Richard Bibby and Mike Cutting have both been nominated for the job of Sat 2nd XI captain. There will be a vote by players at the players meeting this Saturday night. Any other nominations should be made to Tom Bibby.

On Saturday the 3rd of Jan 2009 there will be a players meeting to vote in the new Sat 2ndXI captain. Obviously this will not take long so there will be ample time to find out what the committee has been up to over the last few months and of course, enjoy a beer or two and catch up with the lads.

All players are encouraged to attend and make their vote count. If you would like to run for Sat 2ndXI captain please contact Tom Bibby with a the name of your proposer by Boxing day.

Happy Christmas!

Fast learning Dave Brooks has landed himself his dream job as chief exec of Sussex County Cricket Club. After just one season at CDCC "Brooksy" has honed his cricket and personal skills to such a level as to beat former international stars to the prestigious position. When congratulated on his success Dave acknowledged his local club "Cookham Dean has taught me everything I know". Cookham Dean wish Dave all the best in his new job even though it will mean he won't be playing as much next season. Don't worry Dave, I'm sure a couple of free tickets will make up for that!


More information at
http://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/cricket/generalcricket/3932965

This years AGM will be held on Thursday the 27th November at 7:30pm in the clubhouse. All members are encouraged to attend. The agenda will be as follows:

1) Apologies

2) Approval of Minutes of 2007 A.G.M.

3) Matters arising

4) Chairman's statement

5) Development of Club- new pavilion scheme (James Smith to present)

6) Election of Officers for 2009

o President
o Chairman
o Vice Chairman
o Treasurer
o Club Secretary
o Club Captain
o Hon Auditors
o Membership Secretary
o House Chairman
o Bar Chairman
o Vice Presidents
o Patrons

7) Treasurer‘s report for 2008 and 2009 budget

8) Report on Players meeting

9) Ratification of Captains and other cricket committee officials

o Colts section captain
o Colts administrator
o First team captain (Sat)
o First team Captain (Sun)
o Second team captain (Sat)
o Second team Captain (Sun)
o Third team Captain (Sat & Sun)
o League rep
o Welfare officer
o Ground Rota coordinator

10) Subscriptions and match fees for 2009

11) Proposal for minor revision of Club Rules

12) Any other business

Every Wednesday the bar at the cricket club is open throughout the evening from around 8pm until 11pm.

Darts also takes place on these evenings with CDCC entering two teams to the local league, competing against pubs, social clubs and other sports clubs from around the Maidenhead area.

The bar has a TV with Sky Sports so will be showing live Champions League games throughout the winter.

The club is also looking for volunteers to help run the bar during these evenings, if anyone is interested in doing this then contact Mike Cutting at Mike.Cutting@osmose.co.uk Although these bar stints are unpaid, they help with a smooth running of the club and bar staff usually have drinks bought for them by some of the more friendly customers!

It would be great to see as many club members (and potential new members as well) at these evenings as possible to add to the already socialible atmosphere within the club!

Also, the bar prices are cheaper then you'll find in the local pubs...

The annual TVCL dinner and presentations evening will be held on Friday the 24th of October at Slough cricket club. It would be good to get some players along or even a whole table, if you are interested please contact Tom Bibby. You can download further information from the "Documents and Resources" section.

On Sunday, the 2008 season came to a close with a narrow defeat against Stoke Green, however this did not take away the fact that Cookham Dean Cricket Club had a brilliant season. In the clubs inaugural season in the Thames Valley Cricket League, the 1's earned promotion from Division 4A into Division 3B, whilst the 2's finished mid-table in Division 6A. The clubs Under 13 colt’s side also won the Julian Cup, this section of the club as well as the adult sides has gone from strength to strength during 2008.

April

The season started way back on Saturday April 12 with a friendly away at Little Marlow, where the team won comfortably and therefore set the standards for the season ahead. This was soon followed by a demolition of West End Esher in the First Round of the Village Cup, with new players Imran Butt and Amit Patel scoring a 50 and taking a fifer respectively. The month finished with a heavy defeat for an under-strength first team against White Waltham and a win for the second team against the same club.

