Strange, unusual, crazy, unprecedented – just a few words that have been used to describe the times we have been living in over the past few months. I hope that you and your families are keeping well and that the chance to play cricket since July has brought some sort of normality to life.

Menston Cricket Club’s volunteers have been tireless in their efforts to give as many people as possible a chance to get involved and play the summer game, even in this shortened season. That’s been our approach this year – if you wanted a game, then we made every effort to get you on the field of play, whether in league matches, intra-club matches or in friendlies arranged with other keen clubs. Many thanks especially to David Holder and all junior coaches for providing so many chances to practice and play.

Now the season has drawn to a close, we can all take a bit of a breather and reflect on what we’ve achieved over such a short space of time – our facilities have been improved with a new pavilion roof, a new electronic scorebox and of course the fantastic 2-lane net facility. Our next project is to rebuild the dry stone wall and erect a fence at the flats end of the ground; we are also starting plans to extend the pavilion. Many thanks go especially to John and Joanne Stones for keeping the pavilion in shape and, importantly(!), the bar stocked.

Our two Saturday senior teams narrowly missed out on promotion, but both have had promising and enjoyable seasons – “Menston CC – Won by 8 Wickets” was our 1st team’s final result of the season and reflective of results for both our 1st and 2nd teams. And it’s been great to see several junior players making valuable contributions for our 2nd and 3rd teams, as we continue our policy of encouraging youngsters to make the transition from junior to senior cricket. The pitches we have played on at Menston have been second to none, thanks to our incredibly hard-working groundsman Matthew Poucher and his army of assistants to ensure the covers are on when rain is forecast!

Our junior teams have played throughout the summer holidays – not usually the case – and the enthusiasm of coaches, players and parents alike has been great to see. There will be memorable moments for everyone; one that perhaps stands out is a training session with Lauren Winfield and Courtney Hill that our girls squad had prior to the official opening of our net facility – thanks to Robert Hodgson for organising a morning that none of the girls will forget.

The season finished with our newly formed women’s team taking on St Chad’s Broomfield – another step the club has taken to improve it’s offering to all. Thank you to Andrew Morgan for the initial ideas and for making this happen, which happily coincided with the ECB’s Women’s Big Cricket Month.

We now look towards 2021 and try to plan ahead – indoor nets may not happen for example, and our annual Bonfire Night is extremely unlikely to take place, but we will aim to do what we can within the restrictions that exist and keep you informed as best we can. As always, contact your team coach / captain, or the club via menstoncc@btinternet.com, if you have any questions.

That’s it for now!