was barely room to swing the proverbial cat around in Tim Rogers' living room from midnight onwards as play began in the Victorian Southern Bayside competition with Ben's East Keilor playing Gellibrand, the match streamed globally.
"I didn't realise how many cricketing friends and relations we had. The front door bell kept chiming and come 2 o'clock in the morning, I was having to get the pizza man to call," Tim said.
Over 10,000 miles away, the  Bournemouth birthday boy didn't disappoint, scoring a best yet 71 as East Keilor, skittled for 50 a week earlier, racked up 219-9, Rogers hitting ten fours in the process.
His reward ?  An ice cream cake baked by the East Keilor tea ladies.  
Rogers, who featured in a century opening stand, will be behind the stumps when play resumes at midnight GMT. 

Fair Oak pair Lewis Goodyear, left, and Ben Smith shone with the ball in their respective debut matches for adopted Australian sub-district cricket clubs.
Both players were members of the triumphant Fair Oak side, which beat New Milton to snatch a Southern Premier League Division 2 promotion place in  dramatic finale to the summer season.
Teenage left-arm spinner Goodyear returned a career-best 7-81 after a lengthy 20-over stint in a Queensland Premier League fourth grade match for Toombul against Gold Coast.
But Toombul, who conceded 276-9, face a tough task when their two day match resumes on Saturday. They closed 36-2 at stumps.
Ben Smith, Oak's player of the 2024 season, removed three of Beaumaris's top four batsmen before finishing with 4-28 - Middle Park going on to win by 58 runs to record their first win in Victoria's Southern Bayside Division 2.

Hampshire and Dorset Cricket Society members are eagerly awaiting a double helping of top class cricket talk and chat this week with former Glamorgan & England batsman and recent county coach speaking at the HCS at the Romsey Golf Club on Wednesday afternoon, 2pm.
The following afternoon (Thursday 14 November) former Gloucestershire county captain and chairman of England Test selectors David Graveney is the guest speaker at the Dorset Society meet at Hurn Bridge, Christchurch at 1.45pm.    There is a nominal entry fee and lunches are available.