Devon CCC AGM March 23, 2023
It is quite clear the ECB would like to effect mergers between each county club and its equivalent county board. This has happened in several counties with a few others also considering such an arrangement. Devon CCC is reluctant to be involved in such a merger although it is happy to continue cooperating with the DCB in areas of overlapping activity and mutually beneficial interest.
The County achieved an excellent cricket standard in the Championship at the end of last season, winning three matches convincingly, and the players and Dave Tall, our director of cricket, are to be warmly praised for our promotion to West, Division1.
The 2023 season will present new playing challenges in the higher division of the NCCA Championship. Although there has been little new recruitment of players since last summer, the valuable work done during the winter in the Lions coaching programme at Bicton has been of commendably quality with ex-professional player input. Tim Western and Mike Cherry with Nigel Mountford’s support are to be warmly congratulated on the quality of coaching. Our sponsors, the David Shepherd Cricket Trust, The M5 Sports Management Group and Michael Cunliffe have been very generous again and their contribution has been vital.
Many thanks to Nigel Mountford for ensuring that we meet the majority of standards of the Cricket Partnership Agreement and are on course to achieve them all in due course
It is however, proving difficult to achieve 30 per cent female membership of the general committee. We are fortunate that Shahid Khan, or existing medical officer, has accepted the role of ethnic representative on the general committee.
In 2023, we are committed to live streaming of matches are arranging for a student from Exeter University, Matthew Parkhouse, with technical and media skills, to help us deliver the programme of covering NCCA competitive matches. It is to be hoped that the cost and time involved in streaming will prove worthwhile in the longer term – promoting Devon CCC and National Counties cricket, increasing the membership of DCCC, greater participation in County club activities and possibly additional sponsorship.
We hope that a number of members will take advantage off the opportunity to attend the second day of a first-class County Championship fixture 7 between Somerset and Warwickshire.at Taunton on Friday April Two tickets, free of charge, are available online from Somerset CCC.
We have produced our own Equity, Diversity and Inclusion policy(EDI) and have adopted the ECB anti-discrimination code. These documents will appear on the DCCC section of the Devon Cricket website alongside the up-to-date DCCC constitution. Thanks to Conrad Sutcliffe for managing the website and for his high-quality game trailers, match reports and post-match analysis.
Devon CCC is in good financial shape much thanks to Roger Wensley and accountant, Ruskin Wilson. The general committee is active and dedicated to ensuring that the club improves year by year and each committee member is to be sincerely thanked. We are fortunate that Tolchards have continued to sponsor us after more than a decade, and continue to appreciate the excellent work of Rachel Tozer, also our membership secretary., and Peter Langford- our first-class scorers and statisticians.
The 2023 annual Brochure is the most comprehensive ever, much as a result off of the dedication of Terry Mohan, Colin Wright and David Thorneley, the last of whom also organises the programme of fundraising for worthy local charities which has raised the profile of Devon CCC.
Finally, I would like to pay tribute to Ashfords who enable us regularly to use their excellent HQ facilities and to Claire Dore who arranges all our meetings here and whose team bring together the documentation for this AGM and organises its distribution most efficiently.
NWG 23.03.23
