ASHES-winning captain Michael Vaughan was the VIP guest and speaker at Ivybridge’s latest fund-raising dinner.
Vaughan, who led England to victory over Australia in the gripping 2005 series, recalled the highlights of his career in the game and some of the personalities he encountered.
The dinner raised more than £1,500 that will go towards the club’s growing youth and ladies sections.
“Michael had a good mix of stories from his early playing days, the great 2005 Ashes series and build up to it, the celebrations after winning and on the current state of the game,” said chairman Jerry Clough.
“It was a fabulous way to kick off the 2020 season for us.”
The dinner date in the Watermark Centre in Ivybridge doubled up as the club’s awards evening. Vaughan handed out the awards and stayed around to chat with other guests.
“Michael was great with the audience signing autographs, and especially with the young lads, and had some good advice for them,” said event organiser and Jon Sparkes, the club treasurer.
Sparkes had two hats on during the event as he hosted a table of clients as guests of regional accountancy firm and club sponsor Bishop Fleming, where he is a tax director
“It was pleasing for me to be able to bring some valued clients to the event, who were all cricket fans,” said Sparkes.
“Some of Michael’s speaking content had real parallels with the business world around leadership styles and team building.
“Michael managed to bring the best out of KP (Kevin Pietersen) and Freddie (Flintoff) as a captain and listening to how he went about that as a leader was really interesting in a business context as much as the sporting one.”
Dominic Cork, another ex-England player, was the VIP guest at Ivybridge’s first dinner of this kind last year. Sparkes said similar event is likely in 2021.
“We are hoping to repeat the event next year with a different, high-profile cricketing guest,” said Sparkes.
Award winners: 1stXI player of the year and batsman of the year: Dinesh Raheja; 1stXI bowler of the year: Josh Coker; young player and 2ndXI batsman of the year: Zach Dunn; 2ndXI bowler of the year: Arthur Johnson; 2ndXI player of the year: Andy Johnson; clubman of the year: Roy Dockings.
