The season started very wet with a saturated ground and virtually no pre-season
wicket and outfield prep, it looked highly unlikely that the season would start on time.
It took a monumental effort by the ground staff to get the ground and wickets into a
state that matches were able to start in early May. The club owes the ground staff a
huge thank you for the work they put in early in the season and indeed throughout
the year.

This year also saw NMCC take on all the costs and maintenance work for the whole
play area from the Council. This includes all fuel and maintenance of machinery the
cost of fertilizer, loam and seed. This is a huge commitment by the club, and we had
to buy our own outfield mower this year at the cost of about £8,000 when the mower
gifted to us by the council could not be repaired.

In April we welcomed Thaakier Davids, our overseas player from South Africa. A
huge thank you needs to go to Fran and Kristian Leese, and their 2 children Olivia
and Seb who hosted Thaakier throughout the season. A huge commitment by the
family and we thank them wholeheartedly for opening their house to him. Thaakier
proved to be exactly what we hoped he would be. An excellent cricketer, a great
team player and most importantly a fantastic coach. He attended every Junior
coaching session on a Friday and did lots of 1on1 coaching with both Juniors and
Adults alike. I believe everyone who was coached by him, improved their game by
the end.

We also hosted our very first Ladies overseas player, Maeve Martin, who kept wicket
for the Ladies 1 st XI. She was a great character both on and off the field and she
provided great support for the youngsters coming through. Her keeping was
consistent and she made 358 runs consisting of 3 50’s and her personal best of 91*.
we are looking forward to welcoming her back hopefully next season.
This year we also introduced a new club website which has proved to be a massive
success. It has allowed whole club communication, easier distribution of news items
and events, easier membership subscription payment and team management and
match fee collection.

We must acknowledge the huge amount of time and effort Ryan Beck has put into
the junior boys section as well as the Dynamo’s and All Stars sections over many
seasons, Ryan is now stepping down from his role earning himself a well-deserved
break. He has now passed on the baton to Gareth Bennett, who is already up and
running with it.

It has been another successful year for the Juniors. We launched a new team,
aimed at 5–8-year-olds called NMCC Sparrows. Gareth Bennett was instrumental in
setting this up and it proved a huge success. The Under 9 boys had many of their
matches cancelled, but we held mixed interclub matches instead that were enjoyed
more by the parents than the children it seemed. They also
attended an enjoyable tournament at the Utilita Bowl in June

U11 Boys were winners of their league, and they had the top 8 batters and the top
nine bowlers of the league!

U13 Boys did well and finished 4th in the league. The winners of this league were the
U15 Falcons who won with 7 wins and 2 losses Issy Waters took 15
Wickets in the league making her the leading wicket taker.

U15 boys finished top of their league and thanks has to go to Lee Beck who’s time
as their coach has come to an end. Great way to finish!

U11 Falcons Softball team were runners up in the Brian King Cup

However, the U13 Falcons take most of the plaudits this year by winning the County
Final against Hook. Superb effort by the girls.

We have, however, had to say au-revoir to Kevin Smith at the girl’s presentation who
has stepped down from being the girls section coordinator after starting the girls
section in 2017/2018 and growing it to be the massive success it has become. Many
thanks Kevin for your hard work and dedication over the last 7 years or so.

Early July saw a club trip to the Utilita Bowl. 30 to 40 members, both senior and
Junior, watch the Hawks beat the Essex Sharks on a lovely warm and sunny
summers evening. It was a great evening enjoyed by all.

The men’s senior teams had a very mixed season this year. The 1sts under the
Captaincy of Ed Bartlett did very well, finishing in 5 th place in the league. A
combination of excellent bowling and individual batting performances (and the
occasional opponent batting collapse) helped the 1st Team attain their place.

The 2nd XI, who had 3 Captains this year due to injury, did not do so well. They
finished last in the league, but they did finish on a high, chasing down 284 at
Ellingham to win their last game of the season. It showed, that with a bit of
application, anything can be done.

The 3s, even though their 3rd from last placing in the league indicates a less than
successful season does not tell the whole story. They won matches this year that
they should have lost due to some excellent batting by individuals and superb batting
from their Captain Kristian Locke who finished top of the batting averages in the
league. They were also deducted 40 points in penalties and losing 22 points for a
win against Paultons Park. Retaining these points would have seen them in the top
half of the league.

One thing that has remained consistent this year (consistently bad!) has been the
men’s availability this year. This has probably been one of the worst years for
availability and it has been extremely difficult for the captains to select the same
teams each week. Well done to them for getting out a team each week and going
out there to compete and not just ‘turn up’. The club desperately needs players, of
all abilities to sign up to NMCC for next year and beyond.

The Ladies 1st XI had their strongest season to date. They finished 5th in the
league, winning 5 and drawing 1 against St Cross. It is far cry from last year when
they struggled to stay up. There were some great batting performances from the
likes of Maeve Martin, Jemima Gittins, Izzy Pugh, Tilda Mowat and Amy Mills and a 5
wicket haul each from Captain Paige Baily and Oliva Barbe.

The Ladies 2nd XI also had a good season. Finishing and excellent 3 rd in the league,
winning 50% of their games. One notable performance this year was bowling
Southern Stars out for 14!! They were entered into the Hampshire Slam competition
for the 1 st time this year and did really well coming 2 nd in their group. It wasa change
from the norm but the players thoroughly enjoyed the completion. Lucy Beck has
captained the side this year and she has done an excellent job leading this group of
young talented girls. Promotion next year!

We hosted a memorial match for a much-missed Charles (Archie) Baker who passed
away last September from a brain tumour. It was a great day, lots of fun, a fantastic
cricket tea and ending in a last ball thriller!

And so now it is September, the junior presentations are nearly done, and the Senior
presentations are just around the corner. You may say ‘That’s it, the season is
over!’. For the players, maybe, but not for the ground staff. We are now in the
period of end of season renovations. On Wednesday 11th the squares were scarified,
overseeded and top dressed. Before this happened there were hours of pre prep on
the wickets consisting of mowing, and verticutting in several directions.

We are undertaking a massive project this Winter to renovate the outfield. We have
been loaned a Kubota ST30 compact tractor and a sisis Quadraplay on a long term
basis by Richard Frampton of Bransgore. We owe him a massive
debt of gratitude for his generosity as without this equipment, it would have cost the
club several thousands of pounds to buy the equipment or to hire a contractor in to
do the work. This equipment will be instrumental in helping us to get the outfield up
to the standard it should be over this coming winter and into next year. We will be
purchasing in the coming weeks a new piece of kit that will help with the outfield
renovation work.

We can only thank the immense hard work that our volunteers have done this year.
The Juniors have had an excellent season and there are plans for closer training and
integration of the girls and boys Junior sections this winter and next year. Our
volunteer base continues to grow, and we cannot thank them enough for their
dedication and hard work. The club would not be able to function without its
volunteers, so we thank them wholeheartedly.

The club as always needs more than just volunteers. We also need sponsorship and
charitable donations. Any donations are always gratefully received, and each
donation goes towards grass roots cricket and the development of the club.
Sponsorship is essential as well. We ask anyone who has a business or knows a
business owner to ask for some kind of sponsorship. This could be sponsoring a
player, a game, a piece of groundskeeping equipment or the club itself. We have
huge plans for the club that will become known to the members in due course. The
hundred club is also a great way to support the club. It raises important funds but it
also give you the chance to win a cash prize each month.

Once again thank you everyone for your support and help this year and we hope you
a have a wonderful rest of 2024!

The Committee.