May

May started off badly, with the club losing another pre-season friendly, this time against Purley. The following day saw the club being dumped out of the Village Cup to neighbours Pinkneys Green, in a narrow defeat - this was not to be the only time the club got knocked out of a cup competition to the Berkshire League side. Following these setbacks, preparations were not looking good for the start of the new league campaign and a defeat at home to OMT proved that the team was not on form. The 2's however, did better earning a winning draw away at Marlow Park, with Jake Richardson scoring the first and to this day, the only century scored by a Cookham player in the Thames Valley League. The next game for the 1's was a trip to Slough 3's and after posting a large total thanks to a 140-run partnership by Rory Millar (81) and the in-form Jake Richardson (66), Cookham looked set for their first Thames Valley League victory, however with Slough 6 men down and the light fading, they walked off the field leaving Cookham ruing a missed opportunity! The following week, two defeats against British Airways meant that both sides were struggling and it was left to the final weekend of the month, for the club to finally record their first win with the 1's winning away at Bagshot. On the same day, however the 2's suffered a heavy defeat and were seeing survival as their aim for the season.

Away from the Saturday teams, the only Sunday side had a good record, whilst the club won a first round Julian Cup tie against Littlewick Green by more than 100 runs. The colts also made a fine start to the season with all teams doing well.

June

After a poor May, the club’s season got back on track with the 1's winning 3 and drawing 1 of their games and the 2's winning all 4 games in the month. In the first game of the month, Cookham hammered Chalfont St Peter 2's by 9 wickets with Chalfont being bowled out for 107. In reply, the Dean top order made light work of reaching their target, with Dave Brookes, who joined the club in April, scoring his first league 50 for the club. Meanwhile the 2's won by 5 runs in an exciting game, with the win being secured in the final over. The win was inspired by the returning skipper, Shaun Glover who scored 82. The 1's won the following win with a narrow 3-wicket victory in a local derby against Wooburn Narks. Pres Patel returned with figures of 6-26 to bowl Wooburn out for 181, and in reply it required a mature innings from Clive Lambden who hit an unbeaten 50 after a shaky start. The 2's won comfortably by 6-wickets against Caversham and Readingensians, with both Shaun Glover and Mike Maroudas hitting half centuries. The next week saw Ian Frankland rip out Teddington Town 2's top order with miserly figures of 6-18 on a wet track and after bowling the team out for 71 they knocked off the runs with little difficulty. The 1's almost made it 4 out of 4, but were a dropped catch by Amit Patel away from bowling out Finchampstead 3's who finished on 9 wickets down. In the final week of June, the 1's recorded their first 25-point win after beating Windsor 2's by 107 runs. The win was set up by two quality innings by Clive Lambden who made 92 and Ben Millar who got 82. The 2's also completed a perfect month with a 2-wicket victory over Boyne Hill 2's.

Despite the good month in the league, the 1's were unable to beat Pinkneys Green for a second time in the season, this time in the Julian Cup Quarter Finals. After posting a huge total, the Pinkneys Green (and Stevenage) bowlers restricted Dean by bowling them out a long way short of the target. The Sunday sides enjoyed a good month, with two sides being put out throughout the month. The Sunday 1's recorded a rare win in the Presidents match after an 81 by Imran Butt, however lost the following week in the annual John Platt trophy against Holyport. Imran Butt on the last Sunday in June hit an unbeaten 146 against Eversely, to become the second centurion in the adult’s cricket for the season. The colts continued their great season with Tom Wells-Cole, who later became Colt of The Year, scoring the first ever century by a Cookham Dean player in a colts match.

July

The month started with the 1's narrowly missing out on victory against Hayes, but for the second time in three weeks, the side had to settle for a draw with the opposition 9 down. The 2's also had a draw against Hayes. Following this weekend, the 1's went through a really poor run of form as they lost 3 games in a row, to OMT, Slough 3's and British Airways. In the OMT match, the side failed to chase down 152 after Imran Butt had bowled well taking 5 wickets. The next week against Slough 3's was one of the poorest performances by any team in the club throughout the entire season as they were simply outclassed. It was he same story the next week, as despite a solid batting performance by the team, the British Airways batting was too strong and ran out winners by 7-wickets. The 2's also suffered a poor run of form in the same period with defeats to both Marlow Park 2's and British Airways 2's, however they did record an impressive 6-wicket victory over Royal Ascot with Richard Bibby doing the damage with the ball, taking 6 wickets. So at the end of the July, the season looked as if it would peter out for both sides, as both sides, although safe from relegation, seemed to be too far off the pace with regards to promotion.

At the beginning of the month, Cookham Dean Under 13's won the Julian Cup title with a 9-run victory against Binfield in an epic game at North Maidenhead CC. Noah Sharples was the man-of-the-match and the Cookham hero after scoring a 50, coming in at 23-6. With the Colonel Garrett Cup in the middle of the month and a weekend of poor weather at the beginning of the month, Sunday cricket was limited although on three separate Sundays, the club managed to put out 3 sides. There were a few notable performances with Tom Bibby scoring 86 in a defeat at Hillingdon Manor, and a 94 by Jake Richardson at West Wycombe.

