Sleaford CC Annual Magazine 2017 Sleaford Cricket Club Annual Magazine 2017 | Page 3

PRESIDENT’S WELCOME
Chris Travers
Moving with the times
A huge effort went in to improving
Sleaford Cricket Club's finances last
year and those involved in the
various fundraising initiatives are to
be thanked and congratulated. I said
in last year's introduction that we
needed to make a ten thousand
pound improvement to our financial position and a
substantial part of that target was achieved.
Encouragingly, the initiatives are largely of a
sustainable nature and must therefore be repeated
on an ongoing basis to maintain the progress that has
been made.
Sadly, but in keeping with national trends, our bar
revenues continue to decline, with there being no
indication of a reversal of that trend. The whole
financial structure of the club must be examined to
ensure that it is fit for purpose in the future. Income
from traditional bar revenue appears to be a thing of
the past and given that this revenue has traditionally
underpinned the club's survival, our committee are
going to have to focus on developing a new business
model. I very much hope that the management of the
club takes on a highly proactive style as opposed
to reacting to situations after they have
unfolded. Sleaford Cricket Club will undoubtedly
survive and can still flourish and progress, but not in
it's existing
format.
I believe that there are still many, many people who
hold our club in high esteem and are keen to see it
thrive. One of the keys to future success will be to
harness those potential supporters and volunteers to
help the club with the myriad of tasks that need to be
undertaken. Again, this will call for proactive
management and I believe that the adoption of this
positive stance from our committee is crucial to the
future of Sleaford Cricket Club. Equally, as members
of the club, we have a responsibility to support
the leadership being provided to ensure the future
stability and indeed sustainability of cricket in
Sleaford.
Once again our teams played some excellent cricket
across all competitions during 2016. The batting
friendly nature of Sleaford's wicket, allied to the lack
of a real cutting edge with the ball, meant that the
ECB Premier League side could only manage four
outright victories, thus denying them a realistic
chance of winning the title. A third place finish was
still highly creditable and had not the final three
weekend's fixtures have been washed out, then a
runners up spot could well have been achieved.
In the South Lincs and Border League Premier
Division, Sleaford were realistic challengers for much
of the season but were pipped at the post by Spalding
who will themselves hope for better things in the ECB
competition this time around. On Sundays, Sleaford
played some strong cricket in two divisions of the
Lincoln League and demonstrated the strength in
depth that the club possesses. One difficulty posed
by this strength in depth is the lack of a pathway from
junior to senior cricket. We must find a way of
ensuring that players who enjoy success in our junior
teams are able to find a way through to senior cricket
or we shall merely become a feeder club for other
local teams.
The management committee has a number of
challenges to address and I wish them well in their
decision making processes as the outcome of their
deliberations is vital to the future of Sleaford Cricket
Club. In most state schools cricket is a dead ball
game and clubs like ours will be the basis of the
sport's future; we therefore carry a major responsibil-
ity.
Finally, I hope that everyone enjoys their time at the
club during the summer in whatever capacity and I
also hope that many of you can find time to assist in
whatever capacity you can. Please enjoy this years
edition of the Sleaford Cricket Club magazine which
marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the
current club pavilion.
Chris Travers
SAVE THE DATE…
Sleaford v MCC
28th June 2017