Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2012

6 Sheffield Cricket Lovers’ Society How nice to start our indoor season with a welcome return from our old friend Dave Callaghan . Dave once again has managed to see every day played by Yorkshire and it was quite obvious that he felt that a significant improvement had taken place at Yorkshire in the last season. Involved in the Championship right to the end of the season and a limited over semi final gave great hope for the 2011 season. One of his great concerns for 2011 was that Yorkshire would be unable to find someone to fill the huge gap left by the departure of Jaques Rudolph. Some solutions were offered ...maybe Jonny Bairstow up to number 4 ?? We will just have to be patient and see ...meanwhile Dave’s prediction for the Ashes coming up ...England to retain on the basis of a 2-2 series?? Steve Oldham was the next visitor with Peter Mason in the chair for the evening. All members present first paid their respect to Peter Cooper, a stalwart supporter and contributor to the Sheffield Cricket Lovers’ Society who regrettably passed away earlier in the day. S.O. entertained those present with a brief but amusing account of his long service with The Yorkshire County Cricket Club. He made particular reference to his position as coach, emphasising the difference between his early days as a player and the current attitudes of young aspiring county cricketers. In particular the encouragement given to them and the facilities now available to them. He then answered member’s questions in a forthright manner and left us with the feeling that the future of Yorkshire cricket is in good hands. Most of our Derbyshire members recognised our next guest speaker former Derbyshire, Lancashire and Somerset player now Director of the Lancashire Cricket Board, Andy Hayhurst . Andy explained to us how the Cricket Boards were conceived and were charged with the task of supporting recreational cricket to raise the general standard and to provide players for the future for both Lancashire Cricket Club and the England National teams. The ultimate aim of the Board being to give every child access to sport through cricket. Andy went on to explain that as a result of the formation of the Lancashire Cricket Board they were able to significantly improve the amount of funding available to meet the ECB’s National Strategies for increasing the numbers of active cricket clubs, players, coaching staff and volunteers. A fascinating and instructive evening. Stephen Mann & Stephen Chalke were persuaded by David Drabble to be joint speakers for the evening when the scheduled speaker Tim O’Gorman was unable to be with us. On an evening when the weather was unspeakable, the attendance was remarkable. ...a full house. Stephen Chalke opened the evening and had the audience wrapt and attentive with his recollections of cricketers past and present with extracts from his book. The Indoor Season... Bev Stokes, Chairman