August

With the 1's quite simply needing a win against Bagshot 2's in the first weekend of August to keep up their slight hopes of promotion alive, Cookham ran out winners by 4-wickets. Chris Nunn bowled brilliantly taking 7 wickets with Bagshot 2's being bowled out for 122. After an awful start, it needed a class knock of 60 not out by Imran Butt to see the side home and keep up hopes of promotion. The 2's earned a winning draw against top of the league Ruislip, which was a good effort. The next Saturday was a complete washout, which was a real blow to the 1's as they would have fancied their chances against Chalfont St Peter 2's, who were rock bottom. However, the next game came around and was away at Wooburn Narks. After making 197 on a poor wicket, it was going to be tough for Cookham but a superb innings of 80 by Ben Millar helped them to a 3-wicket win in the final over, just like the game earlier in the season. The 2's helped themselves to an easy 6-wicket win against Caversham 2's, with Ollie Freeman scoring his first league 50 for the club. With the 1's really keeping up the pressure on the sides above them, they entertained Finchampstead 3's and a comfortable 5-wicket win put them just 3 points away from promotion with only 2 games left. The 2's, with a mid-table finish guaranteed, travelled to Teddington Town 2's and came away with a disappointing defeat despite a fine innings of 97 not out by the in-form Paul Farnborough. The month finished with the 1's travelling to Windsor 2's and after being bowled out for 184, the push for promotion appeared to have run out of steam but an inspired bowling performance by Sawan Gandesha and two good catches at short leg by Rory Millar helped the team to bowl Windsor out for 150. This put them in the promotion places going into the last weekend, with August proving to be a brilliant month for the 1's. The 2's played out a draw with Boyne Hill 2's with the scores being level and Cookham 9 nine down.

The weather severely effected the Sunday 1's month, with three games been abandoned half way through. The side did complete a couple of games though, one of which being against White Waltham, where a 108 by Paul Farnborough set up the win. The Sunday 2's, however managed to avoid the showers and had a very successful month only losing once. In the win over Old Berkely, Dave Brookes scored an unbeaten 100.

September

The first Saturday in September was the last league game of the season, on a wet and windy dismal day, the 1's tried to finish their game but failed. However, as they went into the game 16 points ahead of third place, 7 points was enough for them to be promoted despite other games in the League being played. The 2's game was abandoned without a ball being bowled, and as a result, earned a respectable 5th position.

Following the end of the league campaign, there were a few post-season friendlies, with wins against Egham Roses and Little Marlow as well as a few defeats. The talk now, however is on the 2009 season, where the club will hopefully build upon the success gained in 2008.

On Saturday the 4th and Sunday the 5th of October the ground will be "put to sleep". This involves spreading some 10 tonnes of soil onto the square and a few other small jobs. This will start at 10am on both days and if we get a large workforce it is hoped that it will not go on too long. If you can spare a some time this weekend, even an hour or two, please come along with a shovel and help do your bit for the ground, the more the merrier!

There will be a cricket committee held on Thursday 25th September with
the following agenda:

1. Introduction & Apologies

2. The State of the Club

3. Administration and organisation
- Contact details
- Club keys

4. Playing Equipment
- Covers
- Nets
- Scorebox
- Club kit
- Storage facilities

5. The Ground
- Equipment
- Personnel and rotas

6. Any Other Business

If anyone has any other important point to raise, or has a strong
opinion on any of the above points, please contact Tom Bibby.

At the Players Meeting on Tuesday night Tom Bibby was elected Club Captain after winning a vote against First XI team-mate Clive Lambden. With two young candidates standing this would suggest a new era for the role of Club Captain as it has traditionally been associated with the elder statesmen of the club.

In other news 2008 1st Team player Dave Brooks was made Saturday 2nds captain with Mark Fish appointed his vice-captain.

Otherwise everyone stayed in the same position as last year. The roles confirmed at the players meeting are here:

Club Captain: Tom Bibby
Saturday 1sts Captain: Pres Patel
Saturday 1sts Vice-Captain: Ben Millar
Saturday 2nds Captain: Dave Brooks
Saturday 2nds Vice-Captain: Mark Fish
Sunday 1sts Captain: Mike Cutting
Sunday 2nds Captain: Andrew Millar
Sunday 2nds Vice-Captain/3rd Team Captain: Jonathan Gay
Fixtures Secretary: Andrew Millar
Colts Co-ordinator: Ian Davis
League Representative: Christian Austin