Dear All,
A big thank you to everyone who came to the Open Day and for your being so generous with the food and drink. As the coach (and regular driver-of-many), it was a rare pleasure to see so many spectators throughout a day of matches - that alone was very nice, let alone the scones, buns, nibbles and drinks, the places to sit, and the shelters. We were very lucky with the weather: had the day been 12 hours earlier or later, it would have been wet!
While Zurich Crickets were not successful in either of our matches, we did play well against older opposition. Our opening batsmen in both games (Nic and Ziad, Abheek and Sohail) were very resilient and Chris Langford, U13, played the fast U17 bowling of Gingins especially well - using the bowlers' energy to direct the ball to point and to behind square leg beautifully. We showed lots of promise for the year from the new U15s' bowling, and were grateful for Luke, Hamish and Chris playing up an age group.
Competitions
The longest throw of the day was by 17 year old George from Cossonay (89m!), but the prize went to James Boakes with 71m. A special award for consistency was made to Justin, a guest, who threw 4 times within a metre of each throw (49m and 50m). This had not been a planned award, but was an interesting thing to find!
The longest hit of the day was 67m by Sohail Zulfiqar (who also matched James's 71m throw.)
When asked if you would throw or hit the ball further, all those who had not competed thought hitting would be further (as had I). All those who had knew that the hitting was more difficult, and throwing went further. This was hitting from the spot, without the energy of the ball coming on to the bat.
In the catching, the highest catch was taken by Luke Specogna, but an additional award was made to Dayn Pariaug for being only a couple of metres lower and competing through the pain of many high catches.
So, many thanks again. We thought that the day had been a big success.
Best regards
John