Sonning
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Sonning
CRICKET CLUB
S
onning
CC
has
been
enjoying a fine campaign
in 2015, achieving good
results on the field and continuing to
play an important role in their local
community. We caught up with their
Chairman James Travers to find out
more about the good work that they’ve
been doing lately.
Involvement
He told us, “With a short break
in the late 90’s I have been a member
since 1979. I had recently moved to
the Reading area from Somerset and
was introduced to the club by a friend
of a friend. At the time the club ran 4
Saturday teams (currently 3). My first
game I opened for the 2nd XI and made
a very patient 2!
I was immediately impressed at how
sociable the club was with typically
all four teams joining each other at the
clubhouse bar after their games. In July
I went on the first of many club cricket
tours to the South West where typically
a squad of no more than 14 players
played five fixtures having played both
days the weekend before the tour and
both days the weekend after. Many of
the friendships I made that week endure
today.”
52 Issue 42
The Role
“The biggest challenge with me is
that it can be a bit of a juggling act making
keeping all the balls in the air difficult!
Sonning CC is a busy village club run by
volunteers with three Saturday teams
in the Thames Valley League and two
Sunday teams plus a Colts section with
130 youngsters split into five age groups
from Under 9 to Under 15. The greatest
challenge is attracting enough players,
parents of colts to get involved and
share the burden.
A particularly rewarding experience
occurred last August when more than
500 (mainly village people) came to
watch the match between the President’s
XI, which included Phil Tufnell and
the club. This was a club effort which
included a beer marquee, champagne
bar, ox roast and bench seating around
almost half the boundary. The weather
held fare and the club won the match
with a six off the last ball! A great day
had by all and valuable funds raised for
the club.”
Community
“We are a community club, the
club’s ground is situated in the centre
of the village and we have an active list
of vice presidents who often come up to
the ground to support the club. Within
a three mile radius of the club there are
roughly 25 adult members and over 100
junior members.
The mood in the club has been better
in years gone by to be honest but it is
certainly an improvement from this time
last year. Our 1s and 2s were relegated
but are now playing in divisions where
the standard more accurately reflects
our current playing strength.”
2015
“On the playing side the club has
started very well. We are already a
third of the way through the season and
the 1s and 3s are both second in their
respective divisions, the 2s are starting
to find their feet and currently third
from bottom having lost two games by
the narrowest of margins.
The quality of the club’s wickets
are excellent, ‘playing like roads’, and
we have very recently built a bespoke
structure to permanently house our
electronic scoreboard. The social side of
the club needs to improve. We have two
clubhouse events in the next 6 weeks so
hopefully this will help.
The club’s key next objective is
to construct two/three full lane nets.
Sonning Club Info - www.sonningcc.co.